Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Earth science

Trouble under Tonga?

Nature volume 436, pages 637–638 (2005)Cite this article

Earthquakes occur in cool, foundering tectonic plates deep within the Earth. But seismic data from the southwestern Pacific indicate that the minerals that make up the plates at depth don't behave as if they are cool.

Is there something wrong with our understanding of basic seismological features of Earth's mantle, the seismic discontinuities at depths of 410 km and 660 km? A report by Rigobert Tibi and Douglas A. Wiens, just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research1, provides cause for thought about this possibility.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Tibi and Wiens' observations1 of the northern Tonga subduction zone.

References

  1. Tibi, R. & Wiens, D. A. J. Geophys. Res. 110, doi:10.1029/2004JB003433 (2005).

  2. Ringwood, A. E. Composition and Petrology of the Earth's Mantle (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1975).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Katsura, T. & Ito, E. J. Geophys. Res. 94, 15663–15670 (1989).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ito, E. & Takahashi, E. J. Geophys. Res. 94, 10637–10646 (1989).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bina, C. R. & Helffrich, G. R. J. Geophys. Res. 99, 15853–15860 (1994).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Green, H. W., Young, T. E., Walker, D. & Scholz, C. H. Nature 348, 720–722 (1990).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kirby, S. H., Durham, W. B. & Stern, L. A. Science 252, 216–225 (1991).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Collier, J. & Helffrich, G. Geophys. Res. Lett. 24, 1535–1538 (1996).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Vidale, J. E. & Benz, H. M. Nature 356, 678–683 (1992).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK

    George Helffrich

Authors
  1. George Helffrich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Helffrich, G. Trouble under Tonga?. Nature 436, 637–638 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/436637a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/436637a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing