Deep Beneath California’s Sierra Nevada, Earth’s Lithosphere May Be Peeling Away

Deep Beneath California’s Sierra Nevada, Earth’s Lithosphere May Be Peeling Away

Source: Geophysical Research Letters The processes that form continental crust from the denser basaltic rocks of the upper mantle may make the lower lithosphere denser than the underlying mantle. One theory holds that the lower lithosphere splits away and sinks into the mantle in a process called foundering. Conclusive evidence of foundering, however, has been hard to come by. Peering deep under California’s Sierra Nevada, Schulte-Pelkum and Kil…