Deep magma facilitates the movement of tectonic plates

A small amount of molten rock located under tectonic plates encourages them to move. This is what scientists from the Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon: Terre, planètes et environnement (CNRS/ENS de Lyon/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) have recently discovered. Their new model takes into account not only the velocity of seismic waves but also the way in which they are attenuated by the medium they pass through. The velocity of tectonic plates near the surface is thus directly correlated with the quantity of magma present. The lithosphere, the outer part of the Earth, is made up of the crust and part of the upper mantle. It is subdivided into rigid plates, known as tectonic or lithospheric plates. These move on a more fluid layer of the mantle, the asthenosphere.