Evaluating The Core: The prospect of geodes

Authors

  • Kira Moor Honours Integrated Science, McMaster University
  • Rebekah Ingram Honours Integrated Science, McMaster University

Keywords:

Film, Earth Sciences, Geode, Mineral formation, The Core

Abstract

This paper analyses the legitimacy of some of the science behind the movie The Core. The feasibility of the formation of large amethyst geodes in the Earth’s mantle as seen in The Core is investigated by calculating the pressure in the mantle and analyzing the effect of mantle temperature on amethyst crystallization. The analysis shows it to be extremely unlikely that geodes exist in the lower mantle.

References

Acton, Q.A., 2013. Silicon Compounds - Advances in Research and Application. Atlanta: ScholarlyEditions.

Gilg, H.A., Morteani, G., Kostitsyn, Y., Preinfalk, C., Gatter, I., and Strieder, A.J., Genesis of amethyst geodes in basaltic rocks of the Serra Geral Formation (Ametista do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil): a fluid inclusion, REE, oxygen, carbon and Sr isotope study on basalt, quartz and calcite, Mineralium Deposita, 38, pp. 1009-1025 (2003).

Fossen, H., 2010. Structural Geology. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Hoover, S.R., Cashman, K.V., and Manga, M., The yield strength of subliquidus basalts - experimental results, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 107, pp. 1-18 (2001).

Stanley, S.M., 2008. Earth System History. Third edition. New York: W.H. Freeman.

Hirose, K., Fei, Y., Ma, Y., and Mao, H.K., The fate of subducted basaltic crust in the Earth’s lower mantle, Nature, 397, pp. 53-56 (1999).

Colovine, 2011. Bowen’s Reaction Series, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bowen%27s_Reaction_Series.png [Accessed 12 March 2015].

Downloads

How to Cite

Moor, K., & Ingram, R. (2017). Evaluating The Core: The prospect of geodes. Journal of Interdisciplinary Science Topics, 3. Retrieved from https://journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/jist/article/view/741

Issue

Section

Articles