| Seismologists at Washington University believe a very high-attenuation anomaly at the top of the lower mantle beneath eastern Asia is due to water. The left figure is a slice through the earth, showing the anomalies within the mantle. The location of the slice - red line in the upper right figure - is a map of the seismic attenuation at a depth of roughly 620 miles. In both images, red shows unusually soft and weak rock, and blue shows unusually stiff rock. Credit: Eric Chou / Washington University |
