Photograph of a row of embedded “cherts” in a rocky outcrop in Southeast China. The rock itself looks like it has thin layers in grey, yellow, orange and silvery colours. It has sharp edges and lots of detail. Photograph thanks to Michael Tatzel.
Image of map showing blue water on the Pacific Plate. This is the location of the sedimentary rocks – known as cherts – that were investigated: Shatsky Rise in the northern West Pacific is the world's third-largest oceanic plateau, covering an area larger than Germany – a relatively flat area that rises significantly above the ocean floor. The cherts were taken from depths of around 2,000 metres at the points on the image marked U1350 and U1348. Image thanks to GEBCO Compilation Group (2025) GEBCO 2025 Grid (DOI:10.5285/37c52e96-24ea-67ce-e063-7086abc05f29)
What do sedimentary rocks known as “cherts” reveal?
Researchers investigated #OxygenIsotopes in cherts and found they record how much heat was released from the hot interior of early Earth to their location on the seafloor: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html...
#Geology: doi.org/10.1130/G532...
