(MENAFN) Continents do not merely split apart at their surface — they also detach from beneath, fueling volcanic activity in the oceans, according to a study released Tuesday in Nature Geoscience.

Scientists discovered that portions of continental material are slowly stripped away from the base of the landmass and transported into the oceanic mantle — the hot, mostly solid layer beneath the seafloor that moves gradually over time.

Through computer modeling, researchers demonstrated that as tectonic forces stretch the Earth’s crust, they initiate a slow “mantle wave” far below the continents.

This rolling motion, occurring 150 to 200 kilometers beneath the surface, progressively removes fragments of the continents’ deep roots.

Over tens of millions of years, these fragments migrate more than 1,000 kilometers laterally into the oceanic mantle, where they persist in feeding volcanic eruptions.

The team reinforced its model by examining chemical and geological indicators from volcanic structures in the Indian Ocean associated with the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana over 100 million years ago.

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