Overview

• Researchers at the Texas at Austin have identified a phenomenon called cratonic dripping under the Midwest United States, where rock detaches from the underside of Earth's crust and sinks into the mantle.
• The process is driven by the remnants of the ancient Farallon Plate, which has been subducting under North America for 200 million years and is now redirecting mantle flows beneath the continent.
• Advanced seismic imaging and computer models, using EarthScope data, have visualized this phenomenon for the first time, confirming its connection to the Farallon Plate.
• Cratonic dripping is extremely slow, occurring over millions of years, and does not pose any immediate threat to the stability of the North American continent.
• The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, provide valuable insights into the dynamic processes shaping Earth’s continents and the evolution of the planet over immense timescales.