article_snippet: A new 'superviscous' layer in Earth’s lower mantle has been discovered.
article_snippet: This new layer is a ‘superviscous’ region, where liquids are under such intense pressure that liquids are extremely stiff.
article_snippet: In laboratory experiments, The researchers found that an abundant mineral in the mantle called ferropericlase began to increase in strength at pressures equivalent to those 410 miles (660km) underground - the upper-lower mantle boundary.
article_snippet: To put that in perspective, on the pascal-second scale the viscosity of water is 0.001, peanut butter is 200 and this stiff mantle layer is 1,000 billion billion.
article_snippet: Scientists believe the average temperature and pressure 410 miles (660km) deep at the upper-lower mantle boundary is 1,540°C (2,800°F) and 235,000 times the atmospheric pressure on Earth's surface.
article_snippet: Dr Lowell Miyagi said that at the newly discovered viscous layer's stiffest area, 930 miles (1,500km) deep, the temperature averages 2,150°C (3,900°F) and the pressure is 640,000 times the air pressure at Earth's surface.
article_snippet: The finding was a surprise because researchers previously believed that viscosity varied only a little bit at temperatures and pressures in the planet's interior.
article_snippet: Essentially, we have discovered a new layer in Earth.