Hot stuff under southern Chile

摘要

The isotopes of the uranium decay series are a wonderful tool for exploring geological processes that have taken place on the Earth's surface and in its interior. On page 566 of this issue, Sigmars-son and colleagues describe how they have taken advantage of these isotopes to 'image' the melting of a slab of oceanic plate being subducted along a stretch of southwestern South America. The results tell us how melting of the slab relates to volcanism at the surface, and may also bear on our knowledge of the generation of continental crust in the distant past.