Extra layer of tectonic plates discovered within Earth's mantle, scientists say

Preliminary findings suggest that a mysterious series of earthquakes in the Pacific could be down to previously undetected plates

Scientists say they have found a possible layer of tectonic plates within the Earth's mantle which could explain a mysterious series of earthquakes in the Pacific.

For more than half a century scientists have known that continents drift over the surface of our planet, and that the ocean floor tears apart in their wake, with magma from the mantle filling the gap. At the other end of the process, where tectonic plates converge, oceanic plates plunge into the deeper mantle in a process called subduction.