Context:
Scientists Obtain Deepest Rock Sample from Earth’s Mantle
The Project:
- Scientists on the US vessel JOIDES Resolution have drilled around 1.2 Kms meters below the Atlantis Massif
- Drilling was done under International Ocean Discovery Program
- India is a funding partner
- Significance –
- Samples helps us understand upper mantle’s composition, chemical reactions between these rock and seawater over a range of temperatures
- These processes might have played a role in the origin of life on Earth billions of years ago.
- Previous drilling was not deep enough to look for organisms such as heat-loving bacteria that might dwell farther down
Atlantis Massif:
- An underwater mountain near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
- An example of Mantle rock
- Usually inaccessible, except in areas of seafloor spreading, where Earth’s tectonic plates slowly move apart.
Interior of the Earth:
Source: DD News
Previous Year Question
With reference to the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea, consider the following statements:
1. A coastal state has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured from baseline determined in accordance with the convention.
2. Ships of all states, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.
3. The Exclusive Economic Zone shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
[UPSC Civil Service Exam – 2022 Prelims]
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (d)
