I believe it's a shame that the drippings do not create the basis of a mantle-stalagmite. That would be a neat feature to study.
'Our continent keeps on dripping, dripping, dripping, into the mantle...'
Doo-doo dah doo-doo.
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Is there currently any type of ground penetrating radar or other device which could physically confirm the model's output?
It is not just model output. The paper uses seismic tomography to image it:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01671-x
The abstract mentions:
> Here we present a full-waveform seismic tomographic model
So presumably, you would actually do the seismic tomography (if they haven't already). Instead of radar, you use the waves from earthquakes!
it usually starts with a stalactite, then a stalagmite; by the way is there a mnemonic for the two words in English? something like t for tumbling and m for mounting...
I always remember it with “g” for ground and “c” for ceiling… haha but I do like the mites and tites one too in a neighbor comment :)
The one I've heard is 'just remember ants in pants: the mites go up, the tites come down'
Stalactites hold “tight” to the ceiling.
Courtesy of a 30-year-old Bill Nye episode.
I also heard this lame one: stalagmites might hang, but they don't.
I memorized it as "c" for "ceiling" and "g" for "ground."
If I needed a mnemonic today, just remember that drops slowly drip from stalactites, like drops in a chemical titration procedure.
Tights go down and mites go up.
T from the top
hope it holds tight...
Steve Miller song at the speed of continental drift.