Mantle waves buoy continents upward and bedeck them with diamonds
The waves may explain the origin of dramatic plateaus far from tectonic plate boundaries
![Brown mountains stand in the background, with golden grass covered foothills in the foreground.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/081524_no_cratonwaves_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Certain high landforms such as southern Africa’s Drakensberg escarpment (shown) may form when waves in Earth’s mantle gradually excoriate a continent’s keel, buoying up the surface.
Jean Braun/GFZ Potsdam