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Abstract:
A mantle plume is generally considered to be a blob of relatively hot, low-density mantle that rises because of its buoyancy. The existence of mantle plumes in the Earth was first suggested by J. Tuzo Wilson (1963) as an explanation of oceanic island chains, such as the Hawaiian–Emperor chain, that change progressively in age along the chain. Wilson proposed that as a lithospheric plate moves across a fixed hotspot (the mantle plume), volcanism is recorded as a linear array of volcanic seamounts and islands parallel to the direction in which the plate is moving. Morgan (1971) championed the idea of mantle plumes, suggesting that flood basalts formed by melting of plume heads, whereas hotspot volcanic chains were derived from partial melting of plume tails. He also showed that closely spaced hotspots on the same plate had not moved significantly relative to each other and suggested this was evidence that the plumes had come from the core–mantle boundary (Morgan 1972). Morgan noted that some hotspot tracks, like the Mascarene–Chagos–Laccadive track in the Indian Ocean, are traceable to flood basalts and can be used to reconstruct paths of opening ocean basins. Richards, Duncan, and Courtillot (1989) recognized at least 10 flood basalt–hotspot track pairs that formed from mantle plumes in the last 250 Myr.Keywords:
Hotspot (geology)
Mantle plume
Flood basalt
Seamount
Hotspot (geology)
Mantle plume
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Mantle plume
Hotspot (geology)
Flood basalt
Asthenosphere
Dike
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The Earth's biggest magmatic events are believed to originate from massive melting when hot mantle plumes rising from the lowermost mantle reach the base of the lithosphere. Classical models predict large plume heads that cause kilometre-scale surface uplift, and narrow (100 km radius) plume tails that remain in the mantle after the plume head spreads below the lithosphere. However, in many cases, such uplifts and narrow plume tails are not observed. Here using numerical models, we show that the issue can be resolved if major mantle plumes contain up to 15-20% of recycled oceanic crust in a form of dense eclogite, which drastically decreases their buoyancy and makes it depth dependent. We demonstrate that, despite their low buoyancy, large enough thermochemical plumes can rise through the whole mantle causing only negligible surface uplift. Their tails are bulky (>200 km radius) and remain in the upper mantle for 100 millions of years.
Mantle plume
Hotspot (geology)
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Mantle plume
Hotspot (geology)
Neutral buoyancy
Panache
Ridge push
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Mantle plume
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Hotspot (geology)
Seamount
Mantle plume
Asthenosphere
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Mantle plumes are blobs of relatively hot, low‐density mantle that because of their buoyancy, rise through the surrounding mantle. The existence of mantle plumes in the Earth was first suggested in 1963 by J. Tuzo Wilson at the University of Toronto as an explanation of oceanic island chains, such as the Hawaiian and Emperor volcanic chains, which change progressively in age along the chain. Wilson proposed that as lithospheric plates move over fixed hot spots (the mantle plumes), volcanism is recorded as a linear array of volcanic seamounts and islands parallel to the direction the plate is moving. In 1971, W. Jason Morgan at Princeton University suggested that flood basalts were formed by the melting of plume heads, whereas hot spot volcanic chains were derived from partial melting of plume tails. He also showed that closely spaced hot spots on the same plate had not moved significantly relative to each other, and he suggested this was evidence that the plumes had come from the core‐mantle boundary.
Mantle plume
Hotspot (geology)
Flood basalt
Seamount
Cite
Citations (32)