Mantle plumes and their role in Earth processes

AAP Koppers, TW Becker, MG Jackson… - Nature Reviews Earth & …, 2021 - nature.com
The existence of mantle plumes was first proposed in the 1970s to explain intra-plate,
hotspot volcanism, yet owing to difficulties in resolving mantle upwellings with geophysical …

A review of large low shear velocity provinces and ultra low velocity zones

AK McNamara - Tectonophysics, 2019 - Elsevier
Seismic tomography reveals 2 extensive regions in the lowermost mantle, beneath Africa
and the Pacific, that exhibit lower-than-average seismic wave speeds. These regions have …

Plume generation zones at the margins of large low shear velocity provinces on the core–mantle boundary

K Burke, B Steinberger, TH Torsvik… - Earth and Planetary …, 2008 - Elsevier
Large Igneous Province (LIP) eruption sites of the past 300 My lie vertically above 1% slow
shear wave velocity (Vs) contours bounding the African and Pacific Large Low Shear …

Viscosity jump in Earth's mid-mantle

ML Rudolph, V Lekić, C Lithgow-Bertelloni - Science, 2015 - science.org
The viscosity structure of Earth's deep mantle affects the thermal evolution of Earth, the
ascent of mantle plumes, settling of subducted oceanic lithosphere, and the mixing of …

High accuracy mantle convection simulation through modern numerical methods–II: realistic models and problems

T Heister, J Dannberg, R Gassmöller… - Geophysical Journal …, 2017 - academic.oup.com
Computations have helped elucidate the dynamics of Earth's mantle for several decades
already. The numerical methods that underlie these simulations have greatly evolved within …

Thermochemical structures beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean

AK McNamara, S Zhong - Nature, 2005 - nature.com
Large low-velocity seismic anomalies have been detected in the Earth's lower mantle
beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean that are not easily explained by temperature variations …

A benchmark study on mantle convection in a 3‐D spherical shell using CitcomS

S Zhong, A McNamara, E Tan… - Geochemistry …, 2008 - Wiley Online Library
As high‐performance computing facilities and sophisticated modeling software become
available, modeling mantle convection in a three‐dimensional (3‐D) spherical shell …

Tracking deep mantle reservoirs with ultra-low velocity zones

AK McNamara, EJ Garnero, S Rost - Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2010 - Elsevier
Some regions of the Earth's lowermost mantle exhibit anomalous seismic properties within a
thin zone, less than tens of kilometers in thickness, that directly overlies the core-mantle …

A tectonic-rules-based mantle reference frame since 1 billion years ago–implications for supercontinent cycles and plate–mantle system evolution

RD Müller, N Flament, J Cannon, MG Tetley… - Solid Earth, 2022 - se.copernicus.org
Understanding the long-term evolution of Earth's plate–mantle system is reliant on absolute
plate motion models in a mantle reference frame, but such models are both difficult to …

Constraints on thermochemical convection of the mantle from plume heat flux, plume excess temperature, and upper mantle temperature

S Zhong - Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 2006 - Wiley Online Library
Seismic and geochemical observations indicate a compositionally heterogeneous mantle in
the lower mantle, suggesting a layered mantle. The volume and composition of each layer …