Thermal convection and the convective regime diagram in super-Earths

Abstract

Numerical models of bottom-heated thermal convection of highly compressible fluid with strongly temperature-dependent viscosity are presented to understand how the Rayleigh number Ra and the temperature dependence of viscosity exert control over the regimes of thermal convection in massive super-Earths. Thermodynamic properties of mantle materials are pressure dependent, but other material properties including the viscosity are not. A stagnant lid develops along the surface of the planet, when the viscosity contrast across the mantle due to temperature dependence r exceeds 106 at high Rayleigh number relevant to super-Earths. The threshold in r, which increases with increasing Ra, is higher than that expected for the Earth from earlier Boussinesq models. The efficiency of convective heat transport measured by the Nusselt number Nu is considerably lower than that expected from Boussinesq models; Nu depends on Ra and r as Nu = 59 ⋅ r− 0.23 ⋅ (Ra/109)0.27, when r ≤ 105. Strong adiabatic compression significantly reduces the activity of hot ascending plumes especially at high r. At r relevant for super-Earths, hot ascending plumes lose their buoyancy on their way and hardly reach the surface boundary: hot spot volcanism due to ascending plumes is probably suppressed on super-Earths. The lithosphere is considerably thicker than that suggested by earlier Boussinesq models and is unlikely to show a plate-like behavior.