Low Shear-wave Velocity Provinces Research Articles

Modelling Earth’s surface topography: Decomposition of the static and dynamic components

Contrasting results on the magnitude of the dynamic component of topography motivate us to analyse the sources of uncertainties affecting long wavelength topography modelling. We obtain a range of mantle density structures from thermo-chemical interpretation of available seismic tomography models. We account for pressure, temperature and compositional effects as inferred by mineral physics to relate seismic velocity with density. Mantle density models are coupled to crustal density distributions obtained with a similar methodology. We compute isostatic topography and associated residual topography maps and perform instantaneous mantle flow modelling to calculate the dynamic topography. We explore the effects of proposed mantle 1-D viscosities and also test a 3D pressure- and temperature-dependent viscosity model. We find that the patterns of residual and dynamic topography are robust, with an average correlation coefficient (r) of respectively ∼0.74 and ∼0.71, upper-lower quartile ranges of 0.86–0.65 for residual topography and 0.83–0.62 for dynamic topography maps. The amplitudes are, on the contrary, poorly constrained. For the static component, the inferred density models of lithospheric mantle give an interquartile range of isostatic topography that is always higher than 100m, reaching 1.7km in some locations, and averaging ∼720m. Crustal density models satisfying the same compressional velocity structure lead to variations in isostatic topography averaging 350m, with peaks of 1km in thick crustal regions, and always higher than 100m. The uncertainties on isostatic topography are strong enough to mask, if present, the contribution of mantle convection to surface topography. For the dynamic component, we obtain a peak-to-peak dynamic topography amplitude exceeding 3km for all our mantle density and viscosity models. These extremely high values would be associated with a magnitude of geoid undulations that is not in agreement with observations. Considering chemical heterogeneities in correspondence with the lower mantle Large Low Shear wave Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) helps to decrease the peak-to-peak amplitudes of dynamic topography and geoid, but significantly reduces the correlation between synthetic and observed geoid. The correlation coefficients between all our residual and dynamic topography maps (a total of 220 and 198, respectively) is <0.55 (average=∼0.19). The correlation slightly improves when considering only the very long-wavelength components of the maps (average=∼0.23). We therefore conclude that a robust determination of dynamic topography is not feasible since current uncertainties affecting crustal density, mantle density and mantle viscosity are still too large. A truly interdisciplinary approach, combining constraints from the geological record with a multi-methodological interpretation of geophysical observations, is required to tackle the challenging task of linking the surface topography to deep processes.

Managing metal the core left behind

Geophysics At the very base of Earth's rocky mantle lie two distinct regions called large low shear wave velocity provinces (LLSVPs). Zhang et al. suggest a very old origin for the LLSVPs by tying their formation to Earth's 4.5 billion years ago. Tiny amounts of metallic melt trapped at the base of

A Devonian >2000-km-long dolerite dyke swarm-belt and associated basalts along the Urals-Novozemelian fold-belt: part of an East-European (Baltica) LIP tracing the Tuzo Superswell

Two dolerite dyke swarms are recognized along and paralleling the Ural Mountains, Russia. The Uralian swarm is 1400-km long (2300-km long if traced from its inferred plume centre). Further north, the Pay-Khoy swarm can be traced through the Pay-Khoy–Novaya Zemlya fold belt for a distance of c. 250 km (800-km long if traced from its inferred plume centre). An Upper Devonian age for volcanism associated with the Pay-Khoy swarm is well constrained by isotopic data. A Devonian age for the Uralian swarm was until now supported mainly by broad geological field relationships between the dykes and host rocks, i.e. dykes locally cut Proterozoic, Ordovician to Devonian sedimentary rocks, but never Carboniferous sequences. Rare isotopic age determinations also support an Upper Devonian age for the weakly altered dykes. Herein, a new precise U–Pb baddeleyite age determination of 377.2 ± 0.9 Ma is reported from a large (>50-m wide) gabbro–dolerite dyke cutting the uppermost Proterozoic in the Middle Urals. This result confirms a predicted Upper Devonian age for the dyke and gives additional support to the Devonian age of the Uralian swarm. Given this precise U–Pb age, the Uralian swarm is correlated with the Pay-Khoy swarm, Devonian basalts which are widely distributed across the East European (Baltica) Craton, as well as alkaline magmatic rocks and kimberlites of more restricted distribution. Collectively, this Devonian magmatism can be combined into a Kola–Dnieper Large Igneous Province (LIP) with two proposed mantle plume centres: (1) a southern centre at the intersection of the Dnieper-Donets aulacogen and Uralian swarm and (2) a northern centre in the Barents Sea, at the convergence between the Pay-Khoy dyke swarm and an unnamed swarm extending from the northern coast of the Kola Peninsula, as well as converging rift/graben zones. Furthermore, this Kola–Dnieper LIP of the East European (Baltica) Craton, with its two plume centres, is approximately coeval with the Yakutsk–Vilyui LIP and its plume centre on the eastern side of the Siberian Craton. These two LIPs were in close proximity at that time and their three plumes may represent a superplume derived from an active part of a single deep mantle LLSVP (Large Low Shear Wave Velocity Province), the so-called Tuzo superswell.

The absolute paleoposition of the North China Block during the Middle Ordovician

Present-day hot spots and Phanerozoic large igneous provinces (LIPs) and kimberlites mainly occur at the edges of the projections of Large Low Shear Wave Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) on the earth’s surface. If a plate contains accurately dated LIPs or kimberlites, it is possible to obtain the absolute paleoposition of the plate from the LIP/kimberlite and paleomagnetic data. The presence of Middle Ordovician kimberlites in the North China Block provides an opportunity to determine the absolute paleoposition of the block during the Middle Ordovician. In addition to paleobiogeographical information and the results of previous work on global plate reconstruction for the Ordovician Period, we selected published paleomagnetic data for the North China Block during the Middle Ordovician and determined the most reasonable absolute paleoposition of the North China Block during the Middle Ordovician: paleolatitude of approximately 16.6°S to 19.1°S and paleolongitude of approximately 10°W. The block was located between the Siberian Plate and Gondwana, close to the Siberian Plate. During the Cambrian and Ordovician periods, the North China Block may have moved toward the Siberian Plate and away from the Australian Plate.

Crustal structure of northwest Namibia: Evidence for plume-rift-continent interaction

The causes for the formation of large igneous provinces and hotspot trails are still a matter of considerable dispute. Seismic tomography and other studies suggest that hot mantle material rising from the core-mantle boundary (CMB) might play a significant role in the formation of such hotspot trails. An important area to verify this concept is the South Atlantic region, with hotspot trails that spatially coincide with one of the largest low-velocity regions at the CMB, the African large low shear-wave velocity province. The Walvis Ridge started to form during the separation of the South American and African continents at ca. 130 Ma as a consequence of Gondwana breakup. Here, we present the first deep-seismic sounding images of the crustal structure from the landfall area of the Walvis Ridge at the Namibian coast to constrain processes of plume-lithosphere interaction and the formation of continental flood basalts (Parana and Etendeka continental flood basalts) and associated intrusive rocks. Our study identified a narrow region (<100 km) of high-seismic-velocity anomalies in the middle and lower crust, which we interpret as a massive mafic intrusion into the northern Namibian continental crust. Seismic crustal reflection imaging shows a flat Moho as well as reflectors connecting the high-velocity body with shallow crustal structures that we speculate to mark potential feeder channels of the Etendeka continental flood basalt. We suggest that the observed massive but localized mafic intrusion into the lower crust results from similar-sized variations in the lithosphere (i.e., lithosphere thickness or preexisting structures)

U–Pb geochronology and Sr/Nd isotope compositions of groundmass perovskite from the newly discovered Jurassic Chidliak kimberlite field, Baffin Island, Canada

We report the U–Pb age and Sr/Nd isotope composition for perovskite isolated from forty six kimberlite samples located in the newly discovered Chidliak field on Baffin Island, Canada. The minimum duration of kimberlite magmatism in this field was 17.9 m.y. from 157.0 to 139.1 Ma and represents a new Jurassic kimberlite field in NE Canada. The most prolific period of kimberlite magmatism occurred between 152 and 142 Ma (80% of dated kimberlites). Kimberlitic perovskite from these intrusions display a range in 87Sr/86Sr (0.7043 to 0.7030) and εNdT values (+3.9 to −0.4), overlapping the isotopic field previously defined for southern African Group I kimberlites.The ages and isotopic compositions obtained for Chidliak magmatism are identical to a number of Jurassic kimberlite fields in eastern North America and SW Greenland. Some of this Jurassic kimberlite magmatism has a link to one or more mantle plume hotspot tracks but the Chidliak kimberlites have an origin in the deep subcontinental lithospheric mantle and are part of a Jurassic magmatic province that erupted along both margins of Davis Strait; linked to upwelling asthenosphere, continental rifting, and Mesozoic–Cenozoic development of oceanic crust in the Labrador Sea basin. In contrast, the location of other eastern North American Jurassic kimberlites when plotted on a Jurassic continental reconstruction aligns closely to the northernmost projection of contours 2–4 of the African large low shearwave velocity province, consistent with a link to mantle plumes derived from the African mantle plume generating zone.

On the relationship between volcanic hotspot locations, the reconstructed eruption sites of large igneous provinces and deep mantle seismic structure

It has been proposed that volcanic hotspots and the reconstructed eruption sites of large igneous provinces (LIPs) are preferentially located above the margins of two deep mantle large low shear-wave velocity provinces (LLSVPs), beneath the African continent and the Pacific Ocean. This spatial correlation has been interpreted to imply that LLSVPs represent long-lived, dense, stable thermo-chemical piles, which preferentially trigger mantle plumes at their edges and exert a strong influence on lower-mantle dynamics. Here, we re-analyse this spatial correlation, demonstrating that it is not global: it is strong for the African LLSVP, but weak for the Pacific. Moreover, Monte Carlo based statistical analyses indicate that the observed distribution of African and Pacific hotspots/reconstructed LIPs is consistent with the hypothesis that they are drawn from a sample that is uniformly distributed across the entire areal extent of each LLSVP: the stronger spatial correlation with the margin of the African LLSVP is expected as a simple consequence of its elongated geometry, where more than 75% of the LLSVP interior lies within 10° of its margin. Our results imply that the geographical distribution of hotspots and reconstructed LIPs does not indicate the extent to which chemical heterogeneity influences lower-mantle dynamics.

Thermochemical piles in the lowermost mantle and their evolution

Two Large Low Shear-wave Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) lie beneath Southern Africa and Southern Pacific Ocean. These LLSVPs may be thermochemical in origin. Studying the dynamic evolution of these thermochemical piles will help us understand the earth’s present structure and history. We investigate the entrainment and evolution of an initially isolated high viscosity thermochemical pile in detail. The entrainment rate of the dense pile increases with time until it being totally entrained. The pile’s survival time does not monotonically varies with its viscosity. The chemical pile obstructs the horizontal flow along CMB and turns it into upwelling flow. This may help explain the observation of plume generation zones. The morphology and location of the dense pile oscillate with time. A high viscosity pile can keep its location and morphology roughly unchanged for hundreds of millions years if the convective structure in the surrounding mantle keeps steady.

A new conceptual model for whole mantle convection and the origin of hotspot plumes

A new conceptual model of mantle convection is constructed for consideration of the origin of hotspot plumes, using recent evidence from seismology, high-pressure experiments, geodynamic modeling, geoid inversion studies, and post-glacial rebound analyses. This conceptual model delivers several key points. Firstly, some of the small-scale mantle upwellings observed as hotspots on the Earth's surface originate at the base of the mantle transition zone (MTZ), in which the Archean granitic continental material crust (TTG; tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite) with abundant radiogenic elements is accumulated. Secondly, the TTG crust and the subducted oceanic crust that have accumulated at the base of MTZ could act as thermal or mechanical insulators, leading to the formation of a hot and less viscous layer just beneath the MTZ; which may enhance the instability of plume generation at the base of the MTZ. Thirdly, the origin of some hotspot plumes is isolated from the large low shear-wave velocity provinces (LLSVPs) under Africa and the South Pacific. I consider that the conceptual model explains why almost all the hotspots around Africa are located above the margins of the African LLSVP. Because a planetary-scale trench system surrounding a “Pangean cell” has been spatially stable throughout the Phanerozoic, a large amount of the oceanic crustal layer is likely to be trapped in the MTZ under the Pangean cell. Therefore, under Africa, almost all of the hotspot plumes originate from the base of the MTZ, where a large amount of TTG and/or oceanic crusts has accumulated. This conceptual model may explain the fact that almost all the hotspots around Africa are located on margins above the African LLSVP. It is also considered that some of the hotspot plumes under the South Pacific thread through the TTG/oceanic crusts accumulated around the bottom of the MTZ, and some have their roots in the South Pacific LLSVP while others originate from the MTZ. The numerical simulations of mantle convection also speculate that the Earth's mantle convection is not thermally double-layered at the ringwoodite to perovskite+magnesiowüstite (Rw→Pv+Mw) phase boundary, because of its gentle negative Clapeyron slope. This is in contrast with some traditional images of mantle convection that have independent convection cells between the upper and lower mantle. These numerical studies speculate that the generation of stagnant slab at the base of the MTZ (as seismically observed globally) may not be due to the negative Clapeyron slope, and may instead be related to a viscosity increase (i.e., a viscosity jump) at the Rw→Pv+Mw phase boundary, or to a chemically stratified boundary between the upper and the lower mantle, as suggested by a recent high-pressure experiment.

Heterogeneities from the first 100 million years recorded in deep mantle noble gases from the Northern Lau Back-arc Basin

Heavy noble gases can record long-lasting heterogeneities in the mantle, because Ne, Ar, and Xe isotopes are produced from extant (U, Th, K) and extinct (129I and 244Pu) radionuclides. However, the presence of ubiquitous atmospheric contamination in basalts, particularly for ocean island basalts (OIBs) that sample the Earth's deep mantle, have largely hampered precise characterization of the mantle source compositions. Here we present new high-precision noble gas data from gas-rich basalts erupted along the Rochambeau Rift (RR) in the northwestern corner of the Lau Basin. The strong influence of a deep mantle plume in the Rochambeau source is apparent from low 4He/3He ratios down to 25,600 (3He/4He of 28.1RA).We find that the Rochambeau source is characterized by low ratios of radiogenic to non-radiogenic nuclides of Ne, Ar, and Xe (i.e., low 21Ne/22Ne, 40Ar/36Ar, and 129Xe/130Xe) compared to the mantle source of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs). High-precision xenon isotopic measurements indicate that the lower 129Xe/130Xe ratios in the Rochambeau source cannot be explained solely by mixing atmospheric xenon with MORB-type xenon; nor can fission-produced Xe be added to MORB Xe to produce the compositions seen in the Rochambeau basalts. Deconvolution of fissiogenic xenon isotopes demonstrate a higher proportion of Pu- fission derived Xe in the Rochambeau source compared to the MORB source. Therefore, both I/Xe and Pu/Xe ratios are different between OIB and MORB sources. Our observations require heterogeneous volatile accretion and a lower degree of processing for the plume source compared to the MORB source. Since differences in 129Xe/130Xe ratios have to be produced while 129I is still alive, OIB and MORB sources must have been processed at different rates for the first 100 million years (Myr) of Solar System history, and subsequent to this period, the two reservoirs have not been homogenized.In combination with recent results from the Iceland plume, our noble gas observations require the formation and preservation of less-degassed, early-formed (pre-4.45Ga) heterogeneities in the Earth's deep mantle. Consequently, the primitive noble gas reservoir sampled by mantle plumes cannot be created solely through sequestration of recycled slabs or undegassed melts at the base of the mantle during the past 4.4Ga. Finally, if the more primitive, less degassed heterogeneities reside in the Large Low Shear Wave Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs), then LLSVPs must be long-lasting features of the deep mantle and are not composed exclusively of recycled material.

Parallel volcano trends and geochemical asymmetry of the Society Islands hotspot track

Research Article| January 01, 2013 Parallel volcano trends and geochemical asymmetry of the Society Islands hotspot track Jarod A. Payne; Jarod A. Payne * Department of Earth Sciences, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA *E-mail: jacksonm@bu.edu. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Matthew G. Jackson; Matthew G. Jackson Department of Earth Sciences, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Paul S. Hall Paul S. Hall Department of Earth Sciences, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Geology (2013) 41 (1): 19–22. https://doi.org/10.1130/G33273.1 Article history received: 03 Feb 2012 rev-recd: 08 Jun 2012 accepted: 18 Jun 2012 first online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Jarod A. Payne, Matthew G. Jackson, Paul S. Hall; Parallel volcano trends and geochemical asymmetry of the Society Islands hotspot track. Geology 2013;; 41 (1): 19–22. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G33273.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Volcanism in three Pacific Ocean hotspot tracks, Hawaii, Samoa, and the Marquesas Islands, has been shown to be organized into two geographically distinct, subparallel trends. On all three tracks, the pairs of volcanic trends are geochemically distinct, with magmas from the southern trend possessing an enriched isotopic signature (e.g., lower 143Nd/144Nd and higher 87Sr/86Sr and 208Pb*/206Pb*) relative to the northern trend. The systematic difference between northern and southern trends at these three hotspots, with the possible exception of Samoa, has been attributed to their location near the northern boundary of the DUPAL belt (acronym after Dupré and Allègre), a region of isotopic enrichment in the Southern Hemisphere mantle that coincides with a seismic large low shear-wave velocity province in the lowermost mantle beneath the Pacific. This model invokes azimuthal, bilateral zoning within the plume conduits beneath each hotspot; the southern side of the plume conduits entrain isotopically enriched material from the DUPAL region, and the northern sides entrain comparatively depleted mantle. Here we present evidence of volcanism with subparallel trends in a fourth Pacific hotspot track (the Society Islands archipelago) located on the southern side of the DUPAL belt. As with the other three hotspots, magmas from the northern and southern volcanic trends are geochemically distinct. However, in the Society Islands the loci of enrichment are reversed, i.e., the northern trend is isotopically enriched relative to the southern. This reversed pattern of enrichment at the Society Islands archipelago is consistent with the hypothesis that spatial variations in enrichment at each Pacific hotspot reflect its position relative to the DUPAL belt. This indicates that volcanism at hotspots may be used as a window on the geometry of deep mantle reservoirs. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Hotspot trails in the South Atlantic controlled by plume and plate tectonic processes

Seamount chains in the southeast Atlantic Ocean are thought to have formed above plumes sourced from the deep mantle. Dating of lavas erupted along the trails show that the formation and distribution of the seamount chains is also controlled by the motion and structure of the African Plate. The origin of hotspot trails is controversial1. Explanations range from deep mantle plumes rising from the core–mantle boundary2 (CMB) to shallow plate cracking. However, these mechanisms cannot explain uniquely the scattered hotspot trails distributed across a 2,000-km-wide swell in the sea floor of the southeast Atlantic Ocean3. This swell projects down to one of the two largest and deepest distinct regions at the CMB, the Africa Low Shear Wave Velocity Province4,5,6. Here we use 40Ar/39Ar isotopic analyses to date lava samples erupted at several hotspot trails across the Atlantic swell. We combine the eruption ages with an analysis of the structure and age of the sea floor, and find that the trails formed synchronously, in a pattern consistent with movement of the African Plate over plumes rising from the edge of the Africa Low Shear Wave Velocity Province. However, we also find that the seamounts initially formed only at the edge of the swell, where the oceanic crust was spreading apart. Later, about 44 million years ago, the hotspot trails began to cross the swell, but only in locations where the lithosphere was sufficiently young and thin that magma could reach the surface. We conclude that the distribution of hotspot trails in the southeast Atlantic Ocean is controlled by the interplay between deep-sourced mantle plumes and the motion and structure of the African Plate.

Why is the areoid like the residual geoid?

The equipotential figures of Earth (residual geoid), and of Mars (areoid) are characterized by pairs of elevated and pairs of depressed antipodal equatorial regions. Elevated regions of the residual geoid lie vertically above the two Large Low Shear Wave Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) on the Core Mantle Boundary (CMB). There is evidence that the LLSVPs are dense, physicochemically distinct, and have been stable in their positions with respect to each other and to the Earth's spin axis for at least ∼550 My. The final event in the planetary‐scale development of the Earth's structure was the moon‐forming event and the comparable event on Mars is thought by many to have been the Borealis basin‐forming impact. We attribute the formation of the LLSVPs and postulated comparable masses underlying the elevated regions of the areoid on the CMB of Mars, to the immediate after‐effects of those two giant impacts.

The primitive nature of large low shear-wave velocity provinces

The lowermost (>2400km) Earth's mantle mapped by seismic tomography is strongly heterogeneous, the most striking feature being two large regions where shear-wave velocity drops by a few percent compared to averaged mantle. Additional seismic observations indicate that these structures cannot result from purely thermal effects. Compositional anomalies are required to fully explain seismic observations, but their exact nature is still debated. Here, we show that low shear-wave velocity provinces unlikely consist of recycled oceanic crust (MORB). We calculated seismic sensitivity to high-pressure MORB, and found that in the lowermost mantle shear-wave velocity increases with increasing fraction of MORB. Therefore, unless they are heated up to unrealistic temperatures, high-pressure MORB would induce high shear-wave velocity, in contradiction with the observations. Instead, material enriched in iron by ∼3.0% and in (Mg,Fe)-perovskite by ∼20% compared to regular mantle provides a good explanation for the low shear-wave velocity provinces and for the high bulk-sound velocities observed in the same areas. In addition, several geochemical and geodynamical arguments support a primitive origin for this material. Low shear-wave velocity provinces may thus consist of reservoirs of primitive material that have differentiated early in the Earth's history.

A trace element perspective on the source of ocean island basalts (OIB) and fate of subducted ocean crust (SOC) and mantle lithosphere (SML)

We analyze the first-order observations, basic concepts and explicit/implicit assumptions built into the three major hypotheses for the enriched component(s) in the source of ocean island basalts (OIB) in terms of incompatible trace elements: (1) subducted ocean crust (SOC), (2) subducted continental sediments, and (3) mantle metasomatism. SOC is compositionally too depleted (i.e., [La/Sm] N <1) to be the major source material for OIB that are highly incompatible element enriched (e.g., [La/Sm] N »1). We cannot rule out the contribution of continental sediments as an enriched OIB source component; however, except for two known cases that are yet to be further investigated, there is no convincing evidence for any significant sediment contribution to the petrogenesis of global OIB. Continental materials through subduction erosion can certainly contribute to mantle compositional heterogeneity and may contribute towards some enriched component in OIB source regions. Overall, OIB are not only enriched in incompatible elements, but also enriched in the progressively more incompatible elements, with their inferred source material being variably more enriched than the primitive mantle. These observations require that the OIB sources are pre-enriched by lowdegree (Low-F) melt metasomatism. The interface between the growing oceanic lithosphere and the top of the seismic low velocity zone (LVZ) represents a natural peridotite solidus and is the ideal site for major low-F melt induced metasomatism. The ∼ 70 Myr history of oceanic lithosphere growth to its full thickness of ∼ 90 km records the history of mantle metasomatism, resulting in the deep portion of the oceanic lithosphere being an important enriched geochemical reservoir. We argue that ancient subducted metasomatized mantle lithosphere (SML) provides the major source component for OIB. The metasomatic agent is an H 2 O-CO 2 -rich silicate melt derived from within the LVZ. Upward migration and concentration of the melt at the lithosphere-LVZ interface (i.e., the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary or LAB) results in chemical stratification in the LVZ with the deeper portion being more depleted (i.e., DMM), providing the source for MORB. The widespread metasomatized peridotites, pyroxenites and hornblendites from xenolith suites exhumed from the deep lithosphere (both oceanic and continental) and in orogenic peridotite massifs confirm the role of a low-F silicate melt phase as the metasomatic agent. The SOC, if subducted into the lower mantle, will be too dense to return in bulk to the upper mantle source regions of oceanic basalts, and may have contributed to the two large low shear wave velocity provinces (LLSVPs) at the base of the mantle beneath the Pacific and Africa over Earth's history.

Plate Tectonics, the Wilson Cycle, and Mantle Plumes: Geodynamics from the Top

By 1968, J. Tuzo Wilson had identified three basic elements of geodynamics: plate tectonics, mantle plumes of deep origin, and the Wilson Cycle of ocean opening and closing, which provides evidence of plate tectonic behavior in times before quantifiable plate rotations. My pre-1968 experience disposed me to try to play a part in testing these ideas. Most recently, with colleagues, I have been able to show that deep-seated plumes of the past ∼5.5 × 108 years have risen only from narrow plume generation zones (PGZs) at the core-mantle boundary (CMB) mostly on the edges of two Large Low Shear wave Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) that have been stable, antipodal, and equatorial in their present positions for hundreds of millions of years and perhaps much longer. A need now is to develop an understanding of Earth that embodies plate tectonics, deeply subducted slabs, and stable LLSVPs with plumes that rise from PGZs on the CMB.

Electrical conductivities of pyrolitic mantle and MORB materials up to the lowermost mantle conditions

The electrical conductivities of natural pyrolitic mantle and MORB materials were measured at high pressure and temperature covering the entire lower mantle conditions up to 133 GPa and 2650 K. In contrast to the previous laboratory-based models, our data demonstrate that the conductivity of pyrolite does not increase monotonically but varies dramatically with depth in the lower mantle; it drops due to high-spin to low-spin transition of iron in both perovskite and ferropericlase in the mid-lower mantle and increases sharply across the perovskite to post-perovskite phase transition at the D″ layer. We also found that the MORB exhibits much higher conductivity than pyrolite. The depth–conductivity profile measured for pyrolite does not match the geomagnetic field data below about 1500-km depth, possibly suggesting the existence of large quantities of subducted MORB crust in the deep lower mantle. The observations of geomagnetic jerks suggest that the electrical conductivity may be laterally heterogeneous in the lowermost mantle with high anomaly underneath Africa and the Pacific, the same regions as large low shear-wave velocity provinces. Such conductivity and shear-wave speed anomalies are also possibly caused by the deep subduction and accumulation of dense MORB crust above the core–mantle boundary.

Core–mantle boundary topography as a possible constraint on lower mantle chemistry and dynamics

The origin of large low shear-wave velocity provinces (LLSVPs) in the lowermost mantle beneath the central Pacific and Africa is not well constrained. We explore numerical convection calculations for two proposed hypotheses for these anomalies, namely, thermal upwellings (e.g., plume clusters) and large intrinsically dense piles of mantle material (e.g., thermochemical piles), each of which uniquely affects the topography on Earth's core–mantle boundary (CMB). The thermochemical pile models predict a relatively flat but elevated CMB beneath piles (presumed LLSVPs), with strong upwarping along LLSVP margins. The plume cluster models predict CMB upwarping beneath upwellings that are less geographically organized. Both models display CMB depressions beneath subduction related downwelling. While each of the two models produces a unique, characteristic style of CMB topography, we find that seismic models will require shorter length scales than are currently being employed in order to distinguish between the end-member dynamic models presented here.

Longitude: Linking Earth's ancient surface to its deep interior

Earth scientists have had no direct way of calculating longitudes for times before those of the oldest hotspot track eruption sites in the Cretaceous (~ 130 Myr ago). For earlier times palaeomagnetic data constrain only ancient latitudes and continental rotations. We have recently devised a hybrid plate motion reference frame that permits the calculation of longitude back to Pangean assembly at ~ 320 Ma. This reference frame, here corrected for True Polar Wander (TPW), places most reconstructed Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) of the past 300 Myr radially above the edges of the Large Low Shear wave Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) in Earth's lowermost mantle. This remarkable correlation between surface and deep mantle features, which is also discernible for all hotspots with a deep-plume origin, provides a new way of reconstructing the original positions of LIP sites, and therefore the position of continents whose longitudes have hitherto been unknown. We place the 258 Ma Emeishan LIP eruption of South China at 4°N and 140°E, in that way constraining the width and the geometry of the Palaeotethys Ocean during the Late Permian. If LLSVPs have remained stable for even longer and TPW has been small, we can, under these assumptions, also restore Siberia and Gondwana longitudinally for Late Devonian (~ 360 Ma) and Late Cambrian (~ 510 Ma) times.