Small-scale Convection Cells Research Articles

Seismic tomographic images of the cratonic upper mantle beneath the Western Superior Province of the Canadian Shield—a remnant Archean slab?

Abstract Knowledge of the velocity structure of the upper mantle beneath the Western Superior Province (WSP) is key to understanding better the accretionary processes active during the Archean. To that end, teleseismic P- and S-wave travel times recorded as part of the Teleseismic Western Superior Transect (TWST) were inverted for their respective seismic velocities. This experiment involved 17 portable broadband stations arrayed in northern Ontario, Canada, so as to cross-cut the strike of many subprovinces as well as the boundary with the Proterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen to the north. The 5-month deployment yielded 1423 P-wave and 651 S-wave high-quality residuals for inversion. The resulting tomographic images reveal three apparently-robust velocity anomalies represented by: (i) a dipping tabular high-velocity anomaly; (ii) a relatively shallow low-velocity anomaly directly above the positive anomaly; and (iii) a deep low-velocity body. The first anomaly may be interpreted in the Western Superior context as a 30–50 km thick eclogite/dunite layer representing remnant subducted oceanic lithosphere. The presence of such a body within the cratonic root would suggest its origin at around 2.7 Ga and the apparent SE–NW strike is noticeably oblique to the main EW trend of the subprovince boundaries. The low-velocity anomalies may be related to processes that occurred at the edges of the descending slab or they may be expressions of later upwelling material. The presence of a thick cratonic root (≈300 km) may also be revealed by the tomographic images. Overall, these travel time results are considered compatible with late Archean structures at depth resembling those of modern subduction tectonics, though other possibilities (e.g. small-scale convection cells) exist.

Artemis: Surface expression of a deep mantle plume on Venus

Artemis, a unique 2600-km-diameter circular feature on Venus, defies geomorphic classification as a corona, crustal plateau, or volcanic rise. Artemis is similar in size to plateaus and rises, yet topographically resembles a corona. Geologic mapping using correlated digital remote data sets including NASA Magellan C1-, C2-, and F-scale synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, altimetry, and synthetic stereo has led to a determination of the geologic history of Artemis. Artemis comprises a large topographic welt that includes a paired circular ∼1-km-deep trough (Artemis Chasma) and ∼1-km-high outer rise; thus, Artemis is divisible into chasma (trough), interior region, and exterior region. The chasma hosts trough-normal faults and folds. The interior includes five ∼350-km-diameter coronae (quasi-circular features marked by radial and/or concentric fractures) that record rich tectono-volcanic histories; radial extension fractures and trough-concentric wrinkle ridges dominate the exterior tectonic fabric. Artemis formed as a coherent entity; the coronae, chasma, chasma structures, radial fractures, and wrinkle ridges are all consistent with a deep plume model for Artemis formation. Rising and flattening of the plume head led to early uplift, doming, and radial fracturing as the plume head collapsed vertically and spread laterally, likely causing outward migration of the trough, as well as fracturing and wrinkle-ridge formation outboard of the trough. Within the trough, material was pulled downward, forming normal faults and folds. The plume continued to spread laterally outboard of the trough, resulting in continued radial fracturing and wrinkle-ridge formation. Small-scale interior convection cells or compositional diapirs resulted in coronae with radial fractures, and/or concentric fractures and/or folds, and associated volcanism. Artemis is akin in its formation to crustal plateaus and volcanic rises and likely formed during the transition from globally thin to thick lithosphere.

Size-dependent properties of simulated 2-D solar granulation

Two time-dependent sets of two-dimensional hydrodynamic models of solar granulation have been analyzed to obtain dependence of simulated thermal convection on the horizontal size of the convection cells. The two sets of models treat thermal convection either as fully non-stationary, multiscale convection (granular convection is a surface phenomenon) or as quasi-steady-state convection cells (they treat granular convection as a collection of deep-formed cells). The following results were obtained: 1) quasi-steady convection cells can be divided into 3 groups according to their properties and evolution, namely small-scale (up to 900 km), intermediate-scale (1000-1500 km) and large-scale (larger 1500 km) convection cells. For the first group thermal damping due to radiative exchange of energy, mostly in the horizontal direction, is very important. Large-scale cells build up a pressure excess, which can lead to their total fragmentation. Similar processes also acts on the fully non-stationary convection. 2) The largest horizontal size of convection cells for which steady-state solutions can be obtained is about 1500 km. This corresponds to granules, i.e. the bright parts of the convection cells, with a diameter of about 1000 km. 3) In addition to the zone of high convective instability associated with the partial ionization of hydrogen, we identify another layer harboring important dynamic processes in steady-state models. Just below the hydrogen-ionization layer pressure fluctuations and the acoustic flux are reduced. Steady-state models with reflecting lateral boundaries even exhibit an inversion of pressure fluctuations there. 4) From observational point of view the surface convection differs from steady-state deep treatment of thermal convection in the dependence of vertical granular velocities on their sizes for small-scale inhomogeneous. However, they cannot be distinguished by the dependence of temperature or emergent intensity of brightness structures. 5) Both kinds of models demonstrate the inversion of density in subphotospheric layers. It is more pronounced in small-scale cells and inside hot upflows. 6) The brightness of simulated granules linearly increases with their size for small granules and is approximately constant or even decreases slightly for larger granules. For intergranular lanes the simulations predict a decrease of their brightness with increasing size. It falls very rapidly for narrow lanes and remains unchanged for broader lanes. 7) A quantitative comparison of the brightness properties of simulated granulation with real observations shows that the strong size-dependence of the properties of the smallest simulated granules is not accessible to current observations due to their limited spatial resolution. The observed size dependences result rather from spatial smoothing and the granule-finding algorithm. We do not exclude, however, an influence of the limitations of the 2-D treatment of thermal convection on the present results.

Transition to turbulent thermal convection beyond Ra = 10(10) detected in numerical simulations

We have conducted high-resolution two-dimensional calculations for a Boussinesq convection model with a Prandtl number of unity in an aspect-ratio 3 box, going from Rayleigh numbers between 10(8) to 10(14). A grid of 1024 x 3076 grid points consisting of a cosine-sine basis set has been employed for free-slip boundary conditions. We have found evidence for a transition involving the branching of plumes at a Rayleigh number of 10(10). Inside the core of these "superplumes," the structure is extremely complex. There may be another transition at Ra of 10(12), where a secondary instability may develop in regions of the local Rayleigh number which becomes supercritical inside the core of the complex "superplumes." For Ra of 10(8) to 10(10), Ra follows a 1/3 power law in the Nusselt-Rayleigh number relationship. From Ra of 10(10) to 10(12), Ra follows a 1/2 power law. Above this value the Nusselt number becomes insensitive to the variation in the global Rayleigh number and this is due to the development of small-scale convection cells vertically aligned in the interior of the extremely high Ra number flow. The global Reynolds number scales as Re approximately Ra1/4 up to Ra of 10(14). Scaling relationships based on global properties would not work in extremely high Ra situations beyond Ra of 10(12) because of the complex turbulent layered convection in the core of the flow and the severe degradation of the boundary layers.

Dynamical Structure and Turbulence in Cirrus Clouds: Aircraft Observations during FIRE

Abstract Aircraft data collected during the First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project Regional Experiment (FIRE)I are used to examine dynamical processes operating in cirrus cloud systems observed on 19 and 28 October 1986. Measurements from Lagrangian spiral soundings and constant-altitude flight legs are analyzed. Comparisons are made with observations in clear air. Each cirrus case contained a statically stable layer, a conditionally unstable or neutrally stratified layer (ice pseudoadiabatic) in which convection was prevalent, and a neutral layer in which convection was intermittent. The analysis indicates that a mixture of phenomena occurred including small-scale convective cells, gravity waves (λ≈2–9 km), quasi-two-dimensional waves (λ≈10–20 km), and larger two-dimensional mesoscale waves (λ≈100 km). The intermediate-scale waves, observed both in clear air and in the cloud systems, likely played an important role in the development of the cloud systems given the magnitude of the associ...

Seismic modelling of lateral heterogeneity at the base of the mantle

Summary. Results from several recent studies suggest that there are lateral heterogeneities of up to a few per cent in the lowermost 150–200 km of the mantle (Bullen's D″ region). Inferred anomaly sizes span the range from less than 50 km to greater than 1000 km. In this study differences in the velocity structure among regions at the base of the mantle were inferred from an analysis of amplitude ratios of PKPAB and PKPDF for given earthquake-station pairs at distances greater than 155° (Sacks, Snoke & Beach). We distinguish two kinds of regions: A (anomalous) regions in which the mean, median and spread in AB/DF amplitude ratios are significantly higher (> 50 per cent) than for a reference radial earth model and N (normal) regions in which the distribution of the amplitude ratios is as expected. The AB branch has near-grazing incidence to the core and therefore maximum sensitivity to velocity structure compared to the near-normal incident DF phases. Using an iterative, forward-modelling approach, we have determined general characteristics of the velocity structure for regions at the base of the mantle which can produce amplitude-ratio distributions similar to those for an A region. Agreement between model and data is obtained over the period range from 0.5 s to greater than 10 s using a laterally heterogeneous model for the D″ region. the model consists of cells which are 200 km in lateral extent with velocity variations of up to ±1 per cent. This structure is modulated by a region-wide (1000km) perturbation which increases smoothly from zero at the edges of the region to a negative 1 per cent at the centre. Small cells (∼40 km) cannot produce anomalously large amplitude, long-period AB arrivals, and larger cells (∼1000km) cannot match the observed scatter. the ∼200 km scale anomalies could be small-scale convection cells confined to the D″ region.

Global tectonics and metallogeny: Deep roots of some ore-controlling fracture zones. A possible relation to small-scale convective cells at the base of the lithosphere?

Criteria suggest that some of the ore-controlling fracture zones have deep roots, some extending into the upper mantle. The question is analyzed of whether a pattern of deep-seated fracture zones, extending to the base of a continental lithosphere, may be related to, or interact with, the small-scale convective cells (rolls) which originate [1,2] in the mantle beneath a moving lithospheric plate. The analysis follows a previous application of the same concept by others [3,4] who explained the origin of a chain of volcanoes by the movement of an oceanic lithospheric plate over a pattern of small-scale convective cells of the underlying mantle. The Canadian Shield is used to discuss the above question. A correlation has been found between: (1) the direction of two sets of long wavelength gravity anomalies detected by Stephenson and Beaumont, [8] in a study of the isostatic response of the Canadian Shield, and (2) the pattern of N-S and E-W trending trajectories of ore-controlling fracture zones, postulated by the author [5,6] in the southern part of the Canadian Shield. The Hudson Bay Paleolineament [7] correlates very well with the N-S set of gravity anomalies. The above correlation suggests that the ore-controlling lineaments and the long wavelength anomalies of the Canadian Shield are related. If the gravity anomalies reflect, as Stephenson and Beaumont [8] tentatively suggest, a pattern of convective cells beneath the base of the lithosphere, then the volcanic activity and metallogenesis may be related to the boundaries and corners of the cells. The author suggests that the convective cells could, in this case, originate by melting of the mantle material proceeding preferentially along the intersecting deep-seated fracture zones. The pattern of deep-seated fracture zones, compiled for the western United States [9] also shows a relationship of major ore deposits and ore clusters to the corners of rectangular blocks, defined by mutual intersection of the E-W and N-S fracture zones. In this case, the size of the blocks, measured in an E-W direction, is about 530 km, and in a N-S direction about 600 km. These figures are significantly close to the distance from the seismic discontinuity at a depth of 650 km, which is considered by others [2,4] as the lower boundary of the small-scale convection.