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Seismic and geochemical evidence for large-scale mantle upwelling beneath the eastern Atlantic and western and central Europe

Nature volume 374, pages 34–39 (1995)Cite this article

Seismic tomography and the isotope geochemistry of Cenozoic volcanic rocks suggest the existence of a large, sheet-like region of upwelling in the upper mantle which extends from the eastern Atlantic Ocean to central Europe and the western Mediterranean. A belt of extension and rifting in the latter two areas appears to lie above the intersection of the centre of the upwelling region with the base of the lithosphere. Lead, strontium and neodymium isotope data for all three regions converge on a restricted composition, inferred to be that of the upwelling mantle.

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Author notes

  1. Kaj Hoernle

    Present address: Department of Volcanology and Petrology, GEOMAR, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Sciences Board and Marine Sciences Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA

    Kaj Hoernle

  2. Institute of Tectonics, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA

    Yu-Shen Zhang

  3. College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA

    David Graham

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  2. Yu-Shen Zhang
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  3. David Graham
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Hoernle, K., Zhang, YS. & Graham, D. Seismic and geochemical evidence for large-scale mantle upwelling beneath the eastern Atlantic and western and central Europe. Nature 374, 34–39 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/374034a0

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