Rapid plate motions at fast-spreading ocean ridges mix the mantle, yet homogeneous lavas erupted at slow-spreading ocean ridges imply a well-mixed mantle there, too. Numerical modelling suggests that small-scale convection efficiently stirs the mantle beneath slow-moving plates.
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Graham, D. Small-scale stirrings. Nature Geosci 7, 556–558 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2216
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2216
