Abstract
Isotopic heterogeneities within the mantle, as sampled by oceanic volcanism, are reported to exist on all length scales1–3; unfortunately, this fundamental observation has progressed little beyond the qualitative stage. The isotopic systematics of mid–ocean–ridge basalts (MORBs) and ocean–island basalts (OIBs) are now being used to constrain the efficiency of convective mixing4,5; one datum which could constrain convective mixing calculations is the size spectrum of chemical heterogeneity6,7, but unfortunately this datum does not exist. Here I place quantitative bounds on the size spectrum of mantle heterogeneities, using the variations in 87Sr/86Sr ratios in oceanic basalts over different length scales. The spectrum is consistent with a flat spectrum filtered by magmatism. Such a white–noise spectrum indicates that there are many sources of anomalies at different wavelengths (with about equal magnitude), or that there is a global–scale source of anomalies operating continuously over thousands of millions of years, or some combination of both models.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allègre, C. J., Brévart, O., Dupré, B. & Minster, J.-F. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A297, 447–477 (1980).
Zindler, A., Staudigel, H. & Batiza, R. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 70, 175–195 (1984).
Hart, S. R. Nature 309, 753–757 (1984).
Davies, G. F. J. geophys. Res. 89, 6017–6040 (1984).
Gurnis, M. & Davies, G. F. J. geophys. Res. 91, 6375–6395 (1986).
Olson, P., Yuen, D. A. & Balsiger, D. Phys. Earth planet. Inter. 36, 291–304 (1984).
Gurnis, M. C. thesis, Australian National Univ. (1986).
Draper, N. R. & Smith, H. Applied Regression Analysis (Wiley, New York, 1981).
Blackman, R. B. & Tukey, J. W. The Measurement of Power Spectra, 190 (Dover, New York, 1958).
Olson, P., Yuen, D. A. & Balsiger, D. J. geophys. Res. 89, 425–436 (1984).
White, W. M. Geology 13, 115–118 (1985).
Batiza, R. Nature 309, 440–441 (1984).
Duncan, R. A. & Compston, W. Geology 4, 728–732 (1976).
Brooks, C., Hart, S. R., Hofmann, A. & James, D. E. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 32, 51–61 (1976).
Church, S. E. & Tatsumoto, M. Contr. Miner. Petrol. 53, 253–279 (1975).
Olson, P. J. geophys. Res. 89, 11293–11302 (1984).
McKenzie, D. & O'Nions, R. K. Nature 301, 229–231 (1983).
White, W. B. & Schilling, J.-G. Geochim. cosmochim. Acta 42, 1501–1516 (1978).
Hart, S. R., Schilling, J.-G. & Powell, J. L. Nature Phys. Sci. 246, 104–107 (1973).
Machado, N., Ludden, J. N., Brooks, C. & Thompson, G. Nature 295, 226–228 (1982).
Cohen, R. S., Evensen, N. M., Hamilton, P. J. & O'Nions, R. K. Nature 283, 149–153 (1980).
Hart, S. R. Init. Rep. DSDP 34, 283–288 (1976).
Allègre, C. J., Othman, D. B., Polve, M. & Richard, P. Phys. Earth planet. Inter. 19, 293–306 (1979).
DePaolo, D. J. & Wasserburg, G. J. Geophys. Res. Lett. 3, 743–746 (1976).
O'Nions, R. K. & Pankhurst, R. J. J. Petrology 15, 603–634 (1974).
White, W. M. & Bryan, W. B. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 88, 571–576 (1977).
Le Roex, A. P. et al. J. Petrol. 24, 267–318 (1983).
Dupré, B., Lambert, B. & Allègre, C. J. Nature 299, 620–622 (1982).
Le Roex, A. P. et al. Contr. Miner. Petrol. 90, 367–380 (1985).
Hamelin, B., Dupré, B. & Allègre, C. J. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 67, 340–350 (1984).
Dupré, B., Lambert, B., Rousseau, D. & Allègre, C. J. Nature 294, 552–554 (1981).
Macdougall, J. D. & Lugmair, G. W. Nature 313, 209–211 (1985).
Macdougall, J. D. & Lugmair, G. W. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 77, 273–284 (1986).
Verma, S. P. & Schilling, J.-G. J. geophys. Res. 87, 10838–10856 (1982).
Cohen, R. S. & O'Nions, R. K. J. Petrology 23, 299–324 (1982).
Eaby, J., Clague, D. A. & Delaney, J. R. J. geophys. Res. 89, 7883–7890 (1984).
Dupré, B. & Allègre, C. J. Nature 303, 142–146 (1983).
Hamelon, B. & Allègre, C. J. Nature 315, 196–199 (1985).
Hamelin, B., Dupré, B. & Allègre, C. J. Earth planet Sci. Lett. 76, 288–298 (1985).
White, W. M. & Hofmann, A. W. Nature 296, 821–825 (1982).
Batiza, R. Geology 5, 760–764 (1977).
Hedge, C. E., Peterman, Z. E. & Dichinson, W. R. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 83, 2709–2714 (1972).
Duncan, R. A., McCulloch, M. T., Barczus, H. G. & Nelson, D. Nature 322, 534–538 (1986).
Vidal, Ph., Chauvel, C. & Brousse, R. Nature 307, 536–538 (1984).
Hedge, C. E. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 38, 88–94 (1978).
O'Nions, R. K., Hamilton, P. J. & Evensen, N. M. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 34, 13–22 (1977).
Chen, C.-Y. & Frey, F. A. J. geophys. Res. 90, 8743–8768 (1985).
Stille, P., Unruh, D. M. & Tatsumoto, M. Nature 304, 25–29 (1983).
Staudigel, H., Zindler, A., Hart, S. R., Leslie, T., Chen, C.-Y. & Clague, D. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 69, 13–29 (1984).
White, W. M., Tapia, M. D. M. & Schilling, J.-G. Contr. Miner. Petrol. 69, 201–213 (1979).
Zindler, A., Hart, S. R., Frey, F. A. & Jakobson, Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 45, 249–262 (1979).
Gast, P. W., Tilton, G. E. & Hedge, C. F. Science 145, 1181–1183 (1964).
Baxter, A. N., Upton, B. & White, W. M. Contr. Miner. Petrol. 89, 90–101 (1985).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gurnis, M. Quantitative bounds on the size spectrum of isotopic heterogeneity within the mantle. Nature 323, 317–320 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/323317a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/323317a0
This article is cited by
-
Geophysics: Mantle mixing still a mystery
Nature (1986)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
