Abstract
HOTSPOTS are thought to result from deep mantle plumes, perhaps representing an ancient geochemical source isolated from the uppermost mantle. As they rise through the mantle, thermal plumes entrain surrounding material by thermal conduction, and small plumes or narrow plume conduits may consist of only a small fraction of original source material. Here we present new experimental results which show this effect dramatically for plume conduits that are deflected horizontally by shear flow in the mantle beneath lithospheric plates. Thermally entrained material can become concentrated at the centre of a plume (or surface hotspot trace) with original source material in the periphery. Also, the diapiric instability observed in chemical plume conduits is suppressed by thermal entrainment. Varying degrees of geochemical enrichment observed at hotspots such as the Galapagos Islands may result from thermal entrainment, implying that mantle plumes are driven by thermal (rather than compositional) buoyancy.
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Richards, M., Griffiths, R. Thermal entrainment by deflected mantle plumes. Nature 342, 900–902 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/342900a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/342900a0
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