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Mantle flow and multistage melting beneath the Galápagos hotspot revealed by seismic imaging

Nature Geoscience volume 7, pages 151–156 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Some of Earth’s largest magmatic provinces result from the interaction between mid-ocean ridges and near-ridge hotspots, which are hypothesized to overlie plumes of upwelling mantle. Geodynamic models predict that upwelling plumes are sheared by the motion of the overlying tectonic plates and can connect to a nearby mid-ocean ridge by shallow flow beneath thin, young lithosphere. Here we present seismic tomographic images of the upper 300 km of the mantle beneath the Galápagos Archipelago in the eastern Pacific Ocean. We observe a low-velocity anomaly, indicative of an upwelling plume, that is not deflected in the direction of plate motion. Instead, the anomaly tilts towards the mid-ocean ridge at depths well below the lithosphere. These characteristics of the plume–ridge connection beneath the Galápagos Archipelago are consistent with the presence of multiple stages of partial melting, melt extraction, and melt remixing within the plume and surrounding mantle. These processes affect the viscosity of the asthenosphere, alter the upwelling plume and influence the compositions of surface lavas. Our results imply that the coupling between the oceanic plate and plume upwelling beneath the Galápagos is weak. Multistage melting may similarly affect the geophysical and geochemical characteristics of other hotspots.

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Figure 1: Map of the Galápagos Islands and seismic network.
Figure 2: Delay times of teleseismic S waves.
Figure 3: Results of tomographic inversion for S-wave velocity structure.
Figure 4: Schematic illustration of mantle flow and melting and their relation to geochemical observations.
Figure 5: Predicted and observed trace element compositions of magmas produced by melting of the Galápagos plume.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Minard Hall of the Instituto Geofı´sico of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional in Quito, the Charles Darwin Research Station, and the Parque Nacional Galápagos for logistical support and assistance in the field. M. Jackson provided constructive comments that improved this paper. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under grants OCE-9908695, OCE-0221549, and EAR-0651123 to the University of Oregon, OCE-0221634 to the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and EAR-11452711 to the University of Idaho.

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Author notes

  1. Darwin R. Villagómez

    Present address: Present address: ID Analytics, San Diego, California 92128, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA

    Darwin R. Villagómez, Douglas R. Toomey & Emilie E. E. Hooft

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844, USA

    Dennis J. Geist

  3. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA

    Sean C. Solomon

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  1. Darwin R. Villagómez
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Contributions

D.R.V., D.R.T. and D.J.G. wrote the initial manuscript. D.R.V., D.R.T., E.E.E.H. and S.C.S. contributed to experiment design and collection of seismic data. D.R.V., D.R.T. and E.E.E.H. contributed to the analysis of seismic data and methods development. D.J.G. contributed to the petrologic calculations and to the development of geochemical models. All authors discussed the results and their implications and assisted in the final revisions to the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Douglas R. Toomey.

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Villagómez, D., Toomey, D., Geist, D. et al. Mantle flow and multistage melting beneath the Galápagos hotspot revealed by seismic imaging. Nature Geosci 7, 151–156 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2062

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