Formation of ridges in a stable lithosphere in mantle convection models with a viscoplastic rheology

A Numerical Study on the Effects of Surface Boundary Condition and Rheology on Slab Dynamics

A thin-shell program for modeling neotectonics of regional or global lithosphere with faults. Influence of fore-arc structure on the extent of great subduction zone earthquakes. 1994: Effects of multiple phase transitions in a three-dimensional spherical model of convection in Earth's mantle. 2000: Role of temperaturedependent viscosity and surface plates in spherical shell models of mantle con...

The generation of plate tectonics from mantle convection

In the last decade, significant progress has been made toward understanding how plate tectonics is generated from mantle dynamics. A primary goal of plate-generation studies has been the development of models that allow the top cold thermal boundary layer of mantle convection, i.e. the lithosphere, to develop broad and strong plate-like segments separated by narrow, weak and rapidly deforming b...

The Structure of Mid-Ocean Ridges

Mid-ocean ridges provide an important window into the processes of mantle convection and magmatism. The formation, cooling, and eventual subduction of oceanic lithosphere dominate both the large-scale dynamics of the upper mantle and the Earth’s global heat loss. The melt generated during pressure-release melting of the upwelling mantle beneath mid-ocean ridges contributes most of the annual ma...

Temporal variations of the segmentation of slow to intermediate spreading mid-ocean ridges. 2. A three-dimensional model in terms of lithosphere accretion and convection within the partially molten mantle beneath the ridge axis

Generation of plate-like behavior and mantle heterogeneity from a spherical, viscoplastic convection model

[1] How plate tectonics arises from mantle convection is a question that has only very recently become feasible to address with spherical, viscoplastic computations. We present mainly internally heated convection results with temperature-dependent viscosity and explore parts of the Rayleigh number (Ra)– yield stress (sy) phase space, as well as the effects of depth-dependent sy, bottom heating,...