The chemical differences between deep- and shallow-mantle sources of oceanic basalts provide evidence that several distinct components coexist within the Earth's mantle. Most of these components have been identified as recycled in origin. However, the noble-gas signature is still a matter of debate and questions the preservation of primitive regions in the convective mantle. We show that a mode...

[1] Putative mechanisms that have been proposed to explain intraplate “hotspot” volcanism extensively depart from the early plume theory, and many do not involve deep mantle flow. Here, we look for a relationship between hotspot volcanism and mantle flow using flow models excited by density anomalies inferred from seismic tomography. We show that previously identified major hotspots are prefere...

Torsional Alfvén waves propagating in the Earth’s core have been inferred by inversion techniques applied to geomagnetic models. They appear to propagate across the core but vanish at the equator, exchanging angular momentum between core and mantle. Assuming axial symmetry, we find that an electrically conducting layer at the bottom of the mantle can lead to total absorption of torsional waves ...

Findings of coesite and microdiamond in metamorphic rocks of supracrustal protolith led to the recognition of continental subduction to mantle depths. The crust-mantle interaction is expected to take place during subduction of the continental crust beneath the subcontinental lithospheric mantle wedge. This is recorded by postcollisional mafic igneous rocks in the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt and it...

It is possible that the majority of Earth’s H2O budget is present as hydroxyl (OH) structurally incorporated into the major nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs) of the mantle (e.g., Martin and Donnay 1972). Ringwood (1966) thought as much as fi ve times the surface H2O-mass could be present in the mantle, amounting to ~0.2 wt% H2O if distributed throughout the entire mantle (Harris and Middlemos...

The Atlas Mountains of Morocco display high topography, no deep crustal root, and regions of localized Cenozoic alkaline volcanism. Previous seismic imaging and geophysical studies have implied a hot mantle upwelling as the source of the volcanism and high elevation. However, the existence, shape, and physical properties of an associated mantle anomaly are debated. Here we use seismic waveform ...

Mantle-derived xenoliths brought to the Earth’s Surface by basalts are important windows to understand composition, evolution and processes of the lithospheric mantle. The lithosphere of the southeastern China is dominated by peridotite or lherzolite [1, 2]. The spinel peridotite xenoliths studied are from Fangshan basalt, eastern China, which are composed of olivine, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxe...

Mantle plumes are thought to play a key role in transferring heat from the core-mantle boundary to the lithosphere, where it can significantly influence plate tectonics. On impinging on the lithosphere at spreading ridges or in intra-plate settings, mantle plumes may generate hotspots, large igneous provinces and hence considerable dynamic topography. However, the active role of mantle plumes o...

We have reexamined the role played by transient rheology in the interpretation of mantle viscosity. This investigation has been carried out by comparing the amplitude responses with the data of secular variation of J2, the relative sea-level histories at sites well within the ice margins and at the ice margin like the city of Boston. A linear Burgers' body theology has been assumed in the lower...

Mineral properties in Earth's lower mantle are affected by iron electronic states, but representative pressures and temperatures have not yet been probed. Spin states of iron in lower-mantle ferropericlase have been measured up to 95 gigapascals and 2000 kelvin with x-ray emission in a laser-heated diamond cell. A gradual spin transition of iron occurs over a pressure-temperature range extendin...