[1] Numerical mantle convection models indicate that subducting slabs can reach the core-mantle boundary (CMB) for a wide range of assumed material properties and plate tectonic histories. An increase in lower mantle viscosity, a phase transition at 660 km depth, depth-dependent thermal expansivity, and depth-dependent thermal diffusivity do not preclude model slabs from reaching the CMB. We fi...

[1] The electrical conductivity of mantle minerals is highly sensitive to parameters that characterize the structure and state of the lithosphere and sublithospheric mantle, and mapping its lateral and vertical variations gives insights into formation and deformation processes. We review state‐of‐the‐art conductivity models based on laboratory studies for the most relevant upper mantle minerals...

The past two decades have witnessed tremendous progress in seismological, geodynamical, geomagnetic, and mineral physics efforts to quantify deep Earth processes. Our understanding of structures and processes in the lowermost mantle has advanced accordingly, and there is now widespread agreement that some form of major thermo-chemical boundary layer (TCBL) exists on the mantle side of the core-...

The core-mantle boundary (CMB) sepa­ rates dynamic systems with remarkable con­ trasts in composition and material properties (Table 1), comparable in magnitude to varia­ tions in properties across the surface of the solid Earth. A natural consequence of this pronounced stratification is the development of thermal and chemical boundary layers ad­ jacent to these interfaces, which thereby con­ s...

Bends in volcanic hotspot lineaments, best represented by the large elbow in the Hawaiian-Emperor chain, were thought to directly record changes in plate motion. Several lines of geophysical inquiry now suggest that a change in the locus of upwelling in the mantle induced by mantle dynamics causes bends in hotspot tracks. Inverse modeling suggests that although deep flow near the core-mantle bo...