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Huppert KL, Perron JT, Royden LH. Hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaaw6906. [PMID: 31911939 PMCID: PMC6938699 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw6906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2019] [Accepted: 10/24/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Volcanic ocean islands generally form on swells-seafloor that is shallower than expected for its age over areas hundreds to more than a thousand kilometers wide-and ultimately subside to form atolls and guyots (flat-topped seamounts). The mechanisms of island drowning remain enigmatic, however, and the subaerial lifespan of volcanic islands varies widely. We examine swell bathymetry and island drowning at 14 hotspots and find a correspondence between island lifespan and residence time atop swell bathymetry, implying that islands drown as tectonic plate motion transports them past mantle sources of swell uplift. This correspondence argues strongly for dynamic uplift of the lithosphere at ocean hotspots. Our results also explain global variations in island lifespan, which influence island topography, biodiversity, and climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly L. Huppert
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Earth Surface Process Modelling, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
| | - J. Taylor Perron
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Leigh H. Royden
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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Arnould M, Ganne J, Coltice N, Feng X. Northward drift of the Azores plume in the Earth's mantle. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3235. [PMID: 31324813 PMCID: PMC6642178 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11127-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2018] [Accepted: 06/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Mantle plume fixity has long been a cornerstone assumption to reconstruct past tectonic plate motions. However, precise geochronological and paleomagnetic data along Pacific continuous hotspot tracks have revealed substantial drift of the Hawaiian plume. The question remains for evidence of drift for other mantle plumes. Here, we use plume-derived basalts from the Mid-Atlantic ridge to confirm that the upper-mantle thermal anomaly associated with the Azores plume is asymmetric, spreading over ~2,000 km southwards and ~600 km northwards. Using for the first time a 3D-spherical mantle convection where plumes, ridges and plates interact in a fully dynamic way, we suggest that the extent, shape and asymmetry of this anomaly is a consequence of the Azores plume moving northwards by 1-2 cm/yr during the past 85 Ma, independently from other Atlantic plumes. Our findings suggest redefining the Azores hotspot track and open the way for identifying how plumes drift within the mantle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maëlis Arnould
- Laboratoire de Géologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS UMR 8538, PSL Research University, 75005, Paris, France.
- Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Terre, Planètes, Environnement, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard, CNRS UMR 5276, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622, Villeurbanne, France.
- EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, Madsen Building F09, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, NSW, Australia.
| | - Jérôme Ganne
- IRD, CNRS, GET, Université Toulouse III, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400, Toulouse, France
| | - Nicolas Coltice
- Laboratoire de Géologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS UMR 8538, PSL Research University, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Xiaojun Feng
- School of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu, 221116, China
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Mittelstaedt E, Ito G, van Hunen J. Repeat ridge jumps associated with plume-ridge interaction, melt transport, and ridge migration. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011. [DOI: 10.1029/2010jb007504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Wolfe CJ, Solomon SC, Laske G, Collins JA, Detrick RS, Orcutt JA, Bercovici D, Hauri EH. Mantle shear-wave velocity structure beneath the Hawaiian hot spot. Science 2010; 326:1388-90. [PMID: 19965755 DOI: 10.1126/science.1180165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 156] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Defining the mantle structure that lies beneath hot spots is important for revealing their depth of origin. Three-dimensional images of shear-wave velocity beneath the Hawaiian Islands, obtained from a network of sea-floor and land seismometers, show an upper-mantle low-velocity anomaly that is elongated in the direction of the island chain and surrounded by a parabola-shaped high-velocity anomaly. Low velocities continue downward to the mantle transition zone between 410 and 660 kilometers depth, a result that is in agreement with prior observations of transition-zone thinning. The inclusion of SKS observations extends the resolution downward to a depth of 1500 kilometers and reveals a several-hundred-kilometer-wide region of low velocities beneath and southeast of Hawaii. These images suggest that the Hawaiian hot spot is the result of an upwelling high-temperature plume from the lower mantle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cecily J Wolfe
- Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
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Tackley PJ. Mantle convection and plate tectonics: toward an integrated physical and chemical theory. Science 2000; 288:2002-7. [PMID: 10856206 DOI: 10.1126/science.288.5473.2002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 324] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Plate tectonics and convection of the solid, rocky mantle are responsible for transporting heat out of Earth. However, the physics of plate tectonics is poorly understood; other planets do not exhibit it. Recent seismic evidence for convection and mixing throughout the mantle seems at odds with the chemical composition of erupted magmas requiring the presence of several chemically distinct reservoirs within the mantle. There has been rapid progress on these two problems, with the emergence of the first self-consistent models of plate tectonics and mantle convection, along with new geochemical models that may be consistent with seismic and dynamical constraints on mantle structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- PJ Tackley
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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Dumoulin C, Doin MP, Fleitout L. Heat transport in stagnant lid convection with temperature- and pressure-dependent Newtonian or non-Newtonian rheology. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1999. [DOI: 10.1029/1999jb900110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 117] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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