Mantle Circulation and Plate Movement

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2019) | Viewed by 5357

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Geology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA
Interests: geodynamics; plate boundary processes; asthenosphere flow and melt generation; seismotectonics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the start of the plate tectonic revolution, it has been widely understood that the processes of plate development on motion must be initiated, if not governed, by the underlying mantle dynamics of the planet. Competing mantle processes of buoyancy and viscous dissipation can propagate or inhibit plate tectonic processes. While standing on decades of research advances in how the mantle works, many details of how mantle circulation initiates or continues to drive plate motions are still poorly understood in a global or regional sense. The overall goal of this Special Issue of Geosciences is to explore and illuminate various aspects of mantle circulation on plate development from rifting or subduction initiation to the influence of convection on current plate motions.

Specifically, this Special Issue aims to provide an outlet for rapid, widely accessible publication of peer-reviewed studies utilizing the various tools of geophysics, structural geology, sedimentology, geochemistry, and geodynamic modeling to better elucidate how the underlying mantle interacts with plate tectonics as we understand it. This Special Issue aims to cover, without being limited to, the following areas:

  • Whole or layered mantle convection;
  • Plume processes;
  • Rifting/seafloor spreading development, subduction initiation;
  • Plate motions and their effect on dynamics of the underlying mantle.

Dr. James Conder
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Mantle convection
  • Subduction/rift initiation
  • Asthenosphere flow
  • Viscous dissipation
  • Plate driving forces
  • Mantle plumes

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

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Article
Supercontinent Cycle and Thermochemical Structure in the Mantle: Inference from Two-Dimensional Numerical Simulations of Mantle Convection
by Masanori Kameyama and Akari Harada
Geosciences 2017, 7(4), 126; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences7040126 - 5 Dec 2017
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4850
Abstract
In this study, we conduct numerical simulations of thermochemical mantle convection in a 2D spherical annulus with a highly viscous lid drifting along the top surface, in order to investigate the interrelation between the motion of the surface (super)continent and the behavior of [...] Read more.
In this study, we conduct numerical simulations of thermochemical mantle convection in a 2D spherical annulus with a highly viscous lid drifting along the top surface, in order to investigate the interrelation between the motion of the surface (super)continent and the behavior of chemical heterogeneities imposed in the lowermost mantle. Our calculations show that assembly and dispersal of supercontinents occur in a cyclic manner when a sufficient amount of chemically-distinct dense material resides in the base of the mantle against the convective mixing. The motion of surface continents is significantly driven by strong ascending plumes originating around the dense materials in the lowermost mantle. The hot dense materials horizontally move in response to the motion of continents at the top surface, which in turn horizontally move the ascending plumes leading to the breakup of newly-formed supercontinents. We also found that the motion of dense materials in the base of the mantle is driven toward the region beneath a newly-formed supercontinent largely by the horizontal flow induced by cold descending flows from the top surface occurring away from the (super)continent. Our findings imply that the dynamic behavior of cold descending plumes is the key to the understanding of the relationship between the supercontinent cycle on the Earth’s surface and the thermochemical structures in the lowermost mantle, through modulating not only the positions of chemically-dense materials, but also the occurrence of ascending plumes around them. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mantle Circulation and Plate Movement)
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