Mantle plumes, associated intraplate tectonomagmatic processes and ore systems

Mantle plumes and associated flow beneath Arabia and East Africa

Hot Spots and Mantle Plumes

Hot spots are anomalous areas of surface volcanism that cannot be directly associated with plate tectonic processes. The term hot spot is used rather loosely. It is often applied to any long-lived volcanic center that is not part of the global network of mid-ocean ridges and island arcs. The classic example is Hawaii. Anomalous regions of thick crust on ocean ridges are also considered to be ho...

Mantle plumes persevere

A recent census suggests that seamounts1 — typically extinct underwater volcanoes — are numerous. It has been estimated that about 125,000 seamounts with a height of more than one kilometre exist on our ocean floors. Most of these are postulated to form at volcanic hotspots that are the surface expressions of mantle plumes — hot material upwelling from Earth’s interior. Yet, many seamounts do n...

Corn syrup mantle plumes.

In the dark, microscopic plastic beads in the 200-gallon tank of corn syrup glow and sparkle when light from a projector shines at them in geophysical fluid dynamicist Christopher Kincaid’s laboratory at the University of Rhode Island. Experiments with this goo could help explain whether columns of magma rising up from near the Earth’s core might explain supervolcanic activity. Scientists have ...

Temporal-compositional trends in intraplate basalt eruptions: Implications for mantle heterogeneity and melting processes

[1] Because primitive basaltic magmas travel from their mantle sources to the surface without significant cooling and crystallization en route, compositional variations within them provide direct information on the sources and processes of partial melting in the mantle. Most studies of basalt magmagenesis have focused on chemical variations in magmas erupted frommultiple vents in regional compl...