a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: mantle plumes phase transitions temperature dependent viscosity thermal expansivity lattice thermal conductivity Recent high-resolution seismic imaging of the transition zone topography beneath the Hawaiian archipelago shows strong evidence for a 1000 to 2000 km wide hot thermal anomaly ponding beneath the 660 km boundary west of Hawaii islands [Q. Cao et al. Sei...

Introduction: Water is thought to be vital for the development of plate tectonics because it lowers viscosities in the asthenosphere and enables subduction. However, the following issue persists: if water is necessary for plate tectonics, but subduction itself hydrates the upper mantle, how is the upper mantle initially hydrated? Here we present models demonstrating that processes associated wi...

The lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary divides the rigid lid from the weaker mantle and is fundamental in plate tectonics. However, its depth and defining mechanism are not well known. We analyzed 15 years of global seismic data using P-to-S (Ps) converted phases and imaged an interface that correlates with tectonic environment, varying from 95 +/- 4 kilometers beneath Precambrian shields and p...

The amount of carbon present in Earth's mantle affects the dynamics of melting, volcanic eruption style and the evolution of Earth's atmosphere via planetary outgassing. Mantle carbon concentrations are difficult to quantify because most magmas are strongly degassed upon eruption. Here we report undegassed carbon concentrations from a new set of olivine-hosted melt inclusions from the Mid-Atlan...

Numerical models of whole-mantle convection demonstrate that degassing of the mantle is an inefficient process, resulting in ca. 50% of the (40)Ar being degassed from the mantle system. In this sense the numerical simulations are consistent with the (40)Ar mass balance between the atmosphere and mantle reservoir. These models, however, are unable to preserve the large-scale heterogeneity predic...