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Romanowicz & Gung 2002

Romanowicz, B. and Gung, Y.C. (2002). Superplumes from the core-mantle boundary to the lithosphere: Implications for heat flux. Science 296(5567): 513-516.

Three-dimensional modeling of upper-mantle anelastic structure reveals that thermal upwellings associated with the two superplumes, imaged by seismic elastic tomography at the base of the mantle, persist through the upper-mantle transition zone and are deflected horizontally beneath the lithosphere. This explains the unique transverse shear wave isotropy in the central Pacific. We infer that the two superplumes may play a major and stable role in supplying heat and horizontal flow to the low-viscosity asthenospheric channel, lubricating plate motions and feeding hot spots. We suggest that more heat may be carried through the core-mantle boundary than is accounted for by hot spot fluxes alone.

Keywords
velocity structure, attenuation, convection, tomography, surface, model, anelasticity, hotspots, iceland

Journal
Science
http://www.sciencemag.org/

Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
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