Mantle convection

Mantle convection is the very slow creep of Earth's solid silicate mantle as convection currents carry heat from the interior to the planet's surface. Mantle convection causes tectonic plates to move around the Earth's surface. The Earth's lithosphere rides atop the asthenosphere, and the two form the components of the upper mantle. The lithosphere is divided into tectonic plates that are continuously being created or consumed at plate boundaries. Accretion occurs as mantle is added to the growing edges of a plate, associated with seafloor spreading. Upwelling beneath the spreading centers is a shallow, rising component of mantle convection and in most cases not directly linked to the global mantle upwelling. The hot material added at spreading centers cools down by conduction and convection of heat as it moves away from the spreading centers. At the consumption edges of the plate, the material has thermally contracted to become dense, and it sinks under its own weight in the process of subduction usually at an oceanic trench. Subduction is the descending component of mantle convection. This subducted material sinks through the Earth's interior. Some subducted material appears to reach the lower mantle, while in other regions this material is impeded from sinking further, possibly due to a phase transition from spinel to silicate perovskite and magnesiowustite, an endothermic reaction. The subducted oceanic crust triggers volcanism, although the basic mechanisms are varied. Volcanism may occur due to processes that add buoyancy to partially melted mantle, which would cause upward flow of the partial melt as it decreases in density. Secondary convection may cause surface volcanism as a consequence of intraplate extension and mantle plumes. In 1993 it was suggested that inhomogeneities in the D" layer have some impact on mantle convection.

Types of convection

During the late 20th century, there was significant debate within the geophysics community as to whether convection is likely to be "layered" or "whole". Although elements of this debate still continue, results from seismic tomography, numerical simulations of mantle convection and examination of Earth's gravitational field are all beginning to suggest the existence of whole mantle convection, at least at the present time. In this model, cold subducting oceanic lithosphere descends all the way from the surface to the core–mantle boundary (CMB), and hot plumes rise from the CMB all the way to the surface. This model is strongly based on the results of global seismic tomography models, which typically show slab and plume-like anomalies crossing the mantle transition zone. Although it is accepted that subducting slabs cross the mantle transition zone and descend into the lower mantle, debate about the existence and continuity of plumes persists, with important implications for the style of mantle convection. This debate is linked to the controversy regarding whether intraplate volcanism is caused by shallow, upper mantle processes or by plumes from the lower mantle. Many geochemistry studies have argued that the lavas erupted in intraplate areas are different in composition from shallow-derived mid-ocean ridge basalts. Specifically, they typically have elevated helium-3 : helium-4 ratios. Being a primordial nuclide, helium-3 is not naturally produced on Earth. It also quickly escapes from Earth's atmosphere when erupted. The elevated He-3:He-4 ratio of ocean island basalts suggest that they must be sourced from a part of the Earth that has not previously been melted and reproduced in the same way as mid-ocean ridge basalts have been. This has been interpreted as their originating from a different less well-mixed region, suggested to be the lower mantle. Others, however, have pointed out that geochemical differences could indicate the inclusion of a small component of near-surface material from the lithosphere.

Planform and vigour of convection

On Earth, the Rayleigh number for convection within Earth's mantle is estimated to be of order 107, which indicates vigorous convection. This value corresponds to whole mantle convection (i.e. convection extending from the Earth's surface to the border with the core). On a global scale, surface expression of this convection is the tectonic plate motions and therefore has speeds of a few cm per year. Speeds can be faster for small-scale convection occurring in low viscosity regions beneath the lithosphere, and slower in the lowermost mantle where viscosities are larger. A single shallow convection cycle takes on the order of 50 million years, though deeper convection can be closer to 200 million years. Currently, whole mantle convection is thought to include broad-scale downwelling beneath the Americas and the western Pacific, both regions with a long history of subduction, and upwelling flow beneath the central Pacific and Africa, both of which exhibit dynamic topography consistent with upwelling. This broad-scale pattern of flow is also consistent with the tectonic plate motions, which are the surface expression of convection in the Earth's mantle and currently indicate convergence toward the western Pacific and the Americas, and divergence away from the central Pacific and Africa. The persistence of net tectonic divergence away from Africa and the Pacific for the past 250 myr indicates the long-term stability of this general mantle flow pattern and is consistent with other studies that suggest long-term stability of the large low-shear-velocity provinces of the lowermost mantle that form the base of these upwellings.

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