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G-Cubed: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems; an electronic journal of the Earth sciences

 

Index Terms

  • Tectonophysics: Dynamics, convection currents and mantle plumes
  • Tectonophysics: Dynamics of lithosphere and mantle—general
  • Tectonophysics: Continental contractional orogenic belts
Abstract
Cited By (5)
 

Abstract

Fate of mantle plume material trapped within a lithospheric catchment with reference to Brazil

Norman H. Sleep

Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA

Local regions of thin lithosphere act as catchments of hot buoyant plume material. Unless replenished, the trapped plume material cools by convection to the mantle adiabat by several tens of million years. In particular, currently hot material from the ∼130 Ma, Paraná starting plume head is unlikely to supply 85 Ma to recent volcanism on the mainland of Brazil and the Martin Vaz and Fernando hot spots. Rather, a plume tail may now underlie southern Brazil where tomographic studies detect conduit-shaped velocity anomaly through the upper mantle. If the tomographic study in fact found a plume tail, the track crossed the Amazon rift at ∼85 Ma and (since then) lateral flow along thin regions of the lithosphere from the tail fed widespread feeble volcanism including the flow line hot spots of Martin Vaz and Fernando.

Received 28 October 2002; accepted 11 April 2003; published 3 July 2003.

Citation: Sleep, N. H. (2003), Fate of mantle plume material trapped within a lithospheric catchment with reference to Brazil, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 4(7), 8509, doi:10.1029/2002GC000464.

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