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Metastable superplumes and mantle compressibility
Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
Seismically, the African superplume is known to have a sharp lateral transition in V S and an interface between seismic anomalies with high relief. Such a structure is usually unstable in conventional thermo-chemical convection models. Using a compressible thermo-chemical convection model in which each material has a distinct equation of state, we find an expanded regime of metastable superplumes. In the preferred model, superplume material has a bulk modulus 6% higher and density 2.25% higher than ambient mantle. The inferred physical properties of the superplume are consistent with subducted oceanic crust, simultaneously satisfying seismological, geodynamical, mineralogical and geochemical constraints.
Received 25 July 2005; accepted 19 September 2005; published 22 October 2005.
Citation: (2005), Metastable superplumes and mantle compressibility, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L20307, doi:10.1029/2005GL024190.
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