Tharsis Bulge: Melt Migration in a Giant Mantle Plume

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5430 Interiors (8147), 5455 Origin And Evolution, 5475 Tectonics (8149), 5480 Volcanism (8450), 5499 General Or Miscellaneous

Scientific paper

Tharsis bulge formed through major volcanic activities in Noachian and early Hesperian, although minor volcanism likely continued to the recent past. There is a general consensus that major part of the Tharsis rise has been produced by basaltic flows. Syria planum has been identified as a long-lived (Noachian to early Amazonian) region of volcanism and tectonic activity on Tharsis, which emplaced voluminous sheet lavas on Mars in late Hesperian. Two sets of complex radial tectonic structures have originated from the planum. One set has resulted in the well-developed Valles Marineris, occurred in the Noachian and the tectonics continued at least to Hesperian. The other has produced the Claritas Fossae and Thaumasia normal faults and complex grabens, formed in Noachian to Amazonian. Both tectonic sets cut through the original volcanic structure of Tharsis bulge, they occurred later than the prominent volcanism that created the major part of the bulge. We studied the dynamics of a giant mantle plume in a compressible Martian mantle model, using a temperature and pressure dependent mantle viscosity, a temperature dependent thermal conductivity, and a pressure dependent thermal expansion coefficient in an axis-symmetric cylindrical coordinate system. We investigated the criteria required to produce a giant plume at the base of the mantle that could ascend fast and produce a large amount of basaltic melt within 500 Myr of the planet's history. The plume partially melts as it ascends through the mantle. Because of its very high buoyancy, the melt moves upward trough the partially molten porous plume much faster than the bulk solid residue of the plume. This causes a vast amount of volcanism well before the bulk part of the plume impinges the overlying lithosphere. The volcanism continues at relatively lower rate as the plume further ascends. The bulk solid residue of the plume finally impinges the lithosphere and exerts strong tension, creating tectonic features.

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