Compositional vs. thermal buoyancy and the evolution of subducted lithosphere

Details Compositional vs. thermal buoyancy and the evolution of subducted lithosphere Compositional vs. thermal buoyancy and the evolution of subducted lithosphere

Jan 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994georl..21..141g&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276), vol. 21, no. 2, p. 141-144

Physics

Geophysics

26

Boundaries, Buoyancy, Chemical Composition, Earth Mantle, Evolution (Development), Finite Element Method, Geodynamics, Geophysics, Planetary Temperature, Plates (Tectonics), Shear Properties, Subduction (Geology), Tectonics, Viscosity, Advection, Deformation, Geoids, Graphs (Charts), Mathematical Models, Rheology, Thickness, Velocity

Scientific paper

We formulate 2-D Cartesian finite element models that explore the fate of compositionally defined lithosphere as it encounters a viscosity increase at the boundary between the upper and lower mantle. Subducted lithosphere is represented as a cold, stiff, layered composite of denser eclogite underlain by more buoyant harzburgite. Slabs impinging on a lower mantle 30 and 100 times more viscous than the upper mantle thicken and fold strongly as they penetrate the lower mantle. Approximately a factor of two thickening occurs via pure shear just above the discontinuity, with additional enhancement due to folding by over a factor of two. No separation of the individual slab components occurs at the discontinuity, and direct comparison with models in which compositional buoyancy is explicitly ignored indicates that slab evolution is largely controlled by the thermal buoyancy. These results are at odds with hypotheses about slab evolution in which the compositional buoyancy contributions lead to component separation and the formation of slab megaliths or a compositionally layered upper mantle.

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