Convection with Mobile Plates: Testing Plate Formulations with Complex, Time-Dependent Fluid Systems

Mathematics – Logic

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8120 Dynamics Of Lithosphere And Mantle: General, 8124 Earth'S Interior: Composition And State (Old 8105), 8158 Plate Motions: Present And Recent (3040)

Scientific paper

Lowman et al. (2001) presented results of 2D convection with mobile plates where the plate velocities reverse due to the evolution of the flow in the fluid beneath them. Lowman et al. used a force balance method to implement mobile plates and we reproduce their results using a 'weak zone' based rheological plate method. For the unit aspect ratio domain with a stiff plate with a thickness of 0.05d, where d is the depth of the domain, we find linear relationships between the surface velocity and size of the weak zones and the surface heat flux and the size of the weak zones. To match the results of Lowman et al. requires square weak zones that are 0.09d in length/depth. The results are less sensitive to the viscosity contrast between the fluid and the weak zone. For the case where Lowman et al. find plate motions that reverse on a periodic time scale we also find periodic, reversing plate motions. Using a T-R periodogram (Scargle 1982; Benson et. al 2003), we find that the periods are extrememly similar, with main peaks near periods of 0.02 and 0.05 diffusion time. However, our results show an apparently more complex behavior than those of Lowman et al. (2001), as demonstrated by the difference in periodicity between the two datasets, and the amplitude modulation in our results. There are additional low-amplitude, short-period phases in our time series that are not present in the Lowman et al. results. We suspect this is a result of small-scale flow differences due to the weak zones. Using these simple 2D systems, we systematically build toward a plate formulation with a temperature and stress dependent olivine rheology, then investigate the effects of damage and history. Lowman, J.P., S.D. King and C.W. Gable, The influence of tectonic plates on mantle convection patterns, temperature and heat flow, Geophysical Journal International, 146, 619-636, 2001. Scargle, J.D., Studies in Astronomical Time Series Analysis II. Statistical Aspects of Spectral Analysis of Unevenly Spaced Data, Astrophysical Journal, 263, 835-853, 1982. Benson, J.L., B.P. Bonev, P.B. James, K.J. Shan, B.A. Cantor, and M.A. Caplinger, The seasonal behavior of water ice clouds in the Tharsis and Valles Marineris Regions of Mars: Mars Orbiter Camera Observations, Icarus, 165, 34-52, 2003.

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