The spread of subducted lithospheric material along the mid-mantle boundary

Details The spread of subducted lithospheric material along the mid-mantle boundary The spread of subducted lithospheric material along the mid-mantle boundary

Sep 1987

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1987e%26psl..85..241k&link_type=abstract

Earth and Planetary Science Letters (ISSN 0012-821X), vol. 85, no. 1-3, Sept. 1987, p. 241-247. Research supported by Cambridge

Computer Science

16

Earth Mantle, Lithosphere, Subduction (Geology), Geochronology, Phase Transformations, Silicates, Tectonics, Viscous Flow

Scientific paper

Studies of phase transitions in silicate minerals at high temperatures and pressures suggest that the bulk density of subducted lithosphere at the midmantle boundary is intermediate between the densities of the upper and lower mantle. It is argued that, if this is the case, then the lithospheric material will intrude along the midmantle boundary driven by buoyancy forces resulting from the compositional density differences between the intrusion and its surroundings. The rate of spread of the intrusion is given by a balance between these buoyancy forces and the viscous resistance of the mantle to motion. Using results from recent studies of the fluid mechanics of such viscous gravity currents, it is found that lithospheric material can propagate between one thousand and two thousand kilometers in a hundred million years and can cover the entire boundary in one to six billion years. This spreading may be reflected in the global distribution of the isotopic characteristics of oceanic basalts.

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