The deep structure of ocean ridges in a convecting mantle

Details The deep structure of ocean ridges in a convecting mantle The deep structure of ocean ridges in a convecting mantle

Aug 1983

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1983e%26psl..64..283h&link_type=abstract

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 64, Issue 2, p. 283-294.

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Plate tectonic models have frequently assumed that mid-ocean ridges are the surface expression of the hot rising limb of a convection cell. Measured half spreading rates show that, in any reference frame, the horizontal transverse velocity of some ridges is comparable to the individual plate velocities. If the above assumption is correct, this observation implies that the thermal structure beneath the ridge can adjust rapidly to the changing surface configuration of the plates. Numerical experiments in a two-dimensional convecting layer of constant viscosity fluid show that such a rapid adjustment is probably unrealistic.
A symmetrically spreading ridge, moving horizontally, is simulated by specifying a velocity boundary condition on the upper surface of the layer. The other boundary conditions are uncertain, so several different combinations are used in the experiments, including periodic or reflecting lateral boundaries and stress free or no-slip lower boundary. In all the experiments the rising sheets of the convection cells are anchored firmly in the mean horizontal flow of the layer. Unless the mean flow coincides approximately with the ridge velocity, the ridge quickly moves away from a rising sheet which is initially beneath it. If the aspect ratio (width : depth) of the convection cells is significantly greater than one, this conclusion is even more evident. In the earth, it seems unlikely that there is a systematic deep (of the order of the convecting layer thickness) structure beneath the worldwide network of ocean ridges.

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