Open AccessMantle Plume Separation and the Expanding Earth
Author(s) -
Stewart Ian C. F.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1976.tb01244.x
Subject(s) - plume , geology , mantle plume , mantle (geology) , geodesy , geophysics , hotspot (geology) , solid earth , great circle , radius , panache , geometry , seismology , meteorology , physics , tectonics , lithosphere , mathematics , computer security , computer science
Summary Previous studies of mantle plume motions have assumed that any movement occurred within an Earth of fixed size. A comparison of distances between pairs of hot spots and their traces for different ages generally indicates less separation further back in time. The apparent changes in great circle distances between plumes may be consistent with constant separations in terms of geocentric angles, with an increase in the Earth's radius of up to 12 per cent over the past 120 My. The evidence for an expansion over the past 50 My may be inconclusive, due to the errors in the data for plume locations.