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Influence of majorite on hot plumes
Author(s) -
Ichikawa Hiroki,
Kameyama Masanori,
Senshu Hiroki,
Kawai Kenji,
Maruyama Shigenori
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl061477
Subject(s) - geology , upwelling , mantle (geology) , geophysics , oceanography
The influence of MgSiO 3 majorite on mantle convection has been investigated via 2‐D numerical simulations that incorporate the stability field of majorite. According to a recent first principles study, wadsleyite decomposes into an assemblage of majorite plus periclase with a large negative Clapeyron slope. Since the stability field of majorite is limited to be greater than ~2200 K in a depth range of 500–660 km for Mg 2 SiO 4 , very hot upwelling plumes are expected to be strongly influenced by the phase transitions related to majorite. These hot upwellings are occasionally observed in simulations, even though the average temperature of hot plumes is far less than the stability field of majorite. The dynamics of these upwellings are controlled by the release and the absorption of latent heat induced by majorite's phase transitions as well as by the interruption of currents due to the large negative Clapeyron slope related to majorite.