Open AccessShallow lithospheric contribution to mantle plumes revealed by integrating seismic and geochemical data
Author(s) -
Konter Jasper G.,
Becker Thorsten W.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.928
H-Index - 136
ISSN - 1525-2027
DOI - 10.1029/2011gc003923
Subject(s) - geology , mantle (geology) , hotspot (geology) , lithosphere , mantle plume , volcano , geophysics , seismic tomography , plume , seismology , transition zone , tectonics , physics , thermodynamics
Using an integrated geophysical and geological approach based on a comparative analysis of 27 different parameters, we investigate both the location and origin of the source material for hot spot volcanoes. We report a significant correlation between extreme geochemical compositions of lavas with both shallow seismic velocities and the depth extent to which a hot spot source can be traced with seismic tomography. These relationships provide the first integrated evidence for buoyantly rising plumes of mantle material (plume depth extent correlation), incorporating thermally eroded continental material in the shallow mantle (anti‐correlation with slow shallow seismic velocities). The extreme geochemical composition of the lavas is successfully modeled with this process, placing constraints on dynamical processes in the mantle and explaining the origin of a significantly debated mantle compositional end‐member (enriched mantle; EM1).