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Core‐mantle boundary topography and whole‐mantle convection
Author(s) -
Forte Alessandro M.,
Peltier W. Richard
Publication year - 1989
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 - 10.1029/gl016i007p00621
Subject(s) - mantle (geology) , mantle convection , geology , core–mantle boundary , geophysics , plate tectonics , subduction , convection , mantle wedge , hotspot (geology) , tectonics , seismology , mechanics , physics
The seismically observed topography on the core‐mantle boundary (CMB) and the velocities of the surface tectonic plates together constitute important observational constraints on viscous flow models of the Earth's mantle. We show here that the CMB deflections inferred by Morelli and Dziewonski (1987) may be explained in terms of a simple model of whole‐mantle convection and in the process we provide a new method for inferring the penetration depths of subducted slabs.