Maxim D. Ballmer

Compositional mantle layering revealed by slab stagnation at ~1000-km depth.

The stagnation of ~1000-km deep slabs indicates that dense basalt may be more abundant in the lower mantle than in the upper mantle. Improved constraints on lower-mantle composition are fundamental to understand the accretion, differentiation, and thermochemical evolution of our planet. Cosmochemical arguments indicate that lower-mantle rocks may be enriched in Si relative to upper-mantle pyrolite, whereas seismic tomography images suggest whole-mantle convection and hence appear to imply efficient mantle mixing. This study reconciles cosmochemical and geophysical constraints using the stagnation of some slab segments at ~1000-km depth as the key observation. Through numerical modeling of subduction, we show that lower-mantle enrichment in intrinsically dense basaltic lithologies can render slabs neutrally buoyant in the uppermost lower mantle. Slab stagnation (at depths of ~660 and ~1000 km) and unimpeded slab sinking to great depths can coexist if the basalt fraction is ~8% higher in the lower mantle than in the upper mantle, equivalent to a lower-mantle Mg/Si of ~1.18. Global-scale geodynamic models demonstrate that such a moderate compositional gradient across the mantle can persist can in the presence of whole-mantle convection.

Non-hotspot volcano chains produced by migration of shear-driven upwelling toward the East Pacific Rise

While most oceanic volcanism is associated with the passive rise of hot mantle beneath the spreading axes of mid-ocean ridges (MOR), volcanism occurring off-axis reflects intraplate upper-mantle dynamics and composition, yet is poorly understood. Off the south East Pacific Rise (SEPR), volcanism along the Pukapuka, Hotu-Matua, and Sojourn ridges has been attributed to various mechanisms, but none can reconcile its spatial, temporal, and geochemical characteristics. Our three-dimensional numerical models show that asthenospheric shear can excite upwelling and decompression melting at the tip of low-viscosity fingers that are propelled eastward by vigorous sublithospheric flow. This shear-driven upwelling is able to sustain intraplate volcanism that progresses toward the MOR, spreads laterally close to the axis, and weakly continues on the opposite plate. These predictions can explain the anomalously fast eastward progression of volcanism, and its spatial distribution near the SEPR. Moreover, for a heterogeneous mantle source involving a fertile component, the predicted systematics of volcanism can explain the geochemical trend along Pukapuka and the enriched anomaly of SEPR mid-oceanic ridge basalt at 16°–20.5°S. Our study highlights the role of horizontal asthenospheric flow and mantle heterogeneity in producing linear chains of intraplate volcanism independent of a (deep-rooted) buoyancy source.

Geochemical variations at intraplate hot spots caused by variable melting of a veined mantle plume

Three-dimensional geodynamic models of plume-lithosphere interaction were used to explore the causes of spatial patterns of magmatic compositions at intraplate hot spots. The models couple mantle flow, heat transfer, and the melting of multiple components present in the mantle as small blobs or veins with different solidi and composition. Predicted magma compositions evolve from having a strong signature from the deepest-melting component in the early stages of volcanism to a strong signature from the shallowest-melting component in the later stages. This compositional trend arises by progressive melt extraction of the different components and a horizontal displacement of their melting zones due to shear flow associated with plate motion. When three or more components are present, the composition of a volcano evolves along arrays in isotope space that trend toward mixed compositions of the components rather than the components themselves. Models explain the average Pb isotope trends in the Hawaiian Scientific Drilling Program core at Mauna Kea volcano. Observed scatter about the average trends and the distinction between the Kea and Loa subchains are explained by spatial variability in the relative proportions of the components in the mantle. Monte Carlo simulations show that linear Pb isotope arrays are unlikely to originate from nonsystematic, binary mixing if the scale of the magma capture zone is much larger than the scale of isotopic heterogeneity. However, systematic sampling by progressive melt extraction naturally generates such linear arrays if the capture zone is large compared to the scale of heterogeneity.

Persistence of Strong Silica-Enriched Domains in the Earth's Lower Mantle

The composition of the lower mantle—comprising 56% of Earth’s volume—remains poorly constrained. Among the major elements, Mg/Si ratios ranging from ∼0.9–1.1, such as in rocky Solar-System building blocks (or chondrites), to ∼1.2–1.3, such as in upper-mantle rocks (or pyrolite), have been proposed. Geophysical evidence for subducted lithosphere deep in the mantle has been interpreted in terms of efficient mixing, and thus homogenous Mg/Si across most of the mantle. However, previous models did not consider the effects of variable Mg/Si on the viscosity and mixing efficiency of lower-mantle rocks. Here, we use geodynamic models to show that large-scale heterogeneity associated with a 20-fold change in viscosity, such as due to the dominance of intrinsically strong (Mg, Fe)SiO3–bridgmanite in low-Mg/Si domains, is sufficient to prevent efficient mantle mixing, even on large scales. Models predict that intrinsically strong domains stabilize mantle convection patterns, and coherently persist at depths of about 1,000–2,200 km up to the present-day, separated by relatively narrow up-/downwelling conduits of pyrolitic material. The stable manifestation of such bridgmanite-enriched ancient mantle structures (BEAMS) may reconcile the geographical fixity of deep-rooted mantle upwelling centres, and geophysical changes in seismic-tomography patterns, radial viscosity, rising plumes and sinking slabs near 1,000 km depth. Moreover, these ancient structures may provide a reservoir to host primordial geochemical signatures. Seismic data are inconsistent with a compositionally homogenous lower mantle. Simulations show that viscosity variation with depth in Earth’s early mantle may have prevented efficient mixing and allowed ancient mantle domains to persist.

Intraplate volcanism due to convective instability of stagnant slabs in the mantle transition zone

The study of volcanism can further our understanding of Earths mantle processes and composition. Continental intraplate volcanism commonly occurs above subducted slabs that stagnate in the Mantle Transition Zone (MTZ), such as in Europe, eastern China, and western North America. Here, we use two-dimensional numerical models to explore the evolution of stagnant slabs in the MTZ and their potential to sustain mantle upwellings that can support volcanism. We find that weak slabs may go convectively unstable within tens of million years. Upwellings rise out of the relatively warm underbelly of the slab, are entrained by ambient-mantle flow and reach the base of the lithosphere. The first and most vigorous upwellings rise adjacent to lateral heterogeneity within the slab. Ultimately, convective instability also acts to separate the compositional components of the slab, harzburgite, and eclogite, from each other with harzburgite rising into the upper mantle and eclogite sinking into the lower mantle. Such a physical filtering process may sustain a long-term compositional gradient across the MTZ.

Intraplate volcanism at the edges of the Colorado Plateau sustained by a combination of triggered edge-driven convection and shear-driven upwelling

Although volcanism in the southwestern United States has been studied extensively, its origin remains controversial. Various mechanisms such as mantle plumes, upwelling in response to slab sinking, and small-scale convective processes have been proposed, but have not been evaluated within the context of rapidly shearing asthenosphere that is thought to underlie this region. Using geodynamic models that include this shear, we here explore spatiotemporal patterns of mantle melting and volcanism near the Colorado Plateau. We show that the presence of viscosity heterogeneity within an environment of asthenospheric shearing can give rise to decompression melting along the margins of the Colorado Plateau. Our models indicate that eastward shear flow can advect pockets of anomalously low viscosity toward the edges of thickened lithosphere beneath the plateau, where they can induce decompression melting in two ways. First, the arrival of the pockets critically changes the effective viscosity near the plateau to trigger small-scale edge-driven convection. Second, they can excite shear-driven upwelling (SDU), in which horizontal shear flow becomes redirected upward as it is focused within the low-viscosity pocket. We find that a combination of “triggered” edge-driven convection and SDU can explain volcanism along the margins of the Colorado Plateau, its encroachment toward the plateaus southwestern edge, and the association of volcanism with slow seismic anomalies in the asthenosphere. Geographic patterns of intraplate volcanism in regions of vigorous asthenospheric shearing may thus directly mirror viscosity heterogeneity of the sublithospheric mantle.

Reconciling Magma-Ocean Crystallization Models with the present-day Structure of the Earth’s mantle

Terrestrial planets are thought to experience episode(s) of large-scale melting early in their history. Fractionation during magma-ocean freezing leads to unstable stratification within the related cumulate layers due to progressive iron enrichment upward, but the effects of incremental cumulate overturns during MO crystallization remain to be explored. Here, we use geodynamic models with a moving-boundary approach to study convection and mixing within the growing cumulate layer, and thereafter within the fully crystallized mantle. For fractional crystallization, cumulates are efficiently stirred due to subsequent incremental overturns, except for strongly iron-enriched late-stage cumulates, which persist as a stably stratified layer at the base of the mantle for billions of years. Less extreme crystallization scenarios can lead to somewhat more subtle stratification. In any case, the long-term preservation of at least a thin layer of extremely enriched cumulates with Fe# > 0.4, as predicted by all our models, is inconsistent with seismic constraints. Based on scaling relationships, however, we infer that final-stage Fe-rich magma-ocean cumulates originally formed near the surface should have overturned as small diapirs, and hence undergone melting and reaction with the host rock during sinking. The resulting moderately iron-enriched metasomatized/hybrid rock assemblages should have accumulated at the base of the mantle, potentially fed an intermittent basal magma ocean, and be preserved through the present-day. Such moderately iron-enriched rock assemblages can reconcile the physical properties of the large low shear-wave velocity provinces in the present-day lower mantle. Thus, we reveal Hadean melting and rock-reaction processes by integrating magma-ocean crystallization models with the seismic-tomography snapshot.

Compositional layering within the large low shear‐wave velocity provinces in the lower mantle

The large low shear-wave velocity provinces (LLSVP) are thermochemical anomalies in the deep Earths mantle, thousands of km wide and ∼1800 km high. This study explores the hypothesis that the LLSVPs are compositionally subdivided into two domains: a primordial bottom domain near the core-mantle boundary and a basaltic shallow domain that extends from 1100 to 2300 km depth. This hypothesis reconciles published observations in that it predicts that the two domains have different physical properties (bulk-sound versus shear-wave speed versus density anomalies), the transition in seismic velocities separating them is abrupt, and both domains remain seismically distinct from the ambient mantle. We here report underside reflections from the top of the LLSVP shallow domain, supporting a compositional origin. By exploring a suite of two-dimensional geodynamic models, we constrain the conditions under which well-separated “double-layered” piles with realistic geometry can persist for billions of years. Results show that long-term separation requires density differences of ∼100 kg/m3 between LLSVP materials, providing a constraint for origin and composition. The models further predict short-lived “secondary” plumelets to rise from LLSVP roofs and to entrain basaltic material that has evolved in the lower mantle. Long-lived, vigorous “primary” plumes instead rise from LLSVP margins and entrain a mix of materials, including small fractions of primordial material. These predictions are consistent with the locations of hot spots relative to LLSVPs, and address the geochemical and geochronological record of (oceanic) hot spot volcanism. The study of large-scale heterogeneity within LLSVPs has important implications for our understanding of the evolution and composition of the mantle.

Hotspots, Large Igneous Provinces, and Melting Anomalies

This chapter describes the progress that has been made over the past decades in understanding observations of large-scale melting anomalies that are not readily explained by plate tectonic theory. Fundamental observations include the volume and geochemistry of flood basalts and ocean island basalts, the age progression of volcano chains, the geometry of hotspot swells, and the seismic imaging of crust and mantle structures. Observations of a subset of melting anomalies can be explained by classical plume theory, in which buoyancy-driven upwellings rise through the entire mantle to cause massive flood basalt volcanism that is trailed by an age-progressive hotspot volcano chain. However, a range of observations call for significant extensions to classical theory, and some sites of excess volcanism are better explained by alternative mechanisms, such as small-scale convection or shear-driven upwelling, than by plume theory. Detailed studies of upwelling and melting can provide constraints for heat and material fluxes through the mantle and provide a better understanding of the long-term thermal and chemical evolution of the Earths interior.

Modeling Craton Destruction by Hydration‐Induced Weakening of the Upper Mantle

Growing evidence shows that lithospheric mantle beneath cratons may contain a certain amount of water that originated from dehydration of subducted slabs or mantle metasomatism. As water can significantly reduce the viscosity of nominally anhydrous minerals such as olivine, hydration‐induced rheological weakening is a possible mechanism for the lithospheric thinning of cratons. Using 2‐D thermomechanical numerical models, we investigated the influence of water on dislocation and diffusion creep of olivine during the evolution of cratonic lithosphere. Modeling results indicate that dislocation creep of wet olivine alone is insufficient to trigger dramatic lithospheric thinning within a timescale of tens of millions of years, even with an extremely high water content. However, if diffusion creep is incorporated, significant convective instability will occur at the base of the lithosphere and drive lithospheric mantle dripping, which results in intense lithospheric thinning. We performed semianalytical models to better understand the influence of various parameters on the onset of convective instability. The convective instability promoted by hydration weakening drives lithospheric mantle dripping beneath cratons and thus provides a possible mechanism for cratonic thinning.