Rene Gassmöller

Major influence of plume‐ridge interaction, lithosphere thickness variations, and global mantle flow on hotspot volcanism—The example of Tristan

Hotspot tracks are thought to originate when mantle plumes impinge moving plates. However, many observed cases close to mid-ocean ridges do not form a single age-progressive line, but vary in width, are separated into several volcanic chains, or are distributed over different plates. Here we study plume-ridge interaction at the example of the Tristan plume, which features all of these complexities. Additionally, the South Atlantic formed close to where plume volcanism began, opening from the south and progressing northward with a notable decrease in magmatism across the Florianopolis Fracture Zone. We study the full evolution of the Tristan plume in a series of three-dimensional regional models created with the convection code ASPECT. We then compute crustal thickness maps and compare them to seismic profiles and the topography of the South Atlantic. We find that the separation of volcanism into the Tristan and Gough chain can be explained by the position of the plume relative to the ridge and the influence of the global flow field. Plume material below the off-ridge track can flow toward the ridge and regions of thinner lithosphere, where decompression melting leads to the development of a second volcanic chain resembling the Tristan and Gough hotspot tracks. Agreement with the observations is best for a small plume buoyancy flux of 500 kg/s or a low excess temperature of 150 K. The model explains the distribution of syn-rift magmatism by hot plume material that flows into the rift and increases melt generation.

How plume‐ridge interaction shapes the crustal thickness pattern of the Réunion hotspot track

The Reunion mantle plume has shaped a large area of the Earths surface over the past 65 million years: from the Deccan Traps in India along the hotspot track comprising the island chains of the Laccadives, Maldives and Chagos Bank on the Indian plate and the Mascarene Plateau on the African plate up to the currently active volcanism at La Reunion Island. This study addresses the question how the Reunion plume, especially in interaction with the Central Indian Ridge, created the complex crustal thickness pattern of the hotspot track. For this purpose, the mantle convection code ASPECT was used to design three-dimensional numerical models, which consider the specific location of the plume underneath moving plates and surrounded by large-scale mantle flow. The results show the crustal thickness pattern produced by the plume, which altogether agrees well with topographic maps. Especially two features are consistently reproduced by the models: the distinctive gap in the hotspot track between the Maldives and Chagos is created by the combination of the ridge geometry and plume-ridge interaction; and the Rodrigues Ridge, a narrow crustal structure which connects the hotspot track and the Central Indian Ridge, appears as the surface expression of a long-distance sub-lithospheric flow channel. This study therefore provides further insight how small-scale surface features are generated by the complex interplay between mantle and lithospheric processes.

The importance of grain size to mantle dynamics and seismological observations

Grain size plays a key role in controlling the mechanical properties of the Earths mantle, affecting both long-timescale flow patterns and anelasticity on the timescales of seismic wave propagation. However, dynamic models of Earths convecting mantle usually implement flow laws with constant grain size, stress-independent viscosity, and a limited treatment of changes in mineral assemblage. We study grain size evolution, its interplay with stress and strain rate in the convecting mantle, and its influence on seismic velocities and attenuation. Our geodynamic models include the simultaneous and competing effects of dynamic recrystallization resulting from dislocation creep, grain growth in multiphase assemblages, and recrystallization at phase transitions. They show that grain size evolution drastically affects the dynamics of mantle convection and the rheology of the mantle, leading to lateral viscosity variations of six orders of magnitude due to grain size alone, and controlling the shape of upwellings and downwellings. Using laboratory-derived scaling relationships, we convert model output to seismologically-observable parameters (velocity, attenuation) facilitating comparison to Earth structure. Reproducing the fundamental features of the Earths attenuation profile requires reduced activation volume and relaxed shear moduli in the lower mantle compared to the upper mantle, in agreement with geodynamic constraints. Faster lower mantle grain growth yields best fit to seismic observations, consistent with our re-examination of high pressure grain growth parameters. We also show that ignoring grain size in interpretations of seismic anomalies may underestimate the Earths true temperature variations.

Chemical trends in ocean islands explained by plume–slab interaction

Significance The composition of ocean island basalts is known to correlate with zones in the lowermost mantle almost 3,000 km below, thought to represent piles of hot, dense material. One important open question in the Earth sciences is the mechanism behind this link between the surface and Earth’s deep interior. Here, we use high-resolution 3D geodynamic models with a realistic subduction history, plate geometries, and plate motions to identify a dynamically feasible mechanism for how rising hot material can inherit the lower-mantle geochemical structure despite variations in material density. Our findings provide a framework for mapping chemical anomalies at the surface to the deep mantle and illuminate the composition of one of the least well-understood regions of the Earth. Earth’s surface shows many features, of which the genesis can be understood only through their connection with processes in Earth’s deep interior. Recent studies indicate that spatial geochemical patterns at oceanic islands correspond to structures in the lowermost mantle inferred from seismic tomographic models. This suggests that hot, buoyant upwellings can carry chemical heterogeneities from the deep lower mantle toward the surface, providing a window to the composition of the lowermost mantle. The exact nature of this link between surface and deep Earth remains debated and poorly understood. Using computational models, we show that subducted slabs interacting with dense thermochemical piles can trigger the ascent of hot plumes that inherit chemical gradients present in the lowermost mantle. We identify two key factors controlling this process: (i) If slabs induce strong lower-mantle flow toward the edges of these piles where plumes rise, the pile-facing side of the plume preferentially samples material originating from the pile, and bilaterally asymmetric chemical zoning develops. (ii) The composition of the melt produced reflects this bilateral zoning if the overlying plate moves roughly perpendicular to the chemical gradient in the plume conduit. Our results explain some of the observed geochemical trends of oceanic islands and provide insights into how these trends may originate.