Search results for "Mantle"

A two-component mantle below Mt Etna volcano: evidences from noble gas and trace element geochemistry of primitive products

2013

A general geochemical study comprehensive of major elements, trace elements and Sr-Nd isotopes in the bulk rock, coupled to noble gases analyses from fluid inclusions retained in minerals, was performed. The studied samples ( basalts, trachybasalts and basanites) represent some among the most primitive products of Etnean history. The variable composition measured in trace elements (i.e. Zr/Nb=2.81–4.98, Ce/Yb=35.02–66.90, La/Yb=15.36–35.52, Th/Y=0.17–0.43) was modeled as due to varying degrees of melting of a common mantle source. We numerically simulated the process by MELTS code to calculate a melting percentage for each product, and we accordingly estimated the pristine trace-elements co…

Present-day uplift of the European Alps: Evaluating mechanisms and models of their relative contributions

2019

Abstract Recent measurements of surface vertical displacements of the European Alps show a correlation between vertical velocities and topographic features, with widespread uplift at rates of up to ~2–2.5 mm/a in the North-Western and Central Alps, and ~1 mm/a across a continuous region from the Eastern to the South-Western Alps. Such a rock uplift rate pattern is at odds with the horizontal velocity field, characterized by shortening and crustal thickening in the Eastern Alps and very limited deformation in the Central and Western Alps. Proposed mechanisms of rock uplift rate include isostatic response to the last deglaciation, long-term erosion, detachment of the Western Alpine slab, as w…

δ objects as a gauge for stress sensitivity of strain rate in mylonites

1993

Abstract Our understanding of the flow properties of deforming rocks in the Earth's lithosphere is mainly based on theoretical work and on the extrapolation of high-strain-rate experimental data to the low strain rates of rock deformation in nature. The geometry of structures in naturally deformed rocks can be an additional source of information on the rheology of the lithosphere. Flow experiments show that the geometry of a mantle of recrystallised material around a rigid object can be used to distinguish between a linear or power-law relation of differential stress and strain rate in strongly deformed rocks such as mylonites. This means that it is possible to use geometrical patterns in d…

The composition of fluids stored in the central Mexican lithospheric mantle: Inferences from noble gases and CO2 in mantle xenoliths

2021

We present the first isotopic (noble gases and CO2) characterization of fluid inclusions coupled to Raman microspectroscopy analyses in mantle xenoliths from Central Mexico, a geodynamically complex area where the Basin and Range extension was superimposed on the Farallon subduction (terminated at 28 Ma). To characterize the isotopic signature of the Central Mexican lithospheric mantle, we focus on fluid inclusions entrapped in mantle xenoliths found in deposits of the Joya Honda maar (JH), a Quaternary monogenetic volcano belonging to the Ventura Espiritu Santo Volcanic Field (VESVF) in the state of San Luis Potosí (central Mexico). Thirteen ultramafic plagioclase-free xenoliths were selec…

Constraining lithospheric flow.

2016

The motion of Earth's tectonic plates—the lithosphere—is driven by the subduction of relatively cold and dense oceanic plates into the mantle. The resulting forces drive the motions of continental plates, but the manner in which this happens depends on the effective viscosities of the lithosphere and mantle. On page 1515 of this issue, Liu and Hasterok ( 1 ) discuss a novel method of constraining viscosities of the lithosphere from geophysical data.

Restoration of premetasomatic protolith compositions in mantle xenoliths

2006

Subduction-related origin of eclogite xenoliths from the Wajrakarur kimberlite field, Eastern Dharwar craton, Southern India: Constraints from petrol…

2015

Abstract Major and trace elements as well as the first oxygen isotopes are reported on eclogite xenoliths from the Mesoproterozoic KL2 and P3 kimberlite pipes of the Wajrakarur kimberlite field, Eastern Dharwar craton, Southern India. Garnets in kyanite-bearing samples are rich in grossular, whereas they are predominantly pyrope-almandines in the bimineralic (kyanite-free) samples. The kyanite eclogite from the P3 pipe is more Mg-rich than those from KL2 pipe. Equilibration temperatures indicate derivation from 4.5 to 5.3 GPa and 1060 to 1220 °C for the KL2 samples and 3.6 GPa, 918 °C for the P3 sample. Garnet rare earth element patterns show two characteristic types, one with relatively lo…

Crust–mantle transition and Moho model for Iceland and surroundings from seismic, topography, and gravity data

2005

An increasing data set exists on the nature and thickness of the Iceland crust. This paper relates topography, i.e., elevation and bathymetry (TOP), Bouguer gravity anomalies (BA) and Moho depths to each other to assess the consequences of the “thick crust model” for Iceland in the context of the North Atlantic. Results of regression of TOP and BA vs. Moho depth are converted into “Airy densities” Δρ* (mantle crust density contrasts in the case of ideal Airy isostasy). For Iceland, Δρ* is very low (105±10 kg/m3); for the adjacent continental margins and relicts, it is high and intermediate for the Jan Mayen Ridge. The values are affected by lithosphere cooling and systematic variations of i…

Mantle Plumes

2001

Effects of Rayleigh number length thickness of continent on time of mantle flow reversal

1998

Abstract Numerical experiments are carried out to study the effects of continents on the structure of thermal convection in the mantle. The mantle is modelled by a viscous fluid occupying a horizontally extended rectangular 2-D region of aspect ratio 10:1. Continents are treated as thick rigid heat-conducting plates placed in the mantle, with free-slip and with no-slip conditions. Continents restrict the heat release from the underlying mantle; the mantle material heats up and becomes lighter; as a result, a hot upwelling flow replaces downwelling. We calculate the characteristic time τ of this restructuring for various values of model parameters and obtain analytical approximations for τ a…