Pulsations and breaks of tails of thermal mantle plumes


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Abstract

In the available numerical models, mantle plumes are represented by homogeneous ascending streams of thermal convection. Pulses are considered to be possible only in thermochemical plumes within the compositionally inhomogeneous mantle. We show that pulses can also occur under regular thermal convection in the homogeneous mantle. As the intensity grows, the flow in the tail of a thermal plume first begins pulsing and then the plume breaks up into a set of sequentially emerging thermals. For the present-day mantle, the pulsation periods for plumes in the lower mantle can range up to 10 Ma and about 1 Ma in the upper mantle.

About the authors

M. N. Evseev

Schmidt Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth

Email: vtrubi@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow, 123810

V. P. Trubitsyn

Schmidt Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth; Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics

Author for correspondence.
Email: vtrubi@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow, 123810; Moscow, 117997

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