Plumes of hot upwelling rock rooted in the deep mantle have been proposed as a possible origin of hotspot volcanoes, but this idea is the subject of vigorous debate. On the basis of geodynamic computations, plumes of purely thermal origin should comprise thin tails, only several hundred kilometres wide, and be difficult to detect using standard seismic tomography techniques. Here we describe the use of a whole-mantle seismic imaging technique--combining accurate wavefield computations with information contained in whole seismic waveforms--that reveals the presence of broad (not thin), quasi-vertical conduits beneath many prominent hotspots. These conduits extend from the core-mantle boundary to about 1,000 kilometres below Earth's surface, where some are deflected horizontally, as though entrained into more vigorous upper-mantle circulation. At the base of the mantle, these conduits are rooted in patches of greatly reduced shear velocity that, in the case of Hawaii, Iceland and Samoa, correspond to the locations of known large ultralow-velocity zones. This correspondence clearly establishes a continuous connection between such zones and mantle plumes. We also show that the imaged conduits are robustly broader than classical thermal plume tails, suggesting that they are long-lived, and may have a thermochemical origin. Their vertical orientation suggests very sluggish background circulation below depths of 1,000 kilometres. Our results should provide constraints on studies of viscosity layering of Earth's mantle and guide further research into thermochemical convection.

How cratons-extremely stable continental areas of the Earth's crust-formed and remained largely unchanged for more than 2,500 million years is much debated. Recent studies of seismic-wave receiver function data have detected a structural boundary under continental cratons at depths too shallow to be consistent with the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary, as inferred from seismic tomography and other geophysical studies. Here we show that changes in the direction of azimuthal anisotropy with depth reveal the presence of two distinct lithospheric layers throughout the stable part of the North American continent. The top layer is thick ( approximately 150 km) under the Archaean core and tapers out on the surrounding Palaeozoic borders. Its thickness variations follow those of a highly depleted layer inferred from thermo-barometric analysis of xenoliths. The lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is relatively flat (ranging from 180 to 240 km in depth), in agreement with the presence of a thermal conductive root that subsequently formed around the depleted chemical layer. Our findings tie together seismological, geochemical and geodynamical studies of the cratonic lithosphere in North America. They also suggest that the horizon detected in receiver function studies probably corresponds to the sharp mid-lithospheric boundary rather than to the more gradual lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary.

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