Assembly of the basal mantle structure beneath Africa

Flament, Nicolas; Bodur, Ömer F.; Williams, S.; Merdith, Andrew

doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04538-y

Cited by 42 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Reconstructed locations of volcanic eruptions are also close to mobile BMSs predicted by mantle flow models (Fig. 16) (Flament et al, 2022). The statistical significance of the median distance between volcanic eruptions and BMSs (see Fig.…”

Section: Match Of Large Igneous Provinces and Kimberlites With Basal ...supporting

confidence: 64%

“…Austermann et al, 2014;Davies et al, 2015a) have shown that this correlation is not robust, whilst a follow-up study by Doubrovine et al (2016) essentially confirms this in the sense that one cannot conclusively state that plumes form at LLSVP edges versus interiors. Using similar statistical approaches, Flament et al (2022) recently showed that the alignment of LIPs and kimberlites is statistically as consistent with the boundaries and interiors of mobile basal mantle structures shaped by Earth's reconstructed subduction history as with fixed ones.…”

Section: Relative Versus Absolute Plate Motionsmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…We follow the approach of Flament et al (2022) to evaluate model success from (i) the time-dependent match between volcanic eruption locations and basal mantle structures and (ii) the match between the present-day mantle structure predicted by mantle flow models and imaged by tomographic models. We are primarily interested in basal mantle structures (BMSs) that are hot in mantle flow models and slow in tomographic models.…”

Section: Assessing the Match Of Volcanic Eruption Locations And Basal...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We combined 1168 centroids 1134 R. D. Müller et al: A tectonic-rules-based mantle reference frame since 1 billion years ago from EY17, J18, and T18 to measure the distance between volcanic eruptions and BMSs from 960 Ma. We created maps of angular distances from the edge of BMSs, with distances positive inside and negative outside BMSs (Davies et al, 2015b;Doubrovine et al, 2016;Flament et al, 2022). For a given tectonic reconstruction, minimum angular distances to BMSs were derived from these maps at reconstructed volcanic eruption locations.…”

Section: Assessing the Match Of Volcanic Eruption Locations And Basal...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A tectonic-rules-based mantle reference frame since 1 billion years ago – implications for supercontinent cycles and plate–mantle system evolution

et al. 2022

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Abstract. Understanding the long-term evolution of Earth's plate–mantle system is reliant on absolute plate motion models in a mantle reference frame, but such models are both difficult to construct and controversial. We present a tectonic-rules-based optimization approach to construct a plate motion model in a mantle reference frame covering the last billion years and use it as a constraint for mantle flow models. Our plate motion model results in net lithospheric rotation consistently below 0.25∘ Myr−1, in agreement with mantle flow models, while trench motions are confined to a relatively narrow range of −2 to +2 cm yr−1 since 320 Ma, during Pangea stability and dispersal. In contrast, the period from 600 to 320 Ma, nicknamed the “zippy tricentenary” here, displays twice the trench motion scatter compared to more recent times, reflecting a predominance of short and highly mobile subduction zones. Our model supports an orthoversion evolution from Rodinia to Pangea with Pangea offset approximately 90∘ eastwards relative to Rodinia – this is the opposite sense of motion compared to a previous orthoversion hypothesis based on paleomagnetic data. In our coupled plate–mantle model a broad network of basal mantle ridges forms between 1000 and 600 Ma, reflecting widely distributed subduction zones. Between 600 and 500 Ma a short-lived degree-2 basal mantle structure forms in response to a band of subduction zones confined to low latitudes, generating extensive antipodal lower mantle upwellings centred at the poles. Subsequently, the northern basal structure migrates southward and evolves into a Pacific-centred upwelling, while the southern structure is dissected by subducting slabs, disintegrating into a network of ridges between 500 and 400 Ma. From 400 to 200 Ma, a stable Pacific-centred degree-1 convective planform emerges. It lacks an antipodal counterpart due to the closure of the Iapetus and Rheic oceans between Laurussia and Gondwana as well as due to coeval subduction between Baltica and Laurentia and around Siberia, populating the mantle with slabs until 320 Ma when Pangea is assembled. A basal degree-2 structure forms subsequent to Pangea breakup, after the influence of previously subducted slabs in the African hemisphere on the lowermost mantle structure has faded away. This succession of mantle states is distinct from previously proposed mantle convection models. We show that the history of plume-related volcanism is consistent with deep plumes associated with evolving basal mantle structures. This Solid Earth Evolution Model for the last 1000 million years (SEEM1000) forms the foundation for a multitude of spatio-temporal data analysis approaches.

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Section: Match Of Large Igneous Provinces and Kimberlites With Basal ...supporting

confidence: 64%

Section: Relative Versus Absolute Plate Motionsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Assessing the Match Of Volcanic Eruption Locations And Basal...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Assessing the Match Of Volcanic Eruption Locations And Basal...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A tectonic-rules-based mantle reference frame since 1 billion years ago – implications for supercontinent cycles and plate–mantle system evolution

et al. 2022

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“…This case is therefore similar to the simulations examined when addressing questions from the very frontiers of geodynamical research, albeit incorporating a more representative treatment of mantle and lithosphere rheology (e.g. Schuberth et al, 2009;Davies and Davies, 2009;Davies et al, 2012;Bower et al, 2013;Hassan et al, 2015;Nerlich et al, 2016;Rubey et al, 2017;Koelemeijer et al, 2018;Flament et al, 2022). The simulation was executed across 1344 CPUs, on the same architecture as outlined above, and took ∼ 92 h.…”

Section: Parallel Scalingmentioning

confidence: 86%

Towards automatic finite-element methods for geodynamics via Firedrake

et al. 2022

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Abstract. Firedrake is an automated system for solving partial differential equations using the finite-element method. By applying sophisticated performance optimisations through automatic code-generation techniques, it provides a means of creating accurate, efficient, flexible, easily extensible, scalable, transparent and reproducible research software that is ideally suited to simulating a wide range of problems in geophysical fluid dynamics. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of Firedrake for geodynamical simulation, with a focus on mantle dynamics. The accuracy and efficiency of the approach are confirmed via comparisons against a suite of analytical and benchmark cases of systematically increasing complexity, whilst parallel scalability is demonstrated up to 12 288 compute cores, where the problem size and the number of processing cores are simultaneously increased. In addition, Firedrake's flexibility is highlighted via straightforward application to different physical (e.g. complex non-linear rheologies, compressibility) and geometrical (2-D and 3-D Cartesian and spherical domains) scenarios. Finally, a representative simulation of global mantle convection is examined, which incorporates 230 Myr of plate motion history as a kinematic surface boundary condition, confirming Firedrake's suitability for addressing research problems at the frontiers of global mantle dynamics research.

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Deep Crustal and Upper Mantle Structures in North Africa: A Review

Basheer

2024

Regional Geology Reviews

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Assembly of the basal mantle structure beneath Africa

Cited by 42 publications

References 79 publications

A tectonic-rules-based mantle reference frame since 1 billion years ago – implications for supercontinent cycles and plate–mantle system evolution

A tectonic-rules-based mantle reference frame since 1 billion years ago – implications for supercontinent cycles and plate–mantle system evolution

Towards automatic finite-element methods for geodynamics via Firedrake

Deep Crustal and Upper Mantle Structures in North Africa: A Review

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