Mantle Plumes - A Multidisciplinary Approach

The concept of mantle plumes, originally suggested by Morgan (1971), is widely but not unequivocally accepted as the cause for hotspot volcanism. Plumes are thought of as deep-rooted, approximately cylindrical regions of hot rising mantle rock with a typical diameter of 100-200 km. Pressure-release melting near the b- tom of the lithosphere produces magmas that rise to the surface and lead, when the plate moves relative to the plume, to a chain of volcanic edifices whose age p- gresses with increasing distance from the plume. For a long time, the evidence for mantle plumes has been largely circumstantial. Laboratory and computer models of mantle convection show that under certain conditions plume-like structures can be found, and these simulations have been used to characterise their properties. Geodetic signals, such as topographic swells and associated geoid anomalies which surround the volcanic hotspots, support the plume hypothesis. They are best identified in an oceanic environment where the plume signal is usually less s- ceptible to be masked by effects of crustal or lithospheric heterogeneities. The i- topic and trace element composition of hotspot lavas differs from those of m- oceanic ridge basalts which is interpreted as indication for a source reservoir d- ferent from average upper mantle rock. The idea of mantle plumes has gained widespread popularity in various disciplines of Earth science and has been used, sometimes perhaps excessively, to explain volcanic and other phenomena.

List of contents

Basic Properties of Mantle Plumes.- Fluid Dynamics of Mantle Plumes.- Case studies.- Tracing the Hawaiian Mantle Plume by Converted Seismic Waves.- Iceland: The current picture of a ridge-centred mantle plume.- Combined Gas-geochemical and Receiver Function Studies of the Vogtland/NW Bohemia Intraplate Mantle Degassing Field, Central Europe.- Crustal and Upper Mantle Structure of the French Massif Central Plume.- Eifel Region.- Geodynamic Setting of the Tertiary Hocheifel Volcanism (Germany), Part I: 40Ar/39Ar geochronology.- Geodynamic Setting of the Tertiary Hocheifel Volcanism (Germany), Part II: Geochemistry and Sr, Nd and Pb Isotopic Compositions.- The Quaternary Volcanic Fields of the East and West Eifel (Germany).- Thermal and Geochemical Evolution of the Shallow Subcontinental Lithospheric Mantle Beneath the Eifel: Constraints from Mantle Xenoliths, a Review.- He-Ne-Ar Isotope Systematics of Eifel and Pannonian Basin Mantle Xenoliths Trace Deep Mantle Plume-Lithosphere Interaction Beneath the European Continent.- Quaternary Uplift in the Eifel Area.- The Seismic Signature of the Eifel Plume.- Upper Mantle Structure Beneath the Eifel from Receiver Functions.- Rayleigh Wave Dispersion in the Eifel Region.- Seismic Anisotropy in the Asthenosphere Beneath the Eifel Region, Western Germany.- Gravity Observations in the Western Rhenish Massif and Forward Modelling of the Eifel Plume Bouguer Anomaly.

About the author

Joachim R. R. Ritter is an expert in seismological experiments and seismic tomography. He has conducted research at volcanic fields in East Africa, California and Central Europe to reveal the deep roots of the magmatic processes. He is working at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Karlsruhe.

Ulrich R. Christensen is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Lindau Katlenburg. He applies fluid dynamics to study the dynamic processes in planets.

Summary

The concept of mantle plumes, hot buoyant rock masses that rise in the mantle, is a key to understand intraplate volcanism in the framework of modern plate tectonics. Recent progress in instrumental, analytical and satellite technology enables scientists to verify the plume hypothesis with seismic tomography, isotope geochemistry and other sophisticated techniques. A group of experts review these advances in plume research, and present a general overview on recent plume studies. The mainly interdisciplinary written chapters will be also attractive for lecturers preparing their courses.

Additional text

From the reviews:

"This book, with 16 chapters and color plates, covers a diversity of topics dealing with the recognition and characterization of mantle plumes. … There is a wide range in the depth of coverage and quality of the papers in the book. Some chapters are review papers and some are papers presenting new data. The book presents a good balance between geophysical and geochemical topics. … The intended audience of the book are primarily geophysicists and geochemists interested in the mantle." (Kent C. Condie, Eos, Vol. 89 (11), 2008)
"The book comprises 16 individual papers, each focusing on a particular volcanic region or geological discipline. … This means that the papers will be useful to a wider range of people … . As well as appealing to experts due to the inclusion of research at the forefront of the field, this book is accessible to non-experts thanks to the comprehensive background summaries and method explanations. Each paper is written as a self-contained unit making it easy for readers to dip in … ." (Bryony Youngs, Geological Magazine, Vol. 145 (4), 2008)
"The mantle plumes, a term coined by J. Tuzo Wilson in 1963, are still controversial issue, particularly in terms of their depth of origin, their morphology, their longevity, even their existence. … this book aims to bring some order to the discussion on this topic. … This volume will be interesting to geologists and geophysicists from various disciplines of the Earth sciences, particularly geodynamics, geochemistry, and seismic tomography. It also will be very useful for recent graduated students at geological and geophysical faculties." (Marek Lewandowski, Pure and Applied Geophysics, Vol. 166, 2009)

Report

From the reviews:

"This book, with 16 chapters and color plates, covers a diversity of topics dealing with the recognition and characterization of mantle plumes. ... There is a wide range in the depth of coverage and quality of the papers in the book. Some chapters are review papers and some are papers presenting new data. The book presents a good balance between geophysical and geochemical topics. ... The intended audience of the book are primarily geophysicists and geochemists interested in the mantle." (Kent C. Condie, Eos, Vol. 89 (11), 2008)
"The book comprises 16 individual papers, each focusing on a particular volcanic region or geological discipline. ... This means that the papers will be useful to a wider range of people ... . As well as appealing to experts due to the inclusion of research at the forefront of the field, this book is accessible to non-experts thanks to the comprehensive background summaries and method explanations. Each paper is written as a self-contained unit making it easy for readers to dip in ... ." (Bryony Youngs, Geological Magazine, Vol. 145 (4), 2008)
"The mantle plumes, a term coined by J. Tuzo Wilson in 1963, are still controversial issue, particularly in terms of their depth of origin, their morphology, their longevity, even their existence. ... this book aims to bring some order to the discussion on this topic. ... This volume will be interesting to geologists and geophysicists from various disciplines of the Earth sciences, particularly geodynamics, geochemistry, and seismic tomography. It also will be very useful for recent graduated students at geological and geophysical faculties." (Marek Lewandowski, Pure and Applied Geophysics, Vol. 166, 2009)

Product details

• Assisted by: U. R. Christensen (Editor), U.R. Christensen (Editor), Ulrich R. Christensen (Editor), R Christensen (Editor), R Christensen (Editor), Joachi R R Ritter (Editor), Joachim R R Ritter (Editor), Joachim Ritter (Editor), Joachim R. R. Ritter (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 05.08.2009
• EAN: 9783540680451
• ISBN: 978-3-540-68045-1
• No. of pages: 502
• Dimensions: 159 mm x 235 mm x 30 mm
• Weight: 1017 g
• Illustrations: VIII, 502 p. 157 illus., 31 illus. in color.
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geology; B, Mathematische Physik, Geophysics, geology, Earth and Environmental Science, Geology, geomorphology & the lithosphere, Theoretical, Mathematical and Computational Physics, Solid Earth Sciences, Earth Sciences, Mathematical physics, Geophysics/Geodesy, Inorganic Chemistry, Geodynamics;Volcanism;geochemistry;plate tectonics;satellite