Earth science Ancient mantle in a modern plume

The evolution of the Earth's interior is largely controlled by plate-tectonic processes. Convection of the mantle delivers hot material to the surface from depth--both at mid-ocean ridges, where shallow mantle melts to form new basaltic oceanic crust, and beneath ocean islands such as Hawaii, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature (London) Vol. 420; no. 6913; pp. 281 - 282
Main Author Widom, Elisabeth
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Nature Publishing Group 21.11.2002
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Summary:The evolution of the Earth's interior is largely controlled by plate-tectonic processes. Convection of the mantle delivers hot material to the surface from depth--both at mid-ocean ridges, where shallow mantle melts to form new basaltic oceanic crust, and beneath ocean islands such as Hawaii, where rising mantle plumes melt to produce hotspot volcanism. The complementary process is subduction at convergent plate boundaries. Here, lithospheric plates--composed of oceanic crust and associated mantle depleted in the components that formed the crust--enter the Earth's interior.
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ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/420281a