Superplumes: Beyond Plate Tectonics

566 Pages·2007·14.22 MB·English

by  David A. Yuen

SUPERPLUMES:BEYONDPLATETECTONICS
Superplumes:
Beyond Plate Tectonics
Editedby
DAVIDA.YUEN
UniversityofMinnesota,U.S.A.
SHIGENORIMARUYAMA
TokyoInstituteofTechnology,Japan
SHUN-ICHIROKARATO
YaleUniversity,Connecticut,U.S.A.
and
BRIANF.WINDLEY
UniversityofLeicester,U.K.
AC.I.P.CataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress.
ISBN978-1-4020-5749-6(HB)
ISBN978-1-4020-5750-2(e-book)
PublishedbySpringer,
P.O.Box17,3300AADordrecht,TheNetherlands.
www.springer.com
Bookcover:TheEarthsystemconsistsof6sub-systems:(1)growthtectonicsinthecore;(2)plume
tectonicsinthelowermantle;(3)platetectonicsintheuppermantle;(4)Solar-drivenhydro-biosphere;
(5)atmosphere;and(6)magnetosphere,penetratingthroughallofthesedomains.TheEarthbehavesasa
nonlinearsysteminresponsetoeitherexternalorinternalforcing.Thesurfaceenvironmentof(4)and(5)
iscontrolledbythesolarenergyinadailytimespan,whereasthesolidEarthisdrivenbyinternalheating
overamuchlongertimespan,uptoatimescaleofbillionsofyears.WithacoolingEarth,theEarth
systemhaschangedwithcatastrophiceventsduetothelinkedsubsystem,anddrasticallyaffectedthe
evolutionofthesurfaceenvironmentandoflife.Thesuperplumesitsatopthehotliquidoutercoreto
drivetheEarthasamainheatengineinmaintaininggeodynamics.(graphicsbyShioWatanabe)
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TABLEOFCONTENTS
Preface ix
ListofContributors xi
PartI.TheThermalandCompositionalStructureof
theEarth 1
Introduction 3
1. MultiscaleSeismicTomographyofMantlePlumes
andSubductingSlabs 7
DapengZhao
2. SeismologicalConstraintsontheStructureoftheEarth’sCore 31
MiakiIshii
(cid:1)(cid:1)
3. Post-PerovskitePhaseTransitionandtheNatureoftheD Layer 69
KeiHirose
4. Post-PerovskiteMgSiO InvestigatedbyFirstPrinciples 83
3
TakuTsuchiya,JunTsuchiya,andRenataM.Wentzcovitch
PartII. SeismologicalEvidenceandBoundaryLayersintheMantle 105
Introduction 107
5. SubductionZone:TheWaterChanneltotheMantle 113
SoichiOmoriandTetsuyaKomabayashi
6. Fine-ScaleUltra-LowVelocityZoneLayeringattheCore-Mantle
BoundaryandSuperplumes 139
EdwardJ.Garnero,MichaelS.Thorne,AllenMcNamara,and
SebastianRost
v
vi Tableofcontents
PartIII. GlobalMaterialCirculationandPetrogenesisof
SuperplumeRocks 159
Introduction 161
7. AGeochemicalandPetrologicalViewofMantlePlume 165
TetsuKogiso
8. MaterialCirculationthroughTime:ChemicalDifferentiationWithin
theMantleandSecularVariationofTemperatureandComposition
oftheMantle 187
TsuyoshiKomiya
PartIV. DynamicsofSuperplumes 235
Introduction 237
9. DynamicsofSuperplumesintheLowerMantle 239
DavidA.Yuen,MarcMonnereau,UlrichHansen,
MasanoriKameyama,andCtiradMatyska
10. ThermalConductivityoftheEarth’sDeepestMantle 269
AnneM.Hofmeister
11. Thermo-ChemicalStructureoftheLowerMantle:Seismological
EvidenceandConsequencesforGeodynamics 293
FrédéricDeschamps,JeannotTrampert,andPaulJ.Tackley
12. MicroscopicModelsfortheEffectsofHydrogenonPhysicaland
ChemicalPropertiesofEarthMaterials 321
Shun-IchiroKarato
PartV. PlumeDynamicsthroughEarthHistory 357
Introduction 359
13. HistoryofthePacificSuperplume:ImplicationsforPacific
PaleogeographySincetheLateProterozoic 363
AtsushiUtsunomiya,TsutomuOta,BrianF.Windley,NorihitoSuzuki,
YukoUchio,KunikoMunekata,andShigenoriMaruyama
14. PlumeWinterScenarioforBiosphereCatastrophe:ThePermo-Triassic
BoundaryCase 409
YukioIsozaki
15. DynamicsofPlumesandSuperplumesthroughTime 441
ShigenoriMaruyama,DavidA.Yuen,andBrianF.Windley
Tableofcontents vii
PartVI. PlumesandSuperplumesonMarsandVenus 503
Introduction 505
16. TharsisSuperplumeandtheGeologicalEvolutionofEarlyMars 507
VictorR.Baker,ShigenoriMaruyama,andJamesM.Dohm
17. TraitsandEvolutionoftheTharsisSuperplume,Mars 523
JamesM.Dohm,VictorR.Baker,ShigenoriMaruyama,and
RobertC.Anderson
18. PlumesandPlumeClustersonEarthandVenus:Evidencefrom
LargeIgneousProvinces(LIPs) 537
RichardE.Ernst,K.L.Buchan,andD.W.Desnoyers
Index 563
PREFACE
Forty years ago when plate tectonics was first discovered, there was a major shift
in thinking in the Earth Sciences. Little was known at that time about the deep
mantle because of the lack of knowledge about material properties, the absence of
anyseismictomographyorconceptssuchasmantleconvection.Thusthetheoryof
platetectonicswasbuiltonsurfaceobservationsandkinematicconstraints.Thetheory
ofplatetectonicsisnotindependentbutconsistsofseveralassumptions. Examples
aretheoriginofarcmagma,MORBorOIB,andthedistributionofearthquakesand
theplatemarginprocessesareallpartofplatetectonicstheory.
In the intervening years much progress has been made in all three burgeoning
areas of mineral physics, seismic tomography and mantle dynamics, thanks to the
technologicaladvancesinsynchrotronradiationandsupercomputers.
Mineralphysicsstudieshaveprovidedsomeofthekeyparametersthatcontrolthe
styleofmantleconvection. ThestyleofconvectionintheEarth’smantleislargely
controlledbycomplexmaterialpropertiesincludingthechangesindensityandvis-
cosityassociatedwithalargevariationinthepressureandtemperatureoftheEarth’s
interior.Thesekeyphysicalpropertieshavebecomethetargetofbothexperimental
andtheoreticalstudiesinmineralphysics.Startingfromtheearly90s,theadvancesin
high-performancecomputationalcapabilityhasallowedustoincorporatethesemin-
eralphysicsfindingsintolarge-scalecomputationalmodelingofmantleconvection;
andthesestudieshavehighlightedthecomplexitiesofmantleconvectioncausedby
thevariationindensityduetoboththermalandchemicalanomalies(andviscosity)
intheEarth’sdeepinterior.
Bythesametoken,thedevelopmentofseismictomographyhasalsorevealedthe
rich dynamics of the Earth’s deep interior. For example, the tomographic images
of the deep mantle published by Dziewonski’s seismic tomography in the 1980’s,
have unveiled the existence of two low seismic velocity anomalies underneath the
centralPacificandAfrica,whichhadnotbeenexpectedandwasveryenigmatic.These
objectswithadiameterexceeding1000kmwerecalledsuperplumesandhavepiqued
theinterestsofmanyinthegeophysical, geologicalandgeochemicalcommunities.
High-resolution tomography published by Fukao and his colleagues also revealed
atherichdetailabouttheinteractionbetweenconvectionandtransitionzone.
ix
x Preface
BasedpartlyonthetomographicimagesmadebyFukaoetal.(1992),Maruyama
in1994hasspeculatedthatsuperplumesmayindeedhaveplayedabiggerrolethan
plate tectonics in driving mantle dynamics. He obtained funds from the Japanese
government to examine this superplume idea as the next important paradigm as a
possibilityandplannedaseriesofworkshopsatRiken,Japanin1997,thesuperplume
symposiumattheSanFranciscoAGUin2000, andthesuperplumeIIworkshopat
TokyoInstituteofTechnologyinJanuary2002.
In Japan, the Superplume Project was initiated and supported by STA(Science
and TechnologyAgency, Japan) from 1996 to 2001. As a summary of the second
Superplumeworkshopin2002,aspecialissueof PhysicsoftheEarthandPlanetary
Interiorappearedinthesummerof2004.
As part of the research supported by the superplume project for deep mantle,
Hirose and his co-workers have discovered in the summer of 2004 a new phase,
post-perovskiteindiamond-anvilcellapparatusatelevatedtemperaturesof2500K
andpressuresof120GPa.Thishasstimulatedmuchresearchandthoughtaboutthe
roleplayedbythepost-perovskitetransitioninmaintainingtheseismicheterogeneity
(cid:1)(cid:1)
of the D layer and superplumes at the same time. Radiative thermal conductivity
may be needed in the deep mantle to promote the development of the superplume.
There is still much work needed to test the influence of superplumes on the plate
tectonicsintheuppermantle.
Howdothetwosystemscommunicatewitheachother?Atthesametime,howdoes
thegrowinginnercoreimpactonthedevelopmentofasuperplumeandontheinitial
onsetofsuperplumesinthedeepmantle?Toanswerthesequestions,surfacerecords
oftheEarth’shistoryarethecriticalsourceofinformation.Inthisbook,about50%is
geologyandpetrologycombiningwithgeophysics,bywhichsuperplumedynamics
oftheterrestrialplanetsisspeculated.
Inthisbook, wesummarizeourcurrentknowledgeofthewholemantlethrough
time from diverse points of view in order to stimulate this nascent concept of
superplumeandtoinvestigateitfurtherasatestablemodelinthefuture.
We would like to dedicate this book to the memory of our Hungarian colleague,
LaszloCserepes,whopassedawaybeforetheSuperplumeIIWorkshop.Laszlowas
oneofthepioneersofmantleconvectionmodelinganddevelopedtheconceptofdif-
ferenttypesofmantleplumes,includingthesuperplume.Alltheeditorsacknowledge
thestaffatSpringerwhoprovidedatimelyopportunityforthisbook.
D.A.Yuen
S.Maruyama
S.Karatoand
B.F.Windley
LISTOFCONTRIBUTORS
RobertC.Anderson D.W.Desnoyers
JetPropulsionLaboratory GeologicalSurveyofCanada
4800OakGroveDrive 601BoothSt.,Ottawa,K1A0E8
MS230-235 Canada
Pasadena, [email protected]
California91109
JamesM.Dohm
USA
DepartmentofHydrologyand
[email protected]
WaterResources
VictorR.Baker TheUniversityofArizona
DepartmentofHydrologyand Tucson,Arizona85721-0011
WaterResources USA
(andTheLunarandPlanetary [email protected]
Laboratory)
TheUniversityofArizona RichardE.Ernst
Tucson, GeologicalSurveyofCanada
Arizona85721-0011 601BoothSt.,Ottawa
USA OntarioK1A0E8
[email protected] Canada
NowatErnstGeosciences
K.L.Buchan 43MargraveAvenue
GeologicalSurveyofCanada OttawaK1T3Y2
601BoothSt.,Ottawa,K1A0E8 Canada
Canada [email protected]
[email protected]
EdwardJ.Garnero
FrédéricDeschamps SchoolofEarthandSpaceExploration
InstituteofGeophysics ArizonaStateUniversity
ETHZurich TempeArizona85287-1404
8093Zurich USA
Switzerland [email protected]
[email protected] Web:http://garnero.asu.edu
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