Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 10 April 1992:
Vol. 256. no. 5054, pp. 186 - 193
DOI: 10.1126/science.256.5054.186
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Mantle Plumes and Continental Tectonics

R. I. Hill 1, I. H. Campbell 1, G. F. Davies 1, and R. W. Griffiths 1

1 Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Post Office Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

Mantle plumes and plate tectonics, the result of two distinct modes of convection within the Earth, operate largely independently. Although plumes are secondary in terms of heat transport, they have probably played an important role in continental geology. A new plume starts with a large spherical head that can cause uplift and flood basalt volcanism, and may be responsible for regional-scale metamorphism or crustal melting and varying amounts of crustal extension. Plume heads are followed by narrow tails that give rise to the familiar hot-spot tracks. The cumulative effect of processes associated with tail volcanism may also significantly affect continental crust.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Bikou basalts in the northwestern Yangtze block, South China: Remnants of 820-810 Ma continental flood basalts?.
X.-C. Wang, X.-H. Li, W.-X. Li, Z.-X. Li, Y. Liu, Y.-H. Yang, X.-R. Liang, and X.-L. Tu (2008)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 120, 1478-1492
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Origins of the plume hypothesis and some of its implications.
N. H. Sleep (2007)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 430, 29-45
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The structure of thermal plumes and geophysical observations.
S. D. King and H. L. Redmond (2007)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 430, 103-120
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The origin of the Columbia River flood basalt province: Plume versus nonplume models.
P. R. Hooper, V. E. Camp, S. P. Reidel, and M. E. Ross (2007)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 430, 635-668
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mechanisms of crustal growth in large igneous provinces: The north Atlantic province as a case study.
L. Geoffroy, C. Aubourg, J.-P. Callot, and J.-A. Barrat (2007)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 430, 747-774
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Miocene to Holocene landscape evolution of the western Snake River Plain region, Idaho: Using the SHRIMP detrital zircon provenance record to track eastward migration of the Yellowstone hotspot.
L. P. Beranek, P. K. Link, and C. M. Fanning (2006)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 118, 1027-1050
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Heads and tails: 30 million years of the Afar plume.
T. Furman, J. Bryce, T. Rooney, B. Hanan, G. Yirgu, and D. Ayalew (2006)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 259, 95-119
   Abstract »    PDF »
Initiation of Subduction Zones as a Consequence of Lateral Compositional Buoyancy Contrast within the Lithosphere: a Petrological Perspective.
Y. NIU, M. J. O'HARA, and J. A. PEARCE (2003)
J. Petrology 44, 851-866
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genesis of flood basalts and Basin and Range volcanic rocks from Steens Mountain to the Malheur River Gorge, Oregon.
V. E. Camp, M. E. Ross, and W. E. Hanson (2003)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 115, 105-128
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Amphibolite facies metamorphism in the Schapenburg schist belt: A record of the mid-crustal response to ~3.23 Ga terrane accretion in the Barberton greenstone belt.
G. Stevens, G.T.R. Droop, R.A. Armstrong, and C.R. Anhaeusser (2002)
South African Journal of Geology 105, 271-284
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Large-scale fractures related to inception of the Yellowstone hotspot.
J. M.G. Glen and D. A. Ponce (2002)
Geology 30, 647-650
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
High-Pressure Granulites (Retrograded Eclogites) from the Hengshan Complex, North China Craton: Petrology and Tectonic Implications.
G. ZHAO, P. A. CAWOOD, S. A. WILDE, and L. LU (2001)
J. Petrology 42, 1141-1170
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Discussion on mantle plume uplift in the sedimentary record: origin of kilometre-deep canyons within late Neoproterozoic successions, South Australia: Journal, Vol. 157, 2000, 759-768.
N. Christie-Blick, N. CHRISTIE-BLICK, G.E. WILLIAMS, and V.A. GOSTIN (2001)
Journal of the Geological Society 158, 573-576
   Full Text »    PDF »
New evidence for geologically instantaneous emplacement of earliest Jurassic Central Atlantic magmatic province basalts on the North American margin.
W.E. Hames, P.R. Renne, and C. Ruppel (2000)
Geology 28, 859-862
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Archaean crustal growth and tectonic processes: a comparison of the Superior Province, Canada and the Dharwar Craton, India.
P. Choukroune, J. N. Ludden, D. Chardon, A. J. Calvert, and H. Bouhallier (1997)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 121, 63-98
   Abstract »    PDF »
Mesoproterozoic anorogenic magmatism in southern Norway.
J. F. Menuge and T. S. Brewer (1996)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 112, 275-295
   Abstract »    PDF »
Synchrony and Causal Relations Between Permian-Triassic Boundary Crises and Siberian Flood Volcanism.
P. R. Renne, P. R. Renne, M. T. Black, Z. Zichao, M. A. Richards, and A. R. Basu (1995)
Science 269, 1413-1416
   Abstract »    PDF »
Trace element geochemistry of orogenic igneous rocks and crustal growth models.
J. TARNEY and C. E. JONES (1994)
Journal of the Geological Society 151, 855-868
   Abstract »    PDF »
Geochemical signatures of oceanic and continental basalts: a key to mantle dynamics?.
M. WILSON (1993)
Journal of the Geological Society 150, 977-990
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Age of Parana Flood Volcanism, Rifting of Gondwanaland, and the Jurassic-Cretaceous Boundary.
P. R. Renne, P. R. Renne, M. Ernesto, I. G. Pacca, R. S. Coe, J. M. Glen, M. Prevot, and M. Perrin (1992)
Science 258, 975-979
   Abstract »    PDF »
Plates and Plumes: Dynamos of the Earth's Mantle.
G. F. Davies and G. F. Davies (1992)
Science 257, 493-494
   PDF »
Volcanism and continental break-up: a global compilation of large igneous provinces.
M. F. Coffin and O. Eldholm (1992)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 68, 17-30
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)