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Science 3 April 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5360, pp. 91 - 95
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5360.91
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Reports

Time Scales and Heterogeneous Structure in Geodynamic Earth Models

Hans-Peter Bunge, * Mark A. Richards, Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni, John R. Baumgardner, Stephen P. Grand, Barbara A. Romanowicz

Computer models of mantle convection constrained by the history of Cenozoic and Mesozoic plate motions explain some deep-mantle structural heterogeneity imaged by seismic tomography, especially those related to subduction. They also reveal a 150-million-year time scale for generating thermal heterogeneity in the mantle, comparable to the record of plate motion reconstructions, so that the problem of unknown initial conditions can be overcome. The pattern of lowermost mantle structure at the core-mantle boundary is controlled by subduction history, although seismic tomography reveals intense large-scale hot (low-velocity) upwelling features not explicitly predicted by the models.

H.-P. Bunge, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Laboratoire de Sismologie, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.
M. A. Richards, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
C. Lithgow-Bertelloni, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
J. R. Baumgardner, Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA.
S. P. Grand, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78713, USA.
B. A. Romanowicz, Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, and Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bunge{at}ipgp.jussieu.fr

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