Talk:Mantle plume

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To-do list for Mantle plume: edit · history · watch · refresh
  • Expand on the density contrast and why it occurs
  • Why the core-mantle boundary?
  • Relationship in time with extinction events
  • Relationship in time with supercontinent accretion and destruction
  • Clarify the difference between plume and hotspot
  • Find more references for the smaller 'plumes'/'hotspot' volcanism
  • Expand on Columbia FB and Yellowstone connection.

Contents

[edit] Rate of Convection

What is the speed of convection within a plume? With it being mainly solid matter under great pressure, pretty slow I imagine, but do the plumes rise at 1cm a year or 1 cm in 1000 years? Northfold 11:51, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Layman's terms

Could someone clean this up it seems pretty hard to understand for those of us that don't know much about the geography of the ocean floor.71.224.24.133 22:24, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Definition of mantle plume

I have restored my former definition of a mantle plume as an upwelling of abnormally (or anomalously) hot mantle, because some time ago, someone only identified by an IP has reverted it to an upwelling of molten rock. It is important to understand that this is wrong: in most parts of the plume, the rock is not molten, and even in those uppermost parts where it may be partially molten, it is far from being a 100% melt. I hope the new formulation helps to avoid in the future the misunderstanding that the earth's mantle is a magma ocean.--TomR 20:22, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Copyvio or mirroring?

This page appears to have been copied from http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Mantle_plumes (unless they copied it from here, who can say?)

They do -- credit is given at the bottom of their page to Wikipedia.--Vsmith 00:28, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC) OK - I hit save and got an edit conflict - StoatBringer got there before me and did essentially the same editing :-) --Vsmith 00:34, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)

D'oh, I didn't spot that (still a Wiki Newbie) StoatBringer

[edit] Mantle Plume controversy?

Current theories about mantle plumes are not fixed in stone (pardon the pun). In fact, many geologists maintain that there are no such things as mantle plumes, and that they need not be invoked to explain certain geological features.

http://www.mantleplumes.org/index.html is probably one of the best resources on this.


Could someone make mention of these alternative ideas/contradictions? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.43.67.201 (talk) 19:52, 26 January 2007 (UTC).


  • I can add more on this "controversy", even though the mantleplume.org link is already on page (note: this page is maintained by anti-plume proponents). However, recent mantle tomography (e.g. Montelli et al 2005, and others) have imaged plume-like thermal anomalies that extend part way or all the way to the core mantle boundary. The non-plume arguments peaked in 2003 with the workshop in Iceland, but ALL of the evidence that has accrued since then documents the actual existence of these plumes. . Geodoc 23:06, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
    • Feel free to jigger about with things as much as you need to. Especially helpful are references which are unbiased, or which at least balance things out. Cheers, Rolinator 00:32, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
  • Just found an issue of journal Elements (published by American Min soc, Brit min soc) that deals entirely with mantle plumes and hotspots - bout half dozen articles. It is available free on web, and the writing is aimed at informed non-professionals, so anyone should be able to understand most of what is written. I will use that for refs and include pointer to page with journal issues listed (but not to that issue, which starts a 17 MB download!). I will keep the controversy, however: maybe there should be subsection devoted to it. Geodoc 02:13, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
    • Very wise to teach the controversy :P Rolinator 09:34, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Images/Diagrams

For a B category article, there is a rather notciable lack of images/diagrams. Jason McConnell-Leech 10:43, 28 October 2007 (UTC)