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Imaging Deep Mantle Plumbing Beneath La Réunion and Comores Hotspots: Vertical Plume Conduits and Horizontal Ponding Zones

Description: 

Whether the two large low shear velocity provinces (LLSVP) at the base of Earth's mantle are compact structures extending thousands of kilometers upwards, or bundles of distinct mantle plumes, is the subject of debate. Full waveform shear wave tomography of the deep mantle beneath the Indian Ocean highlights the presence of several separate broad low-velocity conduits anchored at the core-mantle boundary in the eastern part of the African LLSVP, most precisely beneath La Réunion and Comores hotspots. The deep plumbing system beneath these hotspots may also include alternating vertical conduits and horizontal ponding zones, from 1000 km depth to the top of the asthenosphere, reminiscent of dykes and sills in crustal volcanic systems, albeit at the whole mantle scale. Our study was conducted using ocean-bottom and land-based seismic stations. We are currently investigating the current state of global tomographic model quality and data availability for a regional tomographic study in the Pacific Ocean around French Polynesia, where several hotspots are situated, in order to investigate their relation to any underlying LLSVP, and to evaluate the likely model improvement gained from incorporating hydroacoustic data from the over fifty mobile MERMAID instruments deployed in the region since 2018 as part of the South Pacific Plume Imaging and Modeling (SPPIM) project conducted under the auspices of the EarthScope-Oceans consortium.

Session: Earth’s Structure From the Crust to the Core

Type: Oral

Date: 4/18/2023

Presentation Time: 02:00 PM (local time)

Presenting Author: Mathurin Dongmo Wamba

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Authors