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Fluxes and excess temperatures of mantle plumes inferred from their interaction with migrating mid-ocean ridges

Abstract

The behaviour of thermal plumes in the Earth's upper mantle is strongly affected by their interaction with nearby mid-ocean ridges. The magnitude of the buoyant topography and the length of the geochemical anomaly induced by plumes at migrating ridge axes provide a way to estimate their excess temperature and discharge rate, and thereby constrain their depth of origin.

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Schilling, JG. Fluxes and excess temperatures of mantle plumes inferred from their interaction with migrating mid-ocean ridges. Nature 352, 397–403 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/352397a0

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