A double magmatic heat pump at the core-mantle boundary
-
S.A. Morse
Abstract
Gigantic silicate magma chambers have been postulated to account for seismically inferred ultra-low-velocity zones at the base of the mantle, acting to modulate heat transport out of the core and into plumes. In the core, rising plumes of liquid metal and light elements pump the latent heat outward from the inner core boundary by compositional convection. The outer core thus pumps heat to the core-mantle boundary (CMB), and the giant magma chamber pumps heat into the mantle to act as a plume source. Magmatic action at the CMB depends critically on the balance between melt composition, compressibility, and temperature. A stably resident magma above the CMB must be denser than the mantle crystals, mostly silicate perovskite (pv) and magnesiowüstite (mw). Dense melts should form at the CMB, where they must be saturated with Fe and FeO from the core. Given normal Mg-Fe partitioning, mw will be denser than pv, and melts from pv + mw + iron = liq should also be intrinsically dense relative to the bulk crystal assemblage. Such melts may become superheated to overcome the compositional density, and rise upward in the magma chamber, assisted by turbulent mixing. Cooled melt sheds dense metal and metal oxide crystals, and growth of these crystals releases light solute that quickly transports heat upward toward the chamber roof, where it melts the mantle. Near the roof, dense melt grows from the heat transported upward by compositional convection, and sinks. Excess heat and occasionally some melt escapes to feed plumes in the mantle. CMB magmas must be among the most Fe-rich in the Earth
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Patterns of mineral occurrence in metamorphic rocks
- A double magmatic heat pump at the core-mantle boundary
- High-temperature contact metamorphism of calc-silicate xenoliths in the Kiglapait Intrusion, Labrador
- Multiple pyroxene and amphibole assemblages in the amphibolite facies: Bulk compositional controls
- Margarite-corundum phyllites from the Appalachian orogen of South Carolina: Mineralogy and metamorphic history
- Continuous metamorphic gradient documented by graphitization and K-Ar age, southeast Otago, New Zealand
- Kyanite eclogite thermobarometry and evidence for thrusting of UHP over HP metamorphic rocks, Nordøyane, Western Gneiss Region, Norway
- Monazite geochronology of UHP and HP metamorphism, deformation, and exhumation, Nordøyane, Western Gneiss Region, Norway
- Solubilities of noble metals in Fe-containing silicate melts as derived from experiments in Fe-free systems
- Water speciation in silicate glasses and melts: Langmuir limited site model
- The ab initio study of the stability of low temperature Al/Si ordered albite, NaAlSi3O8
- The heat capacity of MgCr2O4, FeCr2O4, and Cr2O3 at low temperatures and derived thermodynamic properties
- Thermodynamics of the R3̅ to R3̅c phase transition in the ilmenite-hematite solid solution
- An ab initio study of hydrogarnets
- Short-range order in synthetic aluminous tremolites: An infrared and triple-quantum MAS NMR study
- In-situ Raman spectroscopy of quartz: A pressure sensor for hydrothermal diamond-anvil cell experiments at elevated temperatures
- Modification of the hydroxyl surface of potassium acetate intercalated halloysite between 25 and 300 °C
- On the occurrence of anomalous fission tracks in apatite and titanite
- Reactivity of surface sites on fractured arsenopyrite (FeAsS) toward oxygen
- Surface area and porosity of primary silicate minerals
- Charge contrast imaging of geological materials in the environmental scanning electron microscope
- Chemical fine structure of Franciscan jadeitic pyroxene from Ward Creek, Cazadero area, California
- Crystal structure of CaMg2Al6O12, a new Al-rich high pressure form
- The crystal structure of “Tetragonal Almandine-Pyrope Phase” (TAPP): A reexamination
- The crystal structure of tetranatrolite from Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec, and its chemical and structural relationship to paranatrolite and gonnardite
- Elyite, Pb4Cu(SO4)O2(OH)4·H2O: Crystal structure and new data
- Dukeite, Bi3+24Cr86+O57(OH)6(H2O)3, a new mineral from Brejaúba, Minas Gerais, Brazil: Description and crystal structure
- Pseudosinhalite is a structural isotype of chondrodite
- Structure type and bulk modulus of Fe3S, a new iron-sulfur compound
- Single crystal elasticity of lawsonite
- In situ measurement of viscosity of liquids in the Fe-FeS system at high pressures and temperatures
Articles in the same Issue
- Patterns of mineral occurrence in metamorphic rocks
- A double magmatic heat pump at the core-mantle boundary
- High-temperature contact metamorphism of calc-silicate xenoliths in the Kiglapait Intrusion, Labrador
- Multiple pyroxene and amphibole assemblages in the amphibolite facies: Bulk compositional controls
- Margarite-corundum phyllites from the Appalachian orogen of South Carolina: Mineralogy and metamorphic history
- Continuous metamorphic gradient documented by graphitization and K-Ar age, southeast Otago, New Zealand
- Kyanite eclogite thermobarometry and evidence for thrusting of UHP over HP metamorphic rocks, Nordøyane, Western Gneiss Region, Norway
- Monazite geochronology of UHP and HP metamorphism, deformation, and exhumation, Nordøyane, Western Gneiss Region, Norway
- Solubilities of noble metals in Fe-containing silicate melts as derived from experiments in Fe-free systems
- Water speciation in silicate glasses and melts: Langmuir limited site model
- The ab initio study of the stability of low temperature Al/Si ordered albite, NaAlSi3O8
- The heat capacity of MgCr2O4, FeCr2O4, and Cr2O3 at low temperatures and derived thermodynamic properties
- Thermodynamics of the R3̅ to R3̅c phase transition in the ilmenite-hematite solid solution
- An ab initio study of hydrogarnets
- Short-range order in synthetic aluminous tremolites: An infrared and triple-quantum MAS NMR study
- In-situ Raman spectroscopy of quartz: A pressure sensor for hydrothermal diamond-anvil cell experiments at elevated temperatures
- Modification of the hydroxyl surface of potassium acetate intercalated halloysite between 25 and 300 °C
- On the occurrence of anomalous fission tracks in apatite and titanite
- Reactivity of surface sites on fractured arsenopyrite (FeAsS) toward oxygen
- Surface area and porosity of primary silicate minerals
- Charge contrast imaging of geological materials in the environmental scanning electron microscope
- Chemical fine structure of Franciscan jadeitic pyroxene from Ward Creek, Cazadero area, California
- Crystal structure of CaMg2Al6O12, a new Al-rich high pressure form
- The crystal structure of “Tetragonal Almandine-Pyrope Phase” (TAPP): A reexamination
- The crystal structure of tetranatrolite from Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec, and its chemical and structural relationship to paranatrolite and gonnardite
- Elyite, Pb4Cu(SO4)O2(OH)4·H2O: Crystal structure and new data
- Dukeite, Bi3+24Cr86+O57(OH)6(H2O)3, a new mineral from Brejaúba, Minas Gerais, Brazil: Description and crystal structure
- Pseudosinhalite is a structural isotype of chondrodite
- Structure type and bulk modulus of Fe3S, a new iron-sulfur compound
- Single crystal elasticity of lawsonite
- In situ measurement of viscosity of liquids in the Fe-FeS system at high pressures and temperatures
