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Mantle Convection: Heat flux scaling and plume dynamics and heat transport in a plate tectonics-like regime

English title	Mantle Convection: Heat flux scaling and plume dynamics and heat transport in a plate tectonics-like regime
Applicant	Tackley Paul
Number	112137
Funding scheme	Project funding
Research institution	Institut für Geophysik ETH Zürich
Institution of higher education	ETH Zurich - ETHZ
Main discipline	Geophysics
Start/End	01.01.2007 - 31.12.2009
Approved amount	145'139.00

Lead

Lay summary
Understanding how the surface and core-mantle-boundary (CMB) heat fluxes in Earth’s mantle convection-plate tectonics system scale with the relevant parameters is essential to understanding the thermal evolution of the mantle and core, a central problem in Earth science. While scalings for simple convective systems are well known, the presence of strongly temperature-dependent viscosity, plate tectonics, continents, a mixture of heating modes (basal, internal and secular cooling), and spherical geometry complicates the situation on Earth, making the top and bottom boundary layers asymmetric in both physical properties and heat flux. Here we propose to conduct focused studies of CMB and surface heat flux in a plate tectonic regime using the tool of large-scale numerical modeling in 3D spherical geometry. Particular attention will be paid to the heat transport and dynamics of upwelling plumes and how this is affected by the details of plate tectonic environment (e.g., plate length). The research will be the be performed over a 3 year period by a student at ETHZ and will form the basis of their Ph.D. dissertation.

Last update: 21.02.2013