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"Are mantle plumes stationary?"

An overview of mantle plumes and their apparent movement on the earth's surface

Overview of website

This website is designed to provide a condensed and easily accessible overview of whether mantle plumes are stationary over time and how reliable these predictions are. The website is structured such that topics of interest can be accessed from this page via the descriptive links positioned around the diagram. Each section is a standalone page and users can jump between topics in no particular order as there are a variety of relevant topics and the case for drifting plumes doesn't need to be built up linearly.

I suggest users first take a look at the deep processes and surface expression of plumes before going into the mantle processes and the actual apparent drifting of plumes.

Introduction (Abstract)

For most new geology students mantle plumes are described as stationary sources of magma forming chains of islands and large igneous provinces at the same spot while plates move over them. As I have researched this topic it seems conclusive that mantle plumes are generally not fixed with respect to the planet's spin axis, this may be caused either by the plumes themselves drifting or short term variations in the Earth's spin axis, or a process not yet fully understood. Though plume sources certainly appear to drift I have found that the overall drift is almost insignificant when compared to plate motions over geological time.

Surface Processes

* Oceanic Island Chains

* Large Igneous Provinces

* True Polar Wander

Mantle Processes

* Evidence for plume movement

* "Mantle Wind" method of plume drift

Other pages

* History of mantle plume theory

* Mantle plume alternatives

Deep Processes

* Plume modelling and imaging

* Mantle Plume processes (origins and morphology)

Conclusions and problems for the future

Despite the fairly recent discovery of anomalous (non plate motion-induced) polar drift curves suggesting mantle plume or spin axis movement a heated debate has already opened as to what is causing these anomalies. The two main theories at the moment are mantle plume movement within the mantle or spin axis movement of the entire planet caused by mass redistribution. Data at the moment is too scarce to build convincing cases for any of the two theories mainly due to the precisions required and the difficulty in obtaining ocean bottom samples. To further understand these anomalies some scientists have proposed entirely different methods for forming hotspot-related features such as Plate Tectonic Processes, or indeed alternatives to the mantle processes outline in the Alternatives page.

"Are mantle plumes stationary?" An overview of mantle plumes and their apparent movement on the earth's surface
Overview of website This website is designed to provide a condensed and easily accessible overview of whether mantle plumes are stationary over time and how reliable these predictions are. The website is structured such that topics of interest can be accessed from this page via the descriptive links positioned around the diagram. Each section is a standalone page and users can jump between topics in no particular order as there are a variety of relevant topics and the case for drifting plumes doesn't need to be built up linearly. I suggest users first take a look at the deep processes and surface expression of plumes before going into the mantle processes and the actual apparent drifting of plumes.
Introduction (Abstract) For most new geology students mantle plumes are described as stationary sources of magma forming chains of islands and large igneous provinces at the same spot while plates move over them. As I have researched this topic it seems conclusive that mantle plumes are generally not fixed with respect to the planet's spin axis, this may be caused either by the plumes themselves drifting or short term variations in the Earth's spin axis, or a process not yet fully understood. Though plume sources certainly appear to drift I have found that the overall drift is almost insignificant when compared to plate motions over geological time.
Surface Processes * Oceanic Island Chains * Large Igneous Provinces * True Polar Wander Mantle Processes * Evidence for plume movement * "Mantle Wind" method of plume drift Other pages * History of mantle plume theory * Mantle plume alternatives Deep Processes * Plume modelling and imaging * Mantle Plume processes (origins and morphology)
Conclusions and problems for the future Despite the fairly recent discovery of anomalous (non plate motion-induced) polar drift curves suggesting mantle plume or spin axis movement a heated debate has already opened as to what is causing these anomalies. The two main theories at the moment are mantle plume movement within the mantle or spin axis movement of the entire planet caused by mass redistribution. Data at the moment is too scarce to build convincing cases for any of the two theories mainly due to the precisions required and the difficulty in obtaining ocean bottom samples. To further understand these anomalies some scientists have proposed entirely different methods for forming hotspot-related features such as Plate Tectonic Processes, or indeed alternatives to the mantle processes outline in the Alternatives page.