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The Dupal anomaly as a trace of the upwelling lower mantle

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Abstract

It is now widely accepted that the Earth's mantle is isotopically heterogeneous, but the scale and distribution of this heterogeneity and the structure and evolution of the mantle as a whole are poorly understood. The 'Dupal anomaly'1,2 has an important bearing on this problem because it is the largest isotopic domain yet delineated on the Earth's surface and it is suggested2 to have been formed early in the Earth's history. Here I show that the two Dupal anomaly maxima appear to be closely associated with the two large-scale regions of low seismic velocity in the lower mantle3, which in turn are correlated with the loci of active hotspots. This correlation raises the possibility that large-scale structural features in the lower mantle produce geochemical imprints on the Earth's surface. Thus, the correlation may place severe constraints on the chemical structure of the mantle and the nature of mantle convection.

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Author notes

  1. Pat Castillo

    Present address: Division of Marine Geology and Geophysics, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, 33149, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Rd, NW, Washington, DC, 20015, USA

    Pat Castillo

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  1. Pat Castillo
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Castillo, P. The Dupal anomaly as a trace of the upwelling lower mantle. Nature 336, 667–670 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/336667a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/336667a0

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