Convection in the Earth's core is driven by the removal of heat from the core by the mantle. In order to remove that heat along with heat from internal heat sources in the mantle, the mantle convects. Thus, at the most fundamental level, convection in the core and in the mantle are coupled. Without mantle convection, the rate of core cooling would be insufficient to maintain core convection. However, the coupling between mantle convection and core convection is not limited to the gross thermodynamics of the core‐mantle system: mantle convection results in lateral variations in temperature and composition in the mantle, which in turn affect the pattern of heat flux from the core in to the mantle.
The lateral variations in heat flux from the core that are imposed by the mantle mean that the mantle may exert a long‐term influence on the pattern of convection in the core, since the pattern of mantle convection changes on a timescale (say 108years) that is much longer than the timescale...
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Bloxham, J. (2007). CORE‐MANTLE COUPLING, THERMAL. In: Gubbins, D., Herrero-Bervera, E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4423-6_53
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