The formation of hot thermal anomalies in cold regions of Earth's
lowermost mantle
Abstract
The seismic structure of the Earth’s lowermost mantle is characterized
by two large low shear provinces (LLSVPs) beneath the Pacific and
Africa. Surrounding the LLSVPs are regions with generally
higher-than-average seismic velocities which are likely caused by
ancient subducted slabs. However, seismic observations have also
revealed relatively low-velocity structures in the subducting regions
outside of the LLSVPs in the lowermost mantle. The question is what
cause these low velocity structures? Here, three-dimensional,
high-resolution geodynamic models are performed to study the thermal
structure and dynamics of the Earth’s lowermost mantle outside of the
LLSVPs. Widespread hot thermal anomalies, or thermal ridges as named
here, are found in the relatively cold, downwelling regions of the
lowermost mantle in our models, with linear, ridge-like morphology,
elongated in the lateral mantle flow directions. A systematic
parameter-space exploration shows that thermal ridges only form when
there are gaps and thermal heterogeneities in the cold downwellings, and
their formation is promoted by an increase of the core-mantle boundary
(CMB) heat flux and Rayleigh number and by a reduction of the lowermost
mantle viscosity. The low seismic velocity anomalies outside of the
LLSVPs above the CMB may be related to the formation of thermal ridges
in the lowermost mantle.