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Information - GD04 Lithosphere - Mantle Interaction: Geophysical and Geochemical Constraints
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Event Information |
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The movements of lithospheric plates and the distribution of volcanism are the surface expression of mantle convection. Even though these manifestations of the plate tectonics theory have been studied for over 30 years, many aspects of the interaction between the lithospheric plates and the convecting mantle are poorly understood. The complex rheological processes that allow lithosphere to have plate-like behavior are very difficult to constrain geologically, to study in the laboratory and model mathematically. The sinking of old, cold oceanic plates into the convecting mantle is perhaps the most easily understood evidence of plate-mantle interaction. Far less understood are the breaking of continental plates and initiation of rifting, the processes that determine the long-term stability of continental cratons, and the nature of their interaction with the convecting mantle.
Answers to many of these questions depend on a better understanding of the physico-chemical interactions between the mantle lithosphere and the deep upwelling mantle. In recent years, significant advances on our understanding of this process have been made possible thanks to advances in geodynamical modeling, the probing of mantle deformation using seismic and electrical anisotropy measurements, geochemical studies of intra-plate volcanism, petrological and geochemical studies on mantle xenoliths, or a better understanding of the physics of melt transport and melt-rock interactions in the mantle. Each of these studies sheds light onto different aspects of the complex interaction between the lithosphere and the deep mantle.
The aim of this session is to bring together scientists from a large range of backgrounds (geodynamics, mineral physics, seismology, petrophysics, magnetotellurics, petrology, and geochemistry) in order to build a more complete picture of the physico-chemical processes involved during lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction in oceanic and continental areas and to define new pluridisciplinary approaches for a better understanding of this interaction.
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Preliminary List of Solicited Speakers |
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Back to Session Programme
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