ON THE VIGOR OF MANTLE CONVECTION IN SUPER-EARTHS
- Institute for Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 3173-25 Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama 236-0001 (Japan)
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan)
- Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University, 2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8577 (Japan)
- Department of Earth Sciences and Astronomy, University of Tokyo at Komaba, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902 (Japan)
Numerical models are presented to clarify how adiabatic compression affects thermal convection in the mantle of super-Earths ten times the Earth's mass. The viscosity strongly depends on temperature, and the Rayleigh number is much higher than that of the Earth's mantle. The strong effect of adiabatic compression reduces the activity of mantle convection; hot plumes ascending from the bottom of the mantle lose their thermal buoyancy in the middle of the mantle owing to adiabatic decompression, and do not reach the surface. A thick lithosphere, as thick as 0.1 times the depth of the mantle, develops along the surface boundary, and the efficiency of convective heat transport measured by the Nusselt number is reduced by a factor of about four compared with the Nusselt number for thermal convection of incompressible fluid. The strong effect of adiabatic decompression is likely to inhibit hot spot volcanism on the surface and is also likely to affect the thermal history of the mantle, and hence, the generation of magnetic field in super-Earths.
- OSTI ID:
- 22364075
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 780, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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