Figure 1. Illustration of the hotspot swell and plume buoyancy flux. White dashed line shows the original seafloor topography due to half-space cooling. Dark green line represents the surface dynamic topography caused by the dynamic uplift of the plume. One of the main surface expressions of dynamic topography are hotpot swells formed by mantle plumes. In this week’s post, Ziqi Ma, PhD candi ...[Read More]
Subduction zones are dynamic regions where intense geological processes like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the recycling of oceanic crust are constantly at play. A key factor that influences the behavior of these zones is *interface rheology*—the strength and viscosity of the boundary (the interface) between the subducting and overriding plates. Understanding this interface is crucial for i ...[Read More]
Mid-ocean ridges (MOR) and hotspots are two types of magmatic activity occurring in the ocean. The MORs are typically associated with another tectonic feature—oceanic transform faults. While numerous studies have focused on the interactions within MORs, hotspots, and transform faults, there has been limited research on cases where a hotspot and a transform fault are located at the same end ...[Read More]
All models are wrong, but some are useful – we all have heard this quote. But it raises several questions (including but not limited to) – What would a model of the entire world look like? Can you couple geodynamical models with climate and biological evolution models? Would these models be useful? In this week’s blog post, Timothy Gray, a PhD student from ETH Zürich is looking for ans ...[Read More]
