Mantle geodynamics and implications for Earth's mantle

Seismic evidence suggests the presence of two large, low shear wave velocity provinces in Earth's lowermost mantle beneath Africa and the central Pacific. The origin and evolution of these provinces is not constrained but is thought to be linked to Earth's large-scale mantle dynamics. The focus of this work is to determine if seismic models of core-mantle boundary (CMB) topography can be useful in characterizing Earth's mantle dynamics. The dynamic motions in Earth's mantle exert stress on the boundaries of Earth's mantle, which results in topography at the Earth's CMB. Better understanding topography on Earth's CMB could provide important constraints on mantle dynamics and on lower mantle heterogeneity.The work in this dissertation investigates two proposed dynamical hypotheses for Earth's mantle: thermal upwellings (plume clusters) and large intrinsically dense yet thermally buoyant piles of primitive mantle material (thermochemical piles). CMB topography is calculated for each model in order to identify topography patterns that are unique to each model. CMB topographic relief beneath thermochemical piles is relatively flat and upwarped compared to downwarping CMB topography beneath downwelling regions. In plume cluster models, there is a direct correlation between upwarping relief on the CMB and upwellings while downwarping relief occurs exclusively beneath downwelling regions. The results show that both thermochemical pile and plume cluster models produce unique CMB topography signatures thus as seismic studies better resolve the global topography of Earth's CMB, there is potential to constrain the chemical and dynamic nature of Earth's lower mantle.