Mantle Plume | Definition, Causes & Examples

Using global-scale 2-D simulations of Earth's mantle, researchers have discovered how cooler plumes of rocks weakened by layers of a common mineral can affect the rise and fall of heat and rock in Earth's lower mantle (660–2,890 km depth), with implications for plate tectonics and Earth's surface. In Earth's lower mantle there are two main minerals: bridgmanite, which is relatively strong (high viscosity), and ferropericlase, which is relatively weak (low viscosity). When a rock containing both

Antarctica's got a mantle plume beneath its depths | Earth And The Environment