Overview
- A University of Southampton–led study in Nature Geoscience identifies slow mantle instabilities that erode continental roots at roughly 150–200 kilometers depth.
- Stripped continental fragments are carried laterally for more than 1,000 kilometers, sustaining oceanic volcanic activity over tens of millions of years.
- Geochemical records from the Indian Ocean Seamount Province show a burst of unusually enriched magma soon after Gondwana’s breakup followed by a gradual decline.
- Researchers emphasize the mechanism complements explanations involving mantle plumes and recycled sediments rather than replacing them.
- The work involved GFZ Helmholtz Centre, the University of Potsdam, Queen’s University Canada, and Swansea University, and the authors call for tests in additional oceanic regions.