Overview
- The peer‑reviewed research, led by the University of Southampton and published in Nature Geoscience, outlines a previously unrecognized continental‑peeling process.
- Tectonic stretching triggers slow instabilities at 150–200 km depth that strip pieces from continental roots and sweep them into the oceanic mantle, sometimes over more than 1,000 km.
- Geochemical data from the Indian Ocean Seamount Province show a post‑Gondwana pulse of unusually enriched magma that waned over tens of millions of years without requiring a deep mantle plume.
- The proposed mechanism operates at extremely slow speeds yet continues to influence mantle composition long after surface breakup, sustaining volcanism far from plate boundaries.
- The authors present the process as complementary to mantle plume and sediment‑recycling models and say broader testing could corroborate its global relevance.