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The dynamics of an insulating plate over a thermally convecting fluid and its implication for continent movement over convective mantle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2019

Yadan Mao Open the ORCID record for Yadan Mao [Opens in a new window] ,
Jin-Qiang Zhong Open the ORCID record for Jin-Qiang Zhong [Opens in a new window]  and
Jun Zhang
Yadan Mao*
Affiliation:
Hubei Subsurface Multi-scale Imaging Key Laboratory, Institute of Geophysics and Geomatics, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Jin-Qiang Zhong
Affiliation:
School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Jun Zhang
Affiliation:
Courant Institute, and Department of Physics, New York University, New York, NY 10012, USA NYU-ECNU Institute of Physics, NYU Shanghai, Shanghai 200062, China
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

Continents exert a thermal blanket effect to the mantle underneath by locally accumulating heat and modifying the flow structures, which in turn affects continent motion. This dynamic feedback is studied numerically with a simplified model of an insulating plate over a thermally convecting fluid with infinite Prandtl number at Rayleigh numbers of the order of $10^{6}$. Several plate–fluid coupling modes are revealed as the plate size varies. In particular, small plates show long durations of stagnancy over cold downwellings. Between long stagnancies, bursts of velocity are observed when the plate rides on a single convection cell. As plate size increases, the coupled system transitions to another type of short-lived stagnancy, in which case hot plumes develop underneath. For an even larger plate, a unidirectional moving mode emerges as the plate modifies impeding flow structures it encounters while maintaining a single convection cell underneath. These identified modes are reminiscent of some real cases of continent–mantle coupling. Results show that the capability of a plate to overcome impeding flow structures increases with plate size, Rayleigh number and intensity of internal heating. Compared to cases with a fixed plate, cases with a freely drifting plate are associated with higher Nusselt number and more convection cells within the flow domain.

JFM classification

Convection: Convection in cavities Geophysical and Geological Flows: Mantle convection
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 868 , 10 June 2019 , pp. 286 - 315
Copyright
© 2019 Cambridge University Press 

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Mao et al. supplementary movie 1

The evolution of Stagnant Mode I (SM I) for L = 0.5

Download Mao et al. supplementary movie 1(Video)
Video 29.2 MB

Mao et al. supplementary movie 2

The evolution of stagnant mode II (SMI) for L = 1.5

Download Mao et al. supplementary movie 2(Video)
Video 22.7 MB

Mao et al. supplementary movie 3

The unidirectional moving mode (UMM) for L = 2.5

Download Mao et al. supplementary movie 3(Video)
Video 19.6 MB