The temperature cross section and a composition isosurface are shown. A dense chemical layer is at the base of the mantle initially. As the layer heats up and convection develops, the layer gets entrained into the ambient mantle. (original)

CitcomS: Evolution of Plume Conduit in the Coupled Model

The containing solver (not shown) is a global model, with plate motion imposed on the top surface. The embedded Solver (shown in the animation) is a high-resolution regional model, with boundary conditions retrieved from the containing solver. The black line is the past hotspot location. The red segment is the assumed melt conduit, starting at 160 km depth. The velocity vector is in yellow. The temperature BC at the CMB is shown in color. The plume is visualized as an iso-surface (T=0.08). The numbers of grid points of both meshes are reduced for visualization purposes.