Mantle dynamics

Since 1994 Marjorie Wilson has been working with seismic tomographers (Michel Granet and Uli Achauer from EOPG in Strasbourg) on a project to image Late Tertiary-Quaternary mantle plume structures beneath Europe; geophysical data have been integrated with geochemical data for the associated magmatic rocks to further our understanding of recent mantle dynamics. On the basis of our results (Granet, Wilson & Achauer, 1995; Wilson et al., 1995; Wilson & Patterson, 2001) we have demonstrated that the Massif Central plume is one of a cluster of small-scale, thermally and chemically anomalous mantle plumes upwelling from a geochemically distinct layer within the upper mantle (either the 400 km or 650 km discontinuity) beneath western and central Europe.

The International Lithosphere Program (ILP) sponsored an international research theme (2000-2004), co-chaired by Marjorie Wilson and Uli Achauer, to study scale lengths of mantle convection in the context of global geodynamics.