The Earth’s mantle makes up 84% of the volume of our planet but our direct knowledge of it is still inadequate because mantle rocks are generally inaccessible to direct sampling as they are buried underneath tens of kilometers of the Earth’s crust. Nevertheless, there are geological processes that can bring slices of mantle rocks to the surface, as in magma-poor passive continental margins and in orogenic belts. Most of these processes remain still puzzling as they are ruled by a complex, time-dependent, compositional, thermal, chemical and rheological interplay.
The objective of this session is present the latest developments in field measurements and observations, monitoring and high-resolution geophysical imaging of i) mantle exhumation at passive margins and ii) orogenic belts. A variety of disciplines are involved in these studies, including rock mechanics, numerical modeling, field-based petrology and geochemistry, geodynamics, seismology, geodesy as well as the results of recent IODP expeditions. The goal of this session is to provide new insight into mantle exhumation and to promote new collaborations in order to advance our understanding of this important and still intriguing process.