Interactions between spatial-dislocated mantle plumes and subduction plates

Plumes ascending from deep mantle and subducting plates sinking from lithosphere play vital roles in the recycling of the Earth system. Although mantle plumes and subduction zones are considered independent in their spatial distribution, many geophysical and geochemical investigations suggest frequent interactions between them (Fletcher & Wyman, 2015; Saki et al., 2024). Furthermore, increasing tomography research have shown globally widespread low-velocity anomalies beneath the subduction zones (Amaru, 2007; Lu et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2025). These observations and evidence lead us to a conjecture: Is there a mutual attraction between mantle plume and subducting plates?

To verify our hypothesis, we use geodynamic modeling to investigate the long-distance interactions between the spatial-dislocated plume and subduction zones. The results show that plate subductions will always try to capture upwelling plumes, even with an evident spatial dislocation. The main insights from the numerical experiments are as follows: (a) Attraction between subducting plate and mantle plume is mainly achieved by the horizontal movement of the upwelling plume, which will result in tilted upwelling channels of them. (b) Interactions between the spatial-dislocated plumes and subduction zones show different patterns depending on whether the plate motions of the subduction plates have evolved. (c) Stronger plume (with greater volume or excess temperature) and faster plate subduction will enhance the interactions between them. And therefore, change their geodynamic processes and responses.

The geodynamic models present fine agreements with the tomography investigations in different subduction zones, which can be used to interpret the morphological characteristics of both the plumes and the slabs. The mechanism revealed by our research suggests a widespread attraction between mantle plumes and subduction plates, which also proposes a possible contributing factor of the spatial distribution for certain hotspots.

 

References

Amaru, M., 2007. Global travel time tomography with 3-D reference models. Doctoral Thesis, Utrecht University.

Fletcher, M., & Wyman, D., 2015. Mantle plume–subduction zone interactions over the past 60 Ma. Lithos, 233:162-173. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2015.06.026

Lu, C., Grand, S. P., Lai, H., & Garnero, E. J., 2019. TX2019slab: a new P and S tomography model incorporating subducting slabs. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 124: 11549-11567. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JB017448

Saki, M., Wirp, S. A., Billen, M., & Thomas, C., 2024. Seismic evidence for possible entrainment of rising plumes by subducting slab induced flow in three subduction zones surrounding the Caribbean Plate. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 352: 107212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pepi.2024.107212

Yang, J., Faccenda, M., Chen, L., Wang, X., Shen, H., VanderBeek, B. P., & Zhao, L., 2025. The origin and fate of subslab partial melts at convergent margins. National Science Review, 12: nwaf314. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaf314