Plate tectonics, which is responsible for most seismicity, volcanism, and mountain building at Earth's surface, is expressed most simply in oceanic plates. Understanding how the temperature and composition of mantle rocks beneath the seafloor vary from place to place is critical for understanding plate motions and the thermal evolution of the planet. Much of what is known about the oceanic lithosphere today is actually what is known about lithosphere beneath the Pacific Ocean. In this study, we focus on the upper mantle beneath the Atlantic Ocean in an effort to incorporate constraints from a different oceanic setting. We treat separately the four individual plates that comprise the Atlantic basin: North America, Eurasia, South America, and Africa.
Carchedi, Christopher,
"Investigating upper mantle temperature and composition beheath the Atlantic Basin"
(2015).
Summer Research Symposium.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/dd6k-p314
Each year, Brown University showcases the research of its undergraduates at the Summer Research Symposium. More than half of the student-researchers are UTRA recipients, while others receive funding from a variety of Brown-administered and national programs and fellowships and go …
