Talk:Slab gap hypothesis

Hi, mav. Does the use of mantle plume in this article match the commonly accepted geological definition? I've heard mantle plumes as the thingies underneath hot spots, not the big convection currents that drive plate tectonics. For examples of usage, check out [1] or [2]. -- hike395 04:50 12 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Yes, mantle plumes are thought to cause hot spots but larger ones, or ones under thinner crust, are also thought to be the source of triple junction formation and extention/flood basalts. Some researchers, such as W. Jason Morgan of Princeton University go on to state that mantle plumes alone are able to drive plate tectonics and are in fact the source of mantle convection - that is, many mantle plumes along the line below divergent plate boundaries (as a matter of fact my physical geology professor taught that as if it were an undisputed fact - thus I wrote what I did). I beginning to realize that my lecture notes/professors and textbooks are biased! Good thing the Wikipedia process is able to work these things out. --mav

So, I took a stab at editing. My concern was mostly terminology. I believe standard usage you're looking for is "mantle upwelling", not "mantle plume". I would like to avoid "mantle plume", because it is a controversial topic (see [3]).. Mantle upwellings are very well established: if you don't believe in mantle convection, you might as well believe in a Flat Earth. :-) . For usage reference for mantle upwelling, you can see [4] (which is neato and maybe we should add to the article). What do you think? -- hike395

Another reference for mantle upwelling [5] -- hike395