Tim Stern and Simon Lamb Victoria University of Wellington
Mapping the variation of mantle seismic wave speeds with direction – giving rise to seismic anisotropy - is a powerful method to determine patterns of mantle flow. This work can also explain regions where seismic wave speeds are unusually high. We show below that the deduced flow field that existed beneath the world’s largest Large Igneous Provinces (LIP) are most easily explained in terms of a fossilised superplume head.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.geo-down-under.org.au/pancake-flow/