Spreading ridge migration enabled by plume-ridge de-anchoring.

It has long been recognised that spreading ridges are kept in place by competing subduction forces that drive plate motions. Asymmetric strain rates pull spreading ridges in the direction of the strongest slab pull force, which partially explains why spreading ridges can migrate vast distances. However, the interaction between mantle plumes and spreading ridges plays a relatively unknown role on the evolution of plate boundaries.

Kimberlite eruptions driven by slab flux and subduction angle.

Kimberlites are sourced from thermochemical upwellings which can transport diamonds to the surface of the crust. The majority of kimberlites preserved at the Earth's surface erupted between 250 and 50 million years ago, and have been attributed to changes in plate velocity or mantle plumes. However, these mechanisms fail to explain the presence of strong subduction signatures observed in some Cretaceous kimberlites.

Evolution of Earth's tectonic carbon conveyor belt.

Concealed deep beneath the oceans is a carbon conveyor belt, propelled by plate tectonics. Our understanding of its modern functioning is underpinned by direct observations, but its variability through time has been poorly quantified. Here we reconstruct oceanic plate carbon reservoirs and track the fate of subducted carbon using thermodynamic modelling.

Constraining the response of continental-scale groundwater flow to climate change.

Numerical models of groundwater flow play a critical role for water management scenarios under climate extremes. Large-scale models play a key role in determining long range flow pathways from continental interiors to the oceans, yet struggle to simulate the local flow patterns offered by small-scale models. We have developed a highly scalable numerical framework to model continental groundwater flow which capture the intricate flow pathways between deep aquifers and the near-surface.

Intraplate volcanism triggered by bursts in slab flux.

Long-lived, widespread intraplate volcanism without age progression is one of the most controversial features of plate tectonics. Previously proposed edge-driven convection, asthenospheric shear, and lithospheric detachment fail to explain the ~5000-km-wide intraplate volcanic province from eastern Australia to Zealandia. We model the subducted slab volume over 100 million years and find that slab flux drives volcanic eruption frequency, indicating stimulation of an enriched mantle transition zone reservoir.

An Early Cretaceous subduction-modified mantle underneath the ultraslow spreading Gakkel Ridge, Arctic Ocean.

Earth's upper mantle, as sampled by mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) at oceanic spreading centers, has developed chemical and isotopic heterogeneity over billions of years through focused melt extraction and re-enrichment by recycled crustal components. Chemical and isotopic heterogeneity of MORB is dwarfed by the large compositional spectrum of lavas at convergent margins, identifying subduction zones as the major site for crustal recycling into and modification of the mantle. The fate of subduction-modified mantle and if this heterogeneity transmits into MORB chemistry remains elusive.