The Bouvet Plume: Parameters, Evolution, and Interaction with the Triple Junction of Midocean Ridges in the South Atlantic

Abstract

Abstract —In the Bouvet Island region (South Atlantic), a hotspot operates in the region of the triple junction of midocean ridges. On the basis of laboratory modeling data, the structure of the conduit of a thermochemical plume melting out in the mantle from the core–mantle boundary is presented. The thermal power of the Bouvet thermochemical plume is determined from the volume of uplifted and erupted rocks above the lower topographic level. To determine the mass flow rate of the melt for the plume, a topographic profile is used in a section perpendicular to the Bouvet hotspot trajectory and passing through the Bouvet plume. The thermal power of the Bouvet plume is 1.7 · 1010 W. Based on the obtained power, the plume diameter is d = 10–13 km. The Bouvet plume belongs to intermediate-power plumes. Such plumes are diamondiferous, because their eruption on the surface transports the melt from a depth of >150 km, at which diamond is stable. The Bouvet plume trajectory originates in South Africa. Initially, the melt erupted on the cratonic surface through a diatreme. Next, the plume was preserved in the region of the drifting oceanic lithosphere and became no longer diamondiferous. The following morphostructures of the triple junction region with contrasting types of magmatic systems are distinguished according to petrological and geochemical data: MOR and the Bouvet volcanic island, which results from the plume activity. For the Bouvet region, K2О (0.5%) and Н2О (up to 0.9%) are identified in the composition of the deep magmatic melt. There is enrichment in H2 up to 100 ppm (up to 50 ppm in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR)) and in CH4 up to 12 ppm (up to 1 ppm in the MAR). Thus, it is suggested by the specific features of the melt composition that the Bouvet Island plume is thermochemical. This paper also presents a diagram showing free-convective flows in the asthenosphere in the Bouvet Triple Junction region. Sections are constructed on which the association between the convective structure and bottom morphostructures in the Bouvet region is identified. Large-scale asthenospheric flows are responsible for the formation of MOR. Convective rolls at the top of the asthenosphere account for the formation of the Bouvet and Moshesh transform faults. The Bouvet plume is under the influence of the ascending upper-mantle flow confined to the MOR axis and locally intensifies the ascending flows of the asthenospheric rolls.