Speaker: Prof Tim Elliott, Bristol
Tim is an isotope geochemist who studies planetary formation and evolution. Specific interests range from modern geological processes to meteorite cosmochemistry, using an approach that focusses on high precision isotope analyses.
Abstract: Geodynamic models have long modelled plumes originating from the bottom of the mantle. From this perspective, hot-spot magmatism provides a sample of the deepest mantle and potentially might carry evidence of on-going chemical exchange from core to mantle. Implicating protracted core-mantle interaction from the geochemistry of hot-spot magmas has been a sporadically popular notion over the last fifty years. In the last decade, unradiogenic values of 182W/184W have been reported in some hot-spot lavas, which provides perhaps the most convincing evidence of leakage from core to mantle. In this talk, I will assess this idea against alternative theories to account for unradiogenic 182W/184W in oceanic basalts and explore its implications for the longer term evolution of the mantle.
Venue: Seminar rooms or join online via zoom link
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