The Crustal Dichotomy and Edge Driven Convection: A Mechanism for Tharsis Rise Volcanism?

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	King, Scott D. Redmond, H. L.
Copyright Year	2005
Abstract	A vertical wall of constant temperature is a convectively unstable geometry and drives convective motion in the fluid near the wall. This is the essence of the edge-driven convection hypothesis [1]. On Earth small-scale convection could be triggered from the vertical step in the thermo-chemical boundary at cratonic keels [1] and continent-ocean boundaries [2]. Seismic evidence supporting EDC has been observed under the African cratons [3]. The spatial correlation of the crustal dichotomy boundary and Tharsis rise is intriguing and a relationship between these features has been suggested by a number of investigators. The lack of correlation between the areoid and the dichotomy boundary (Figure 1) indicates that there is topographic relief on the crust-mantle boundary (Moho), similar to passive margins or cratonic keels on Earth [4]. The question is whether this step is large enough to initiate a small-scale convective instability and whether this small-scale instability will survive long enough to produce the volcanism needed to create Tharsis rise.
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1960.pdf
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article