Mantle Convection

Cross-section of the mantle (2900 km deep, 5800 km wide), solved as 2D Boussinesq flow: heated at the core boundary, cooled at the surface. The stiff cold lithosphere may break into tectonic plates.

Presets

Parameters

Rayleigh number 3×10⁵ Viscosity contrast (cold / hot) 10⁴ Internal heating 8 Lithosphere yield stress 60 MPa Playback speed 1×

Display

Field

Tracer overlay Velocity vectors Plate boundaries

Click tool

On the mantle

Click in the mantle to inject a hot plume.

Readouts

Nusselt (surface): –
Nusselt (core): –
RMS velocity: –
Surface velocity: –
Mean mantle T: –
Plates: –
Stokes solver: –

Live plots

Nusselt number = heat flux relative to pure conduction. Time is scaled so that a typical mobile-lid run gives plate speeds of a few cm/yr. Ridges are found where surface flow diverges, subduction zones where it converges. Continents are insulating and about 10× stiffer, so they warm the mantle beneath them.