Solid Earth Dynamics

The Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces

What is the present-day physical and chemical state of the solid Earth? How did it dynamically evolve over geological time, leaving behind the geological, geophysical and geochemical signatures across the globe?

My research on solid Earth dynamics focuses on the following aspects:

• Data-based interpretation of global volcanism, at hotspots (Bao et al. 2022; Cai et al. Under Review at Nature), mid-ocean ridges (Bao et al. 2024; Zhang et al. 2023; Wang et al. In preparation) and subduction zones (Li et al. 2023).

An estimate of the global hotspot potential temperature, from Bao et al. (2022)

• Dynamicial modeling of mantle plume evolution pathways, source entrainment and surface expressions (Bao and Lithgow-Bertelloni 2024; Bao and Lithgow-Bertelloni Submitted; Bao and Lithgow-Bertelloni Submitted).

Rising lab plumes imaged by bubbles from a rigid half sphere, representing an end-member scenario of the Large Low Shear Velocity Province.

• Constrianing the distribution of deep mantle heterogeneities and rheological properties (Bao et al. In revision for Science; Bao 2024)

Mantle rocks deform like viscous fluid over geological time-scales.

Related Work

1.

Bao, Xiyuan, Carolina R. Lithgow-Bertelloni, Matthew G Jackson, and Barbara Romanowicz. 2022. “On the relative temperatures of earth’s volcanic hotspots and mid-ocean ridges.” Science 375(6576): 57–61.

2.

Cai, Ronghua, Xiyuan Bao, Stephen F. Foley, Andrea Giuliani, Shihao Jiang, D. Graham Pearson, and Jingao Liu. Under Review at Nature. “Evidence for a highly fusible fundamental constituent in the convective mantle.”

3.

Bao, Xiyuan, Tushar Mittal, and Carolina R. Lithgow-Bertelloni. 2024. “Determining mid-ocean ridge geography from upper mantle temperature.” Earth and Planetary Science Letters 641: 118823.

4.

Zhang, Xubo, Eric L. Brown, Jinchang Zhang, Jian Lin, Xiyuan Bao, and William W. Sager. 2023. “Magmatism of shatsky rise controlled by plume-ridge interactions.” Nature Geoscience

5.

Wang, Wei, Xubo Zhang, Jian Lin, Zihua Cheng, Xiyuan Bao, Fan Zhang, et al. In preparation. “Ultra-depleted mantle supporting the marion rise: Implications for ocean rise dynamics.”

6.

Li, Shaohua, Jiaqi Li, Thomas P Ferrand, Tong Zhou, Mingda Lv, Ziyi Xi, et al. 2023. “Deep geophysical anomalies beneath the changbaishan volcano.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth: e2022JB025671.

7.

Bao, Xiyuan and Carolina R. Lithgow-Bertelloni. 2024. “Self-correction of the optical distortion effect of thermal plumes in particle image velocimetry.” Physics of Fluids

8.

Bao, Xiyuan and Carolina R. Lithgow-Bertelloni. Submitted. “A method for measuring and analyzing four-dimensional flow fields in viscous rayleigh-benard convection.”

9.

Bao, Xiyuan and Carolina R. Lithgow-Bertelloni. Submitted. “Morphology, interactions, and evolution of laminar thermal plumes revealed by four-dimensional velocity measurements and analysis: Application to earth’s mantle.”

10.

Bao, Xiyuan, Mathurin D. Wamba, and Andreas Stracke. In revision for Science. “A deep-mantle geochemical zoning map beneath east africa and indian ocean.”

11.

Bao, Xiyuan. 2024. “Giant impact and earth’s mysterious blobs: An interdisciplinary revelation.” Science Bulletin 69(3): 293–294.