Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Two-component Flow Model for Convection in the Earth's Upper Mantle

Abstract

A model for convection in the upper mantle of the Earth comprising two flows, one of percolating melt fluid (which need be no more than a small volume fraction in the intergranular channels of coherent solid matter), the other a solid plastic flow, avoids some paradoxical features of other models for mantle convection. This model leads to a reasonably consistent account of the processes of continental drift.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Jacobs, J. A., Russell, R. D., and Wilson, J. T., Physics and Geology (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Blackett, P. M. S., Bullard, E., and Runcorn, S. K., A Symposium on Continental Drift, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., A, 258, 1 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Upper Mantle Meeting, University of Newcastle, 1966, Geophys. J. Roy. Astro. Soc., 14, Nos. 1–4 (1967); also published as Non-Elastic Processes in the Earth's Mantle (edit. by Tozer, D. C.) (Blackwell, Oxford, 1968).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

FRANK, F. Two-component Flow Model for Convection in the Earth's Upper Mantle. Nature 220, 350–352 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/220350a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/220350a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing