Deep Mantle Anomalies Block Early Earth Melting, Challenging a Primordial Origin

Deep Mantle Anomalies Block Early Earth Melting, Challenging a Primordial Origin | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Deep Mantle Anomalies Block Early Earth Melting, Challenging a Primordial Origin Arnab Roy, Eric Mittelstaedt, Catherine Cooper This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7547426/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Earth’s deep mantle hosts enigmatic structures known as Large Low Velocity Provinces (LLVPs), which sit atop the core–mantle boundary and influence mantle dynamics and plume generation. Understanding their origin is central to reconstructing Earth’s early thermal and compositional evolution. Several hypotheses suggest that present-day LLVPs are the disrupted remnants of a globally continuous dense layer that formed early in Earth’s history. In this study, we show that a laterally continuous proto-LLVP layer would have severely inhibited strong plume formation and suppressed upper mantle melting throughout the Archean contradicting extensive geological evidence for widespread volcanism and early crust formation. By incorporating melting in global mantle convection models, we find that even high mantle potential temperatures, increased radiogenic heating in the basal layer, and elevated core-mantle boundary temperatures cannot overcome the thermal and physical barrier imposed by a continuous proto-LLVP. These findings rule out the scenario of a globally continuous basal layer in early Earth and instead support hypotheses of LLVP formation as spatially separate or later-evolving structures. By reconciling mantle dynamics with observed Archean melting signatures, this study places strong constraints on the timing and geometry of LLVP formation, advancing our understanding of Earth’s early thermal evolution and the origin of deep mantle anomalies. Earth and environmental sciences/Solid Earth sciences/Geodynamics Earth and environmental sciences/Solid Earth sciences/Geophysics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation.pdf Supplementary for Deep Mantle Anomalies Block Early Earth Melting, Challenging a Primordial Origin Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7547426","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":512071362,"identity":"9054a952-38b0-4e58-9318-26eb3ed18a38","order_by":0,"name":"Arnab Roy","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA2klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJACZhDBz8DYIMHYAGImEKlFsoFkLQYHGBiI08I/++zBz4V7bBI330huvPFzhw0DP3uOAV4tEufykqVnPEtL3HYjsdmy90wag2TPG/xaGM7wGEjzHDgM0tImwdt2mMHgBgFb5M/wGP8Gadk8I7FN8i9Qiz0hLQZneMzAtmyQSGyTBtsiQUCLIVCL9YwDacYzzjxstpZtS+OROPOsAK8WOaDDbhccsJHtb09/ePNtm40cf3vyBrxaYMCxAcrgIUo5CNgTrXIUjIJRMApGHgAAgDtJ75AG4yEAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5961-2157","institution":"University of Idaho","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Arnab","middleName":"","lastName":"Roy","suffix":""},{"id":512071363,"identity":"cb5a3b11-8389-42a7-8f5f-8cf406b9998d","order_by":1,"name":"Eric Mittelstaedt","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5207-2546","institution":"University of Idaho","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Eric","middleName":"","lastName":"Mittelstaedt","suffix":""},{"id":512071364,"identity":"930986d6-87e6-43ec-b300-b099c400a112","order_by":2,"name":"Catherine Cooper","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1846-0254","institution":"Washington State University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Catherine","middleName":"","lastName":"Cooper","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-05 23:45:28","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7547426/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7547426/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":102397759,"identity":"387dafdf-910d-4b2c-bd80-7a68934c7511","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-11 10:19:37","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1036679,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MSFinal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7547426/v1_covered_d6104830-8976-492f-85c8-0a9b871080fe.pdf"},{"id":90849103,"identity":"a90db945-fe4b-443f-aafb-8a1f6b80343d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-09 02:24:37","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":2671117,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary for Deep Mantle Anomalies Block Early Earth Melting, Challenging a Primordial Origin","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryInformation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7547426/v1/ac1c03b09a46d0b33addcda0.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Deep Mantle Anomalies Block Early Earth Melting, Challenging a Primordial Origin","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7547426/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7547426/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Earth’s deep mantle hosts enigmatic structures known as Large Low Velocity Provinces (LLVPs), which sit atop the core–mantle boundary and influence mantle dynamics and plume generation. Understanding their origin is central to reconstructing Earth’s early thermal and compositional evolution. Several hypotheses suggest that present-day LLVPs are the disrupted remnants of a globally continuous dense layer that formed early in Earth’s history. In this study, we show that a laterally continuous proto-LLVP layer would have severely inhibited strong plume formation and suppressed upper mantle melting throughout the Archean contradicting extensive geological evidence for widespread volcanism and early crust formation. By incorporating melting in global mantle convection models, we find that even high mantle potential temperatures, increased radiogenic heating in the basal layer, and elevated core-mantle boundary temperatures cannot overcome the thermal and physical barrier imposed by a continuous proto-LLVP. 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