Superpiles: The Impact of Mantle Cooling on Large Low Velocity Provinces

Superpiles: The Impact of Mantle Cooling on Large Low Velocity Provinces | 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 Article Superpiles: The Impact of Mantle Cooling on Large Low Velocity Provinces Heidi Krauss, Allen McNamara This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7060145/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 Among the most prevalent features in Earth’s deep mantle are the Large Low Velocity Provinces (LLVPs), hypothesized to be hotter and compositionally distinct from the surrounding mantle 1 – 4 . LLVPs have previously been viewed as either active superplumes rising through the mantle or passive piles shaped by large scale convection 5 – 10 . Recent tomography models suggest LLVPs may exhibit a plume-shaped morphology 11 . Geodynamic experiments offer insights into the formation, characteristics, and evolution of mantle structures. This study investigates whether LLVPs are active drivers of mantle convection or passively shaped by the convection of the surrounding mantle. Here we show LLVPs can form passive piles with plume-shaped morphology, even with small intrinsic density differences. Our results reveal that an initially warm, cooling mantle supports the formation of passive superpiles with intrinsic density differences smaller than previously thought. We refer to these as superpiles. This indicates that the background mantle temperature plays a crucial role in determining LLVP morphology. These findings suggest that the observed plume-like shapes of LLVPs in recent tomography models that have been thought to be superplumes could be superpiles. Earth and environmental sciences/Solid Earth sciences/Geodynamics Earth and environmental sciences/Solid Earth sciences Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. 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-7060145","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":481882395,"identity":"d2320fe0-ec99-4c44-a9a7-76f8ad559db4","order_by":0,"name":"Heidi Krauss","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABBklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACgwOMDRIJDIeBDDDfBogZGw8QoeUxg2EDmJ8G0tJAQAsDgwQDw2cGYwj/MJjEr+V4c+ONB0AtZtKHn0n++HPebm37YaAtNTbRuLTYnznYbJHAcJvBhi/NTJq37XbytjOJQC3H0nIbcNlyI7FNAqyFB2gRY8PtZLMDQC2MDYdxa7n/EKTlPIMZD/s3oMPOJZudf0hAyw1GkJbjDMY8PGYSPGwH7MxuELLlTCLQLwbHeQx7eIqteduSE8xuAG1JwOeX48cf3vxRcVjO4Az7xps//tjZm51Pf/jgQ40NTi1QjQw8MGYiWGUCXuVowJ4UxaNgFIyCUTAyAAD9iGdDDgs7MQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2279-6551","institution":"Michigan State University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Heidi","middleName":"","lastName":"Krauss","suffix":""},{"id":481882396,"identity":"652719a8-5a54-4f47-b3aa-fd9956724014","order_by":1,"name":"Allen McNamara","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3866-9503","institution":"Michigan State University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Allen","middleName":"","lastName":"McNamara","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-07 00:35:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7060145/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7060145/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":94036999,"identity":"e1400c9b-4221-4dbe-8888-14f46d1448b3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-21 16:48:49","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":864374,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"KraussandMcNamara2025Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7060145/v1_covered_20671da9-8f7b-4e17-a845-c681f89e41b3.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Superpiles: The Impact of Mantle Cooling on Large Low Velocity Provinces","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-7060145/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7060145/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAmong the most prevalent features in Earth\u0026rsquo;s deep mantle are the Large Low Velocity Provinces (LLVPs), hypothesized to be hotter and compositionally distinct from the surrounding mantle \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR2 CR3\" citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. LLVPs have previously been viewed as either active superplumes rising through the mantle or passive piles shaped by large scale convection \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR6 CR7 CR8 CR9\" citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Recent tomography models suggest LLVPs may exhibit a plume-shaped morphology \u003csup\u003e\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Geodynamic experiments offer insights into the formation, characteristics, and evolution of mantle structures. This study investigates whether LLVPs are active drivers of mantle convection or passively shaped by the convection of the surrounding mantle. Here we show LLVPs can form passive piles with plume-shaped morphology, even with small intrinsic density differences. Our results reveal that an initially warm, cooling mantle supports the formation of passive superpiles with intrinsic density differences smaller than previously thought. We refer to these as superpiles. This indicates that the background mantle temperature plays a crucial role in determining LLVP morphology. These findings suggest that the observed plume-like shapes of LLVPs in recent tomography models that have been thought to be superplumes could be superpiles.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Superpiles: The Impact of Mantle Cooling on Large Low Velocity Provinces","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-07-08 09:02:03","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7060145/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","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}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3b8f40ff-139d-4ca2-9081-8c8893ede684","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 8th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":51163724,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Solid Earth sciences/Geodynamics"},{"id":51163725,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Solid Earth sciences"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-21T16:40:40+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-07-08 09:02:03","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7060145","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7060145","identity":"rs-7060145","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}