plume head

English

Alternative forms

• plumehead

Noun

diagram of a plume head

plume head (plural plume heads)

1. (geology) The broad, flattened top of a mantle plume, the eruption of which is thought to create a large igneous province.
   • 2007, Gunter Faure, Teresa M. Mensing, Introduction to Planetary Science: The Geological Perspective‎^[1], page 76:

     When the plumehead reaches the underside of the overlying lithospheric shell of the Earth, it spreads laterally and thereby causes fractures to form which may propagate upward into the continental or oceanic crust.

   • 2012, Tianfeng Weng, The Tectonics of China: Data, Maps and Evolution‎^[2], page 371:

     Hotspots indicated by basaltic volcanism mark the position of the plume head below the Earth's surface, where magma has been generated by the partial melting of rising mantle material.

   • 2016, Mainak Choudhuri, Michal Nemčok, Mantle Plumes and Their Effects‎^[3], page vii:

     The surface elevations surrounding a hot spot have been explained by the presence of a plume head below the lithosphere.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:plume head.

Coordinate terms

• plume tail