On the great plume debate
1 Introductory note Geological processes are ultimately consequences of Earth's thermal evolution. Plate tectonic theory, which explains geological phenomena along plate boundaries, elegantly illustrates this concept. For example, the origin of oceanic plates at ocean ridges, the movement and growth of these plates, and their ultimate consumption back into the Earth's deep interior through subduction zones provide an efficient mechanism to cool the earth's mantle, leading to large-scale mantle convection. Mantle plumes, which explain another set of global geological phenomena such as within-plate volcanism, cool the earth's deep interior (probably the Earth's core) and represent another mode of Earth's thermal convection. Plate tectonic theory and mantle plume hypothesis thus complement each other to explain much of the whole picture of Earth processes and phenomena.
