This study is a combined theoretical and physical study of the style of convection beneath mid-ocean ridges using laboratory and numerical fluid dynamics experiments. Laboratory studies at the University of Rhode Island will involve an apparatus that uses mylar sheets to model the motion of surface plates. Buoyancy will be provided by cooling along the top of the tank and either the injection of fluids with different compositional densities or localized heating along the base of the tank. Numerical experiments will simulate 3-D thermal and compositional convection, with constant and variable viscosity, plate driven and buoyant flow, (2) the formation and evolution of longitudinal convection rolls in thermal and compositional convection, (3) the effect of segmentation on convection, and (4) the role of deep mantle sources of buoyancy.
