3141: Mantle Model

2025-09-13T00:14:58Z

2600:1700:7260:AB20:D8DE:E476:81F5:A976: No citation given on the relative problem-causing capabilities of balrogs

{{comic
| number = 3141
| date = September 12, 2025
| title = Mantle Model
| image = mantle_model_2x.png
| imagesize = 527x317px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Mantle plumes explain Hawaii, Yellowstone, Iceland, the East African Rift, the Adirondack uplift, the Permian extinction, the decline of Rome, the DB Cooper hijacking, and the balrog in Moria. Those little hills of sand in your yard are caused by antle plumes.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Explain why the causes for title text are mysterious .This page was created by {{w|Pele (deity)|PELE}}, THE GODDESS OF VOLCANOES AND FIRE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A {{w|mantle plume}} is a flow of {{w|magma}} upward from deep in the Earth toward the surface. Some plumes are thought to come close to the surface and result in hotspots that produce volcanoes, such as the hotspot that formed the {{w|Hawaiian Islands}} chain. Here Randall says the plumes account for every surface feature on Earth that we can't otherwise account for, due to the little knowledge of them, which is absurd.

The title text extends this further, suggesting with increasing absurdity that mantle plumes account for other things:
* Hawaii. A hotspot, hypothesized to sit atop a mantle plume, did indeed create the Hawaiian Islands.
* {{w|Yellowstone}}. This area of hot springs, geysers, and other geothermal phenomena is in the {{w|Yellowstone Caldera}}, which some geologists believe sits atop a mantle plume.
* The {{w|East African Rift}}. This area in East Africa is a developing divergent {{w|tectonic plate}} boundary where the African plate is in the process of splitting into two tectonic plates.
* The {{w|Adirondack_Mountains#Geology|Adirondack uplift}}. The Adirondack Mountains were raised by the collision of tectonic plates. Some geologists believe that tectonic plates are in turn driven, in part, by mantle plumes.
* The {{w|Permian extinction}}, also called the 'Great Dying' and more formally as the Permian-Triassic extinction event, is the largest of the {{w|List of extinction events|"big five" mass extinctions}} since vertebrate life appeared on Earth. There are several hypotheses as to why it happened, one of which, {{w|Siberian Traps}} volcanism, could have happened because of a mantle plume.
* The decline of Rome refers to the end of the {{w|Roman Empire}}, which had nothing to do with mantle plumes{{cn}}.
* The {{w|DB Cooper}} airplane hijacking occurred in 1971 and remains unsolved. Dan B. Cooper is an alias of the hijacker, whose real name is unknown. The hijacking had nothing to do with mantle plumes{{cn}}.
* The {{w|balrog}} in {{w|Moria, Middle-earth|Moria}} is a fictional beast in {{w|J.R.R. Tolkien}}'s {{w|legendarium}} that first appeared in ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}''. It too has nothing to do with mantle plumes{{cn}}, but it was revealed by the dwarves, who "delved too greedily and too deep." If we were to delve sufficiently greedily and deep that we dug into a mantle plume, a balrog would be the least of our problems.{{cn}}
* Ants often create anthills, which, depending on the species, can look like little plumes of sand. The title text refers to ants as "antle plumes". The {{w|nonce word}} "antle" sounds like "ant hill" in some {{w|h-dropping}} dialects of English.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[A diagram of the Earth’s inner structure is shown with the caption “Standard geophysical model of the mantle”. Dotted lines forming structures that appear to be moving through and between various layers of the mantle are labeled with arrows. The arrows either point to the base of the structures on the inside of the planet or formations on the outside.]

:[In the center around the Earth’s core are vertical columns rising up away from the core through cracks in lower layers of mantle. At different layers the structure either branches out horizontally between layers or again vertically through additional cracks. This process might yield a single vertical column, or several branching horizontal and vertical branches.]
:[These structures are labeled:]
:Hypothesized mantle plumes

:[On the Earth’s surface are various rock formations that align with the locations of plumes just below.]
:[The formations are labeled:]
:Every feature of the Earth surface that we have a hard time explaining

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Standard geophysical model of the mantle

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

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3141: Mantle Model