Volcanic activities far from plate boundaries are associated with deep convection plumes1. Many previous studies have suggested that a mantle plume has a broad head, followed by a long and thin plume conduit anchored on the core-mantle boundary2,3 (CMB). Hot materials rising from the CMB take away heat from the core, cooling our planet4. These features are primary conceptions of an archetypal plume. However, with successive investigations by geophysical observations and dynamical modelling in the last decades, the hypothesis has withstood controversies regarding its mechanism, shape and origin depth5–8. The shape of plumes varies in single and multiple branches, which may have vertical neckings, horizontal pondings and tilting conduits9–12. The morphological structure of a plume has not yet reached a common consensus13,14. The size and shape of a plume exist in great variety with a fat or thin tail13. In addition, its depth origin is still hotly debated. Only seven plumes (including the Reunion hotspot) are rising from the lower mantle in a classification of 49 hotspots worldwide based on their depth origins8. Active intraplate volcanoes are not always caused by deep mantle plumes. For example, intraplate volcanoes in East Asia are caused by hot and wet upwelling flows in the big mantle wedge above the subducted Pacific slab that is stagnant in the mantle transition zone15–17 (MTZ). Furthermore, a study of converted waves at the MTZ discontinuities found no clear evidence for a thinning MTZ beneath 26 hotspots18, including the Reunion hotspot. This result suggests that abnormally high temperature of mantle plumes may not affect the MTZ, raising doubts on the origin depth of mantle plumes (i.e., most plumes may be originating in the upper mantle).
Plate reconstruction shows that the Deccan Traps (Fig. 1b), formed by volcanic activities of the Reunion hotspot in the Late Cretaceous19,20, are considered as the earliest plume head. The Chagos-Laccadive Ridge and the Mascarene Plateau (Fig. 1b) are believed to be seafloor volcanic chains formed by actions of successive construction of the Reunion plume8,21. Continuous and progressive dating features22,23 (see white triangles and orange circles in Fig. 1b) strongly suggest that the volcanic chains are traces left by hotspot activities. Therefore, Reunion Island and its age-progressive linear tracks imply a fixed rise of hot and buoyant mantle plume lasting for 65.5 Ma1,8,24. The most active basaltic volcanism worldwide on the island exhibits typical enrichments in geochemical characteristics25. A high isotopic 3He/4He ratio indicates that the source of the Reunion plume is much deeper than mid-ocean ridges and reaches the lowermost mantle8,15 (may be at a depth of ~ 1900 km or deeper; see ref. 24). Sufficient buoyancy flux ascends through the entire mantle to feed active volcanism on the surface8,26. Geodynamic modelling and geochemical and geophysical observations support this view from different aspects27–32.
Global and regional tomographic results suggest that the Reunion hotspot sources from the D” layer and is related to the African large low-shear-velocity province11,15,24,33 (LLSVP). The Reunion plume was considered to be one branch of a plume tree originating from the African LLSVP11. Anisotropic tomography using Rayleigh waves recorded at stations of the RHUM-RUM experiment34 revealed a low shear-velocity zone beneath the Reunion hotspot in the upper mantle35. Their results constrained the geometry of the plume head, but the deep structure is still unknown due to the depth limitation of the Rayleigh-wave tomography35. Hemispherical-scale waveform tomography33 and finite-frequency tomography11 illuminate the whole-mantle structure of the Reunion plume from the CMB to the surface. However, cut-off frequencies of the data used in the waveform inversion are 400 and 40 s, so the lack of high frequencies leads to a low lateral resolution of 2° (see ref. 33). In contrast, checkerboard resolution tests of the finite-frequency tomography11 show that the lateral resolution of their model is ~ 500 km. These previous seismic imaging efforts depict morphologies of the Reunion hotspot, but the size of the plume conduit, whether fat or thin, is uncertain in detail according to their resolution.
We present a new three-dimensional (3-D) P-wave velocity (Vp) model derived from 2380 arrival times of 156 local earthquakes (Fig. 1a) and 6052 relative arrival-time residuals of 296 teleseismic events (Fig. 1c). Our Vp model unveils an archetypal mantle plume beneath the Reunion Island with a broad head in the upper mantle and a narrow conduit down to 1000 km depth. In our study region, most places with good station coverage have a horizontal resolution of 1° in the final Vp model, much higher than the previous tomographic results, leading to a more reliable mantle plume image.
Distribution of teleseismic travel-time residuals
To obtain a robust 3-D tomographic model imaging the fine structure of the mantle plume below Reunion Island, we carefully compute relative travel-time residuals of teleseismic direct P waves with many quality criteria (see method section for details). Meticulous processing steps ensure that our Vp model is able to capture reliable details of the mantle plume. Crustal corrections are made to the teleseismic relative travel-time residuals so as to reduce the influence of crustal heterogeneity on Vp tomography. After the crustal corrections, average relative travel-time residuals of all teleseismic events provide valuable insights into the mantle heterogeneity (Fig. 2), indicating significant lateral Vp variations. The pattern of mean relative residuals shows that most early arrivals are located in the sea basin and southeast of Madagascar (Fig. 2a). Delayed arrivals appear in north and southwest Madagascar, Reunion Island and at four stations along Rodrigues Island. Most stations along the mid-ocean ridges show early arrivals and only one station at the Central Indian Ridge (CIR) shows a weakly delayed arrival. We focus on the region in and around Reunion Island, where early arrivals appear near the margins of the plume swell and delayed arrivals appear on the swell (Fig. 2). This distribution pattern of teleseismic travel-time residuals offers crucial information on the structure and dynamics of the mantle plume in this region, shedding light on complex geological processes at play.
P-wave tomographic images
The final 3-D high-resolution Vp model is obtained by a joint inversion of the local and teleseismic travel-time data, which involves the application of a 3-D ray tracing technique and the LSQR algorithm under damping and smoothing regularizations (see Method section for details). Our Vp tomographic results show that high-velocity (high-V) anomalies (< 300 km depth) are mainly distributed in the sea basin, only a few of them scattered in the domain of Madagascar (Fig. 3 and Extended Data Fig. 1). However, low-velocity (low-V) anomalies (< 300 km depth) are mainly located in the vicinity of Madagascar, Reunion Island, Mauritius Island and Rodrigues Island in the lithosphere and upper mantle (Fig. 3 and Extended Data Fig. 1). Here, we focus on the deep mantle structure of the Reunion plume (see the yellow box in Fig. 1c). Figure 3 presents Vp tomographic images down to 1000 km depth beneath Reunion Island, chiefly showing a mushroom-shaped anomaly with the lowest Vp perturbations of -2% in the lithosphere and low-V perturbations of -1% in the mantle. The top of this anomaly exhibits a low-V zone of ~ 450 km wide in the lithosphere and upper mantle (Figs. 3b and 3c), connecting an approximately vertical narrow low-V anomaly in the mantle (~ 220 km width), which is slightly bent toward southeast of Reunion Island at a depth of ~ 500 km. The plume center at 1000 km depth is shifted ~ 100 km southeast relative to the center of Reunion Island. In Fig. 3a, the top slice at 50 km depth shows a SW-NE trending low-V zone below Reunion Island and Mauritius Island, linking to the Rodrigues Ridge. However, this low-V zone is divided into two parts at 100 km depth (see the second top slice in Fig. 3a).
Interaction of the Reunion plume with central Indian ridge
Interaction between a mantle plume and mid-ocean ridge is quite common in the Indian Ocean, as revealed by geophysical and geochemical observations31,36,37. Interactions of the southwest Indian ridge (SWIR) with the Marion and Bouvet hotspots were suggested by geoid and gravity data31,36. Variations of Na8 indicating a higher mantle temperature of the ridge section between the Indomed and Gallieni fracture zones may be impacted by the Crozet hotspot36. The isotopically enriched geochemical signature and extremely thick crust at SWIR are strong evidence for the off-axis interaction between the Crozet hotspot and SWIR37,38. Although the Reunion and Crozet hotspots are located in the Indian Ocean and close to the ultra-slow and slow-spreading ridges39, the interaction of the Reunion hotspot with CIR is somewhat different from that of the Crozet hotspot and SWIR. There is a seafloor volcanic ridge between the Reunion hotspot and CIR (see the Rodrigues Ridge in Fig. 1). Basalts along the Rodrigues Ridge have ages of 8–10 Ma40 and enriched geochemical signatures41. The seafloor relief of the Rodrigues Ridge was suggested as a result of material and heat exchanges from the Reunion hotspot to CIR35,42. Meanwhile, the geochemical features of basalts at CIR (18–21°S latitude) are the same as those of the Reunion hotspot41,43–45. However, there are no such characteristics between the Crozet hotspot and SWIR.
Focusing on the teleseismic relative residuals in the area between the Reunion hotspot and CIR, four stations along the Rodrigues Ridge and one station located at CIR present weakly delayed arrivals (Fig. 2a). Corresponding to the teleseismic relative residuals, our Vp tomography shows a low-V anomaly at 50 km depth, which may indicate a relatively hotter magma channel connecting the Reunion plume and CIR (Fig. 3a). Recent studies of surface-wave tomography and anisotropy proposed the same inference35,42. Their results show a low-V channel and a west-east azimuthal anisotropy from the Reunion plume to CIR, which are interpreted as an asthenospheric flow driven by the plume42. A vertical mantle plume reaching the lithosphere could be deflected by the plume-plate interaction46. The decompression environment at the divergent plate boundary supports a way to drive accumulated materials and heat from the Reunion plume to CIR. The plume materials and heat may laterally migrate and ultimately reach the melting region, giving a specific ocean island basalt signature to the erupted basalts at CIR. The low-V zone between Reunion Island and CIR may reflect such materials and heat transfer, leading to the interaction between the Reunion hotspot and CIR.
Plume morphology and implications
A plume originating from the CMB is relatively hotter and more buoyant than the ambient mantle10. The temperature excess is estimated to be ~ 100–400℃ in the upper mantle47,48 and may reach 500℃ in the lower mantle49. Buoyant mantle flow arriving at the bottom of the lithosphere leads to 1–2 km uplifts50–52. The lithosphere is subsequently cracked due to the buoyant upwelling and decompression expansion, and magma resulting from decompression melting erupts along fractures in the lithosphere to form intraplate volcanoes53–55. The uplifted Reunion Island and its volcanoes reflect the surface manifestations of the Reunion plume11,35,42.
The mean residual pattern after the crustal corrections shows early arrivals near the margins of the plume swell and delayed arrivals on the swell (Fig. 2), indicating relatively lower Vp beneath Reunion Island and higher Vp around the swell. The early arrivals in the sea basin around the delayed arrivals at Reunion Island indicate that the upper mantle structure beneath the vicinity of Reunion Island is very inhomogeneous. Our high-resolution Vp tomography down to 1000 km depth presents a mushroom-shaped low-V anomaly with a very broad head up to ~ 450 km in diameter and a narrow tail of ~ 220 km (Figs. 3 and 4), which shows a classic “primary” plume proposed by Courtillot et al.8. Due to the limitation of teleseismic travel-time tomography at the shallow depths, the plume head may be broader than that in our images (Figs. 3 and 4). In terms of the shape of the plume conduit, its width is narrower than that in previous results beneath the MTZ11,33,56, and there is slightly horizontal ponding around 660 km depth (Figs. 3 and 4) rather than broad ponding at depths of 660–1000 km imaged by full waveform inversion33,56 (FWI). The differences may result from the ray-based tomographic techniques, which are high-frequency assumptions that simplify the full elastic wave Eq. 57. Due to the computational cost of FWI, waveforms are usually filtered with relatively low frequencies, e.g., cut-off frequencies are 400 and 40 s in the FWI study of Wamba et al.33. However, lateral pondings of the lower mantle plume are still debated8,10. Numerical modelling reveals that lateral pondings may result from density layering induced by mantle composition, whereas viscosity stratification results in necking without ponding9. The slight ponding around 660 km depth beneath the Reunion hotspot may infer that the phase change from ringwoodite to bridgmanite and periclase may form density stratification. The thin plume tail is similar to the Yellowstone hotspot revealed by teleseismic core waves58. However, the Yellowstone plume tail is tilted, which is interpreted as the influence of a stronger lower-mantle wind15,58. However, our Vp tomography shows that an approximately vertical thin conduit exists in the lower mantle from 1000 km depth with slight ponding, then vertically impinges the lithosphere beneath Reunion Island. There is only ~ 100 km horizontal shift according to the plume center at 1000 km depth and the surface (see Fig. 3). The plume tilting angle is estimated to be ~ 6˚, suggesting that the whole mantle wind below Reunion Island is much weaker than that under Yellowstone, Hawaii and Iceland (e.g., ref. 15). But the NW-SE oriented bending tail of the Reunion plume at ~ 500 km depth (Fig. 3) may be caused by a slightly stronger mantle flow at that depth.
In summary, our high-resolution Vp tomography reveals a mantle plume originating at 1000 km or greater depth beneath Reunion Island, which has a broad plume head and vertically thin conduit, presenting a classic mushroom-shaped plume (Fig. 4). The approximately vertical plume conduit suggests that the strength of the mantle flow (or mantle wind) is weak below Reunion Island. The low Vp anomaly in the upper mantle towards CIR suggests that mantle materials and heat are driven from the Reunion plume to CIR, which is evidence for the off-axis interaction of the plume-ridge system.