Dynamics of plumes in a compressible mantle with phase changes: Implications for phase boundary topography

These models also predict that the 670-km discontinuity is flat below hotspots due to a large plume head in the lower mantle of about 1000 km diameter that significantly thins as it rises into the upper mantle. This is explained by the lower viscosity in the upper mantle and the spreading of the temporarily inhibited plume below the endothermic phase boundary, which reconciles the flat 670-km discontinuity with a deep mantle plume origin.