Mantle convection is the very slow creeping motion of Earth's solid silicate mantle caused by convection currents carrying heat from the interior to the planet's surface. The Earth's surface lithosphere rides atop the asthenosphere and the two form the components of the upper mantle.
Earth's core provides heat to magma in the mantle, causing it to flow towards the lithosphere. This magma eventually cools and flows back towards the core, forming a convection cell.
