Table Of ContentDYNAMICS OF PLATE TECTONICS
AND MANTLE CONVECTION
DYNAMICS
OF PLATE
TECTONICS
AND MANTLE
CONVECTION
Editedby
JOA˜O C. DUARTE
AssistantProfessor,UniversityofLisbon,Lisbon,Portugal;
Researcher,FacultyofSciences,InstitutoDomLuiz,UniversityofLisbon,Lisbon,Portugal
Elsevier
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Contributors
DavidBercovici DepartmentofEarthandPlanetary Rakib Hassan EarthByte Group, School of Geos-
Sciences,YaleUniversity,NewHaven,CT,United ciences, University of Sydney, Camperdown,
States NSW; Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT,
Magali I. Billen Department of Earth and Australia
Planetary Sciences, UC Davis, Davis, CA, United M.J. Hoggard Research School of Earth Sciences,
States The Australian National University, Acton, ACT,
DorisBreuer DLR,InstituteofPlanetaryResearch, Australia
Berlin,Germany Shun-ichiroKarato DepartmentofEarthandPlan-
Sascha Brune Helmholtz Centre Potsdam—GFZ etary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT,
German Research Centre for Geosciences, Pots- UnitedStates
dam; Institute of Geosciences, University of Pots- DerekKeir UniversitadegliStudidiFirenze,Dipar-
dam,Potsdam-Golm,Germany timentodiScienzedellaTerra,Florence,Italy;Uni-
Susanne J.H. Buiter Tectonics and Geodynamics, versityofSouthampton,SchoolofOceanandEarth
RWTH Aachen University, Aachen; Helmholtz Science,Southampton,UnitedKingdom
Centre Potsdam—GFZ German Research Centre MatthewG.Knepley ComputerScienceandEngi-
forGeosciences,Potsdam,Germany neering,UniversityatBuffalo,Buffalo,NY,United
Nicolas Coltice Laboratoire de G(cid:1)eologie, E(cid:1)cole States
Normale Sup(cid:1)erieure, CNRS UMR 8538, PSL AdrianLenardic DepartmentofEarthScience,Rice
ResearchUniversity,Paris,France University,Houston,TX,UnitedStates
D.R. Davies Research School of Earth Sciences, DiogoL.Lourenc¸o DepartmentofEarthandPlane-
The Australian National University, Acton, ACT, taryScience,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,CA,
Australia United States; Department of Geographic Engi-
Joa˜o C. Duarte Faculty of Sciences, Instituto Dom neering, Geophysics and Energy, Faculty of Sci-
Luiz,UniversityofLisbon,Lisbon,Portugal ences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal;
Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Geo-
Taras V. Gerya Department of Earth Sciences,
physics,ETHZurich,Zurich,Switzerland
ETH-Zurich,Zurich,Switzerland
SarahJ.MacLeod EarthByteGroup,SchoolofGeos-
S.Ghelichkhan ResearchSchoolofEarthSciences,
ciences,UniversityofSydney,Camperdown,NSW,
The Australian National University, Acton, ACT,
Australia
Australia
DaveA.May InstituteofGeophysicsandPlanetary
RichardG.Gordon DepartmentofEarth,Environ-
Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
mental and Planetary Sciences, Rice University,
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA,
Houston,TX,UnitedStates
UnitedStates
MichaelGurnis SeismologicalLaboratory,Califor-
Louis Moresi Research School of Earth Sciences,
niaInstituteofTechnology,Pasadena,CA,United
The Australian National University, Canberra,
States
ACT,Australia
xi
xii
Contributors
JasonP.Morgan SUSTech,Shenzhen,China Johnny Seales Department of Earth Science, Rice
R. Dietmar Mu€ller EarthByte Group, School of University,Houston,TX,UnitedStates
Geosciences,UniversityofSydney,Camperdown, AlishaSteinberger BRONStudios,Vancouver,BC,
NSW,Australia Canada
ElviraMulyukova DepartmentofEarthandPlane- BernhardSteinberger GFZGermanResearchCen-
tarySciences,NorthwesternUniversity,Evanston, tre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany; CEED,
IL,UnitedStates UniversityofOslo,Oslo,Norway
TakashiNakagawa DepartmentofEarthandPlan- RobertJ.Stern GeosciencesDepartment,University
etarySystemScience,HiroshimaUniversity,Higa- ofTexasatDallas,Richardson,TX,UnitedStates
shihiroshima,Japan;Previousaffiliation:Schoolof Pietro Sternai Department of Earth and Environ-
Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, mental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milano-
Leeds, United Kingdom; Department of Planetol- Bicocca,Milano,Italy
ogy,KobeUniversity,Kobe,Japan
PaulJ.Tackley DepartmentofEarthSciences,ETH
Jean-Arthur Olive Laboratoire de G(cid:1)eologie, Zurich,Zu€rich,Switzerland
CNRS—Ecole Normale Sup(cid:1)erieure—PSL Univer-
A.P. Valentine Department of Earth Sciences,
sity,Paris,France
Durham University, Lower Mountjoy, Durham,
Gwenn Peron-Pinvidic Geological Survey of UnitedKingdom
Norway (NGU);Norwegian University ofScience
Paola Vannucchi University of Florence, Florence;
andTechnology(NTNU),Trondheim,Norway
National Institute of Oceanography and Applied
C(cid:1)esarR.Ranero ICM-CSIC,Barcelona,Spain Geophysics,Trieste,Italy
F.D. Richards Department of Earth Science and Simon E. Williams EarthByte Group, School of
Engineering, Imperial College London, South Geosciences, University of Sydney, Camper-
Kensington,London,UnitedKingdom down, NSW, Australia; Department of Geology,
Antoine B. Rozel Department of Earth Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province,
Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, China
Switzerland Masaki Yoshida Volcanoes and Earth’s Interior
W.P. Schellart Department of Earth Sciences, Research Center, Research Institute for Marine
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Geodynamics; Agency for Marine-Earth Science
Netherlands andTechnology(JAMSTEC),Yokosuka,Japan
Preface
Plate tectonics is the unifying theory of the we have learned so far, where we are now,
solid Earth that describes the surface of our and what are thefuture challenges.
planet as being fragmented into rigid plates Editingthisbookwasoneofthebestprofes-
that move in relation to each other. Many fun- sional experiences I ever had. It was fun and
damental geological processes, such as earth- exciting,anditwasaprivilege.Itwasaprivilege
quakes, volcanism, and the formation of toworkwithalltheauthorstoproducethisfinal
mountains, occur at the plates’ boundaries. In product.Thisisyourbook.Imustthankyouall
its initial formulation, plate tectonics was a for having accepted my invitation to be part of
kinematictheorythatdescribedandquantified this project. I have learned so much from all of
these movements and associated deformation. you and Iam sure the reader will too.
(cid:1)
Plate tectonics evolved into a dynamic theory, I thank my family, Noemie, Maria de
describingtheforcesdrivingthesurfacedefor- Lourdes, Joaquim, Helena, Pedro, Diogo, and
mationandtheinternaldynamicsofourplanet. Manuela,fortheconstantsupport.Ialsothank
We also came to realize that plate tectonics is mycolleaguesFilipeRosas,NicolasRiel,Wou-
only one of the possible tectono-magmatic ter Schellart, Mattias Green, Hannah Davies,
styles in which a planet can operate and that Anto´nio Ribeiro, Marc-Andr(cid:1)e Gutscher, Pedro
these can change over time. In the past years, Terrinha, Ricardo Trigo, Pedro Miranda, Rui
the geosciences community has started to Dias, Vasco Valadares, Henrique Duarte,
developatheorythatintegratesplatetectonics MichaelWay,ChristianHensen,SantanuBose,
and mantle convection as part of a single DiogoLourenc¸o,SusanaCusto´dio,Lu´ısMatias,
system. This was possible because of the Taras Gerya, Sierd Cloetingh, Catherine Mer-
ever-increasinghigh-qualityimagingofEarth’s iaux, David Boutelier, Alexander Cruden, Jac-
interiorandourcomputationalcapabilities.But ques Malavieille, Paola Vannucchi, Jason
while the progress has been enormous, there P. Morgan, Susanne Buiter, Vincent Strak,
are still many uncertainties and challenges ChiaraCiviero,So´niaSilva,Lu´ısPinheiro,Luis
ahead. Matias,VitorMagalha˜es,MartaNeres,Nathan
Ihaveaskedsomeoftheleadingscientistsin Mayne,Joa˜oMata,SophieWilmes,StevenBal-
thefieldtowriteperspectivereviewpapersfrom bus, Chris MacLeod, Cristina Roque, Jaime
thevantagepointoftheirwork.Theideawasto Almeida, Zhihao Chen, and many other col-
capturethestateoftheartofourunderstanding leagues with whom I have learned and dis-
of the dynamics of plate tectonics and mantle cussed so much over the years. A special
convection. I hope this book can glimpse what thanks to the Faculty of Sciences of the
xiii
xiv
Preface
UniversityofLisbon,theGeologyDepartment, understand the dynamics of plate tectonics
(cid:1)
the Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL), and Celia Lee and mantle convection.
forprovidingmewiththegroundstobuildthis
Joa˜o C. Duarte
project.Ialsowould liketo thankNicolasCol-
University of Lisbon
tice for producing the incredible cover image
30 September 2022
that perfectly captures the efforts in trying to
C H A P T E R
1
Introduction to Dynamics of Plate
Tectonics and Mantle Convection
Joa˜o C. Duarte
Faculty ofSciences, Instituto Dom Luiz, University ofLisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Agoodwaytostartabookprojectistothink Onecannottellexactlywhenitallstarted,butitis
ofabookthecommunitywouldliketoread.But quite amazing that the cartographer Abraham
that is not enough. One must also understand Ortelius noted in 1596 that the margins of the
the community needs and make sure the book Atlantic fitted like a puzzle. One can’t imagine
istimely.AsIwilltrytoexplain,weareunder- whatcrossedOrtelius’mind,butin1858,Anto-
going a key moment in our comprehension of nio Snider-Pellegrini drew a “supercontinent”
plate tectonics and mantle convection. To help fitting Europe and Africa with the Americas.
usunderstandwherewecamefromandwhere While Snider-Pellegrini did not have a compel-
wearegoing,Iaskedanumberofexpertsinthe lingscientifictheorytoexplainit,thiswasabold
fieldtowriteperspectivepapersfromtheirvan- statement, suggesting that large portions of the
tagepointand,wheneverpossible,totellastory, planet’s surface have moved thousands of
either their story or the story of an idea. The kilometers. Yet, it was only a few decades later
bookthatthereaderhasinfrontisacombination that Alfred Wegener put together evidence to
of perspective and review papers dealing with sustain this hypothesis, which became known
some of the most exciting and timely topics as the continental drift theory (Wegener, 1929).
in the field of plate tectonics and mantle Probably Wegener was not aware of it, but this
convection. wasthefirstrevolutioninthesolidearthsciences.
Plate tectonics is a relatively young theory It completely revolutionized how we looked at
comparedtoDarwin’stheoryofevolution,Ein- and interpreted geological processes. Notwith-
stein’stheoryofgeneralrelativity,orthetheory standing,atthetimeitprobablyfeltmorelikea
of quantum mechanics by Bohr. But it did not controversy than a real revolution. Most of his
come out of nowhere. Very few things do in peersstronglycontestedtheidea.Afterall,how
science. The Greeks and other ancient civiliza- couldcontinentsmoveoversolidoceaniccrust?
tions had theories about the Earth, trying to Duringthefollowingyears,afewearthscien-
explaintheoriginsofearthquakesandvolcanoes. tiststooktheideaseriouslyandstartedworking
DynamicsofPlateTectonicsandMantleConvection 1 Copyright#2023ElsevierInc.Allrightsreserved.
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-85733-8.00005-6
