A research team led by Prof. Sun Weidong from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) and their collaborators from Curtin University and Geological Survey of Western Australia have reported a remarkable mantle cooling event that records the onset of modern plate tectonics.
September 30, 2022
A research team led by Prof. Sun Weidong from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) and their collaborators from Curtin University and Geological Survey of Western Australia have reported a remarkable mantle cooling event that records the onset of modern plate tectonics.
The study was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters on Sept. 21.
The temperature of the convecting mantle exerts a first-order control on the rheology, composition, and consequently, tectonic behavior of Earth’s lithosphere. Earth’s upper mantle has been cooling since the Mesoarchean. However, the cooling of the upper mantle since the Archean has generally been considered broadly linear.
