Breaking Earth’s shell into a global plate network

C. A. Tang, A. A. G. Webb (), W. B. Moore, Y. Y. Wang, T. H. Ma and T. T. Chen
Additional contact information
C. A. Tang: Dalian University of Technology
A. A. G. Webb: University of Hong Kong
W. B. Moore: Hampton University
Y. Y. Wang: Dalian University of Technology
T. H. Ma: Dalian University of Technology
T. T. Chen: Northeastern University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract The initiation mechanism of Earth’s plate tectonic cooling system remains uncertain. A growing consensus suggests that multi-plate tectonics was preceded by cooling through a single-plate lithosphere, but models for how this lithosphere was first broken into plates have not converged on a mechanism or a typical early plate scale. A commonality among prior efforts is the use of continuum mechanics approximations to evaluate this solid mechanics problem. Here we use 3D spherical shell models to demonstrate a self-organized fracture mechanism analogous to thermal expansion-driven lithospheric uplift, in which globe-spanning rifting occurs as a consequence of horizontal extension. Resultant fracture spacing is a function of lithospheric thickness and rheology, wherein geometrically-regular, polygonal-shaped tessellation is an energetically favored solution because it minimizes total crack length. Therefore, warming of the early lithosphere itself—as anticipated by previous studies—should lead to failure, propagating fractures, and the conditions necessary for the onset of multi-plate tectonics.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17480-2 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17480-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17480-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().