Global Plate Tectonics

Global Plate Tectonics Cladistics Internal Forces... 

Cladisdc biogec aphy, comments on in twentieth century, 225-260 analytical methods, 249-251 external forces, 227-232 cladistics, 229-232 global plate tectonics, 227-229 internal forces, 232-248... 

Schettino, A. and Scotese, C.R. (2005) Apparent polar wander paths for the major continents (200 Ma to the present day) A palaeomagnetic reference frame for global plate tectonic reconstructions. Geophysical Journal International, 163 727-759. 

Miller EL, Cans PB (1989) Cretaceous crustal structure and metamorphism in the hinterland of the Sevier thrust belt, western U.S. Cordillera. Geology 17 59-62 Molnar P (1988) Continental tectonics in the aftermath of plate tectonics. Nature 335 131-137 Molnar P, England P (1990) Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain-ranges and global climate change - chicken or egg. Nature 346 29-34... 

We cannot disagree with Stanley (2005) and Stanley et al. (2005) that our planet is a system of integrated components driven by the Earth s internal heat and external energy from the Sun. It is evident that geospheric processes like plate tectonics, volcanism, and the rock cycle are linked to the hydrosphere, atmosphere, climate system, and biosphere, and their interactions form the global processes that we observe. 

The various subclassifications for mare basalt we describe below may seem arbitrary but, as will be discussed in the next section, mare basalt compositional diversity is in general not systematic, but haphazard. On Earth, volcanic diversity is largely a function of systematic global tectonics, such as upwelling at mid-ocean ridges to generate MORE. But plate tectonics probably never occurred on the Moon and it surely never occurred during the comparatively late era of mare volcanism. 

Hart S. R. and Zindler A. (1989) Constraints on the nature and development of chemical heterogeneities in the mantle. In Mantle Convection Plate Tectonics and Global Dynamics (ed. W. R. Peltier). Gordon and Breach, vol. 4, pp. 261-387. 

If nothing countered weathering and erosion, the continents would be reduced to sea level in a few million years. Tectonic processes, driven by the gradual movements of giant global plates, raise the elevations of parts of the continents, producing their own landforms. 

Bercovici D. (2003) The generation of plate tectonics from mantle convection. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 205, 107-121. Bijwaard H., Spakman W., and Engdahl E. R. (1998) Closing the gap between regional and global travel time tomography. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 30055-30078. 

The number of plates became fewer as global heat flow diminished in the Late Archean, and modern-style plate tectonics became the dominant tectonic theme. Oceanic crust was both older and colder by the time it reached the subduction zone. This older oceanic crust returns to the deep mantle without being remelted. Fluids from dehydration of the slab rise into the overlying mantle wedge, where they induce melting. This results in the production of the present subduction-zone calc-alkaline suite and in the addition of this material to the crust. 

Transition to the lower crust corresponds to change of fracturing by faults to the global cataclastic rupture. The lower crust possesses the least resistance to the shear and the detachment of the crust floors becomes possible, see two floor plate tectonics suggested by Lobkovsky (1988). 

Chen Xu and Rong Jia-Yu (1992) Ordovician plate tectonics of China and its neighbouring regions. In Webby and Laurie (eds) Global Perspectives on Ordovician Geology (Rotterdam A.A. Balkema), pp. 277-292. 

F.H. Busse Fundamentals of thermal convection, in W.R. Peltier (ed.) Mantle convection, Plate Tectonics and Global Dynamics, Gordon and Breach, p. 23 (1989)... 

Seismology has played a key role in the development of the plate tectonic theory, which describes and explains the motions of lithosphere plates. The global distribution of earthquakes outlines the plate boundaries, the occurrence of deep earthquakes indicates regions where plates are recycled back into Earth s mantle, and earthquake fault plane solutions provide information about the relative sense of motion at plate boundaries. 

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