Episodic continental growth and supercontinents: a mantle avalanche connection?

被引:670
作者
Condie, KC [1 ]
机构
[1] New Mexico Inst Min & Technol, Dept Earth & Environm Sci, Socorro, NM 87801 USA
关键词
continental crust; mantle; plate tectonics; models; slabs;
D O I
10.1016/S0012-821X(98)00178-2
中图分类号
P3 [地球物理学]; P59 [地球化学];
学科分类号
0708 ; 070902 ;
摘要
Episodic growth of continental crust and supercontinents at 2.7, 1.9, and 1.2 Ga may be caused by superevents in the mantle as descending slabs pile up at the 660-km seismic discontinuity and then catastrophically sink into the lower mantle. Superevents, in turn, may comprise three or four events, each of 50-80 My duration, and each of which may reflect slab avalanches at different locations and times along the 660-km discontinuity. Superplume events in the late Paleozoic and Mid-Cretaceous may have been caused by minor slab avalanches as the 660-km discontinuity became more permeable to the passage of slabs with time. The total duration of a superevent cycle decreases with time reflecting the cooling of the mantle. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:97 / 108
页数:12
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