A window of opportunity for plate tectonics in evolution of Earth-like planets?

Details A window of opportunity for plate tectonics in evolution of Earth-like planets? A window of opportunity for plate tectonics in evolution of Earth-like planets?

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p24b..05o&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P24B-05

Physics

[5430] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Interiors, [5475] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Tectonics, [8147] Tectonophysics / Planetary Interiors

Scientific paper

A rocky planet may exhibit stagnant lid behaviour under hot internal conditions due to a decrease in internal viscosity, associated with high internal temperatures, which results in lower induced lithospheric stress. These conditions may be relevant to a planet's early evolution. At the other extreme, cold, sluggish planets, approaching the end of their evolutionary cycle, may also exhibit stagnant behaviour, due to low mantle velocities, and the development of a thick, strong lithospheric lid. This leads to the possibility of a 'window' for plate tectonic behaviour in the evolution of rocky planets; where initial hot planets may exhibit stagnant lid behaviour, evolving into tectonically active planets, before, eventually, entering into a slow decline of tectonism and eventually entering a cold, senescent stagnant mode more typical of Mars today. Here we explore models of viscoplastic mantle convection, with varying internal heating and bottom temperature conditions, and demonstrate a stress maximum exists for middle-aged planets. We present an implementation of evolving internal heat production and basal temperatures through time, and show the viability of a 'window' for plate tectonic behaviour in the evolution of Earth-like planets.

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