Enriched, insulating crustal units and runaway crustal growth on Mars.

Physics

Scientific paper

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5475 Tectonics (8149), 5480 Volcanism (8450)

Scientific paper

Crustal growth can either cool or heat the mantle, as the crust not only depletes the mantle of heat producing elements, but thermally insulates it. We employ mantle convection models including thickened crustal units of variable heat production to show that for increasing extents of thickened crust, mantle temperatures and melt production can either increase of decrease, depending on the degree of enrichment of the crust with respect to the mantle, the total heat production, and the Rayleigh number. The formation of the continents on Earth would have efficiently cooled the upper mantle, resulting in lower subsequent rates of melt production and continental formation. In contrast, the growth of the Martian highlands would have raised the temperatures of the Martian mantle, increasing rates of melt production, and leading to runaway crustal growth. This would have continued as long as the lithosphere of Mars was mobile.

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