U41A:
When and How Did Plate Tectonics Begin, What Came Before, and Why Is This Controversy Important for Understanding the Earth?

Note: Abstract submissions to Union sessions are by invitation only.


Session ID#: 7487

Session Description:
Solid Earth convection consists of mobile lithospheric fragments that form at mid-ocean spreading ridges and are recycled in subduction zones. Earth is the only planet in our Solar System with Plate Tectonics. The 6 other significant (>1000 km diameter) rocky bodies (Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Ceres, and Io) have some form of stable or unstable stagnant lid behavior. We do not know if Earth always had Plate Tectonics or if it evolved from unstable stagnant lid.  This session will explore geologic evidence and theoretical considerations for when Plate Tectonics began, what was Earth’s previous tectonic style, and how the transition was likely to have been accomplished.    We also will explore why resolving this controversy is important for our understanding of the solid Earth and life on it, and consider the implications of these lines of inquiry for understanding silicate body evolution.
Primary Convener:  Robert J Stern, University of Texas at Dallas, Geosciences, Richardson, United States
Conveners:  Taras Gerya, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, Stephan V. Sobolev, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Potsdam, Germany and Paul Tackley, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Chairs:  Taras Gerya, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland and Stephan V. Sobolev, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Potsdam, Germany
OSPA Liaison:  Robert J Stern, University of Texas at Dallas, Geosciences, Richardson, United States
Index Terms:

5455 Origin and evolution [PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETS]
5475 Tectonics [PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETS]
8125 Evolution of the Earth [TECTONOPHYSICS]
8149 Planetary tectonics [TECTONOPHYSICS]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Why is understanding when Plate Tectonics began important for understanding Earth? (Invited) (58952)
Jun Korenaga, Yale University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, New Haven, CT, United States
When Did Plate Tectonics Begin (Invited) (59095)
Michael Brown, University of Maryland College Park, Department of Geology, College Park, MD, United States
Origin of plate tectonics: Grain-damage, inheritance and hysteresis (Invited) (75073)
David Bercovici, Yale University, Earth & Planetary Sciences, New Haven, CT, United States and Yanick R Ricard, Univ Lyon, ENSL, UCBL, UJM, CNRS, LGL-TPE, Lyon, France
What was Earth's tectonic style before Plate Tectonics? (Invited) (60155)
Patrice F Rey, University of Sydney, School of Geosciences, Earthbyte Research Group, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Nicolas Coltice, LGLTPE Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon : Terre, Planètes et Environnement, Villeurbanne Cedex, France and Nicolas E Flament, University of Wollongong, School of Earth, Life and Atmospheric Sciences, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
Plate Tectonics and Planetary Evolution: Implications for Understanding Exoplanets (Invited) (71268)
Linda T Elkins-Tanton, Arizona State University, School of Earth & Space Exploration, Tempe, AZ, United States
DISCUSSION: When and How did Plate Tectonics Begin, What Came Before, and Why is this Controversy important for Understanding the Earth and Exoplanets? (Invited) (59098)
Robert J Stern, University of Texas at Dallas, Geosciences, Richardson, United States, Taras Gerya, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, Stephan V. Sobolev, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Potsdam, Germany and Paul Tackley, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

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