Terrestrial vertebrates show striking changes in species richness across topographic gradients. For mammals, nearly twice as many species per unit area occur in topographically complex regions as in adjacent lowlands. The geological context of this pervasive biogeographic pattern suggests that tectonic processes have a first-order impact on regional diversity. I evaluate ecological, evolutionar...

Oceanic transform faults (OTFs) are an inherent part of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics, whereas the process controlling their morphology remains enigmatic. Here, we systematically quantify variations in dependence on rate age-offset, based a compilation shipborne bathymetric data from 94 OTFs at ultraslow- to intermediate-spreading ridges. In general, length, width depth scale better wi...

Abstract Carbon release during continental rifting is thought to regulate atmospheric CO 2 levels. Supercontinent dispersal‐induced extensional tectonics similar the Late Ediacaran and Jurassic, while they exhibit different increases in concentration. The underlying mechanism of distinct emissions remains be understood. Here, we conduct petrological‐thermomechanical modeling show that metamorph...

[1] Although Mars is currently not tectonically active, it may have experienced plate tectonics early in its history. The southern hemisphere of Mars possesses a thick crust which probably renders the lithosphere positively buoyant. In this paper we present numerical and scaling arguments which show that if the area of positively buoyant lithosphere grows beyond a critical fraction ( 50% for Ma...

The Earth is likely to have acquired most of its water during accretion. Internal heat of planetesimals by short-lived radioisotopes would have caused some water loss, but impacts into planetesimals were insufficiently energetic to produce further drying. Water is thought to be critical for the development of plate tectonics, because it lowers viscosities in the asthenosphere, enabling subducti...

Archaeologists and historians working on topics such as agricultural technology, resource distribution, settlement patterns, raw materials procurement, artifact analysis and natural disasters are automatically involved in geological questions. The geologic history of the Japanese Islands is, therefore, of basic importance to our enquiries, but those interests are poorly served by the current li...

Continental break-up is an ingredient of plate tectonics and the Wilson cycle. During evolution Tethyan Realm since Paleozoic, a series ribbon-like (micro-)continents are split from Gondwana drifted northwards to Eurasian continent. The initial opening Neo-Tethys Ocean follows typical continental marginal Cimmeria Gondwana, which generally considered be driven by subduction Paleo-Tethyan plate....

Deciphering relationships among the orders of placental mammals remains an important problem in evolutionary biology and has implications for understanding patterns of morphological character evolution, reconstructing the ancestral placental genome, and evaluating the role of plate tectonics and dispersal in the biogeographic history of this group. Until recently, both molecular and morphologic...