Today, plate tectonics is the dominant tectonic style on Earth, but in a hotter Earth tectonics may have looked different due to the presence of more melting and associated compositional buoyancy as well as the presence of a weaker mantle and lithosphere. Here we review the geodynamic constraints on plate tectonics and proposed alternatives throughout Earth’s history. Observations suggest a 100...

[1] Stacking of approximately 1500 radial receiver functions recorded at about 80 broadband seismic stations deployed in southern Africa reveals systematic spatial variations in the ratio of crustal P and S wave velocities (F), crustal thickness (H), and the amplitude of the converted Moho phases (R). The eastern Zimbabwe and the southern Kaapvaal cratons are characterized by small H ( 38 km), ...

Volcanism is a substantial process during crustal growth on planetary bodies and well documented to have occurred in the early Solar System from the recognition of numerous basaltic meteorites. Considering the ureilite parent body (UPB), the compositions of magmas that formed a potential UPB crust and were complementary to the ultramafic ureilite mantle rocks are poorly constrained. Among the A...

Petrology and geochemical characteristics of granitic rocks from South Sulawesi, especially from Polewaliand Masamba area are presented in order to elucidate their origin of magma and geodynamic setting. The granitic rocks in these areas are dominated by granodiorite and granite in composition. Quartz, K-feldspar and plagioclase occur as major phases with hornblende and biotite as major ferroma...

The asteroid 4 Vesta is the only known differentiated asteroid with an intact internal structure, probably consisting of a metal core, an ultramafic mantle, and a basaltic crust. Considerable evidence suggests that the HED meteorites are impact ejecta from Vesta, and detailed studies of these meteorites in terrestrial laboratories, combined with ever more sophisticated remote sensing studies of...

Plagioclase-rich reaction zones occur around numerous aluminous crustal xenoliths within a suite of Palaeogene sub-volcanic basic sheets on the Isle of Mull, NW Scotland. The xenoliths consist of a glassy core, containing mullite needles, generated from the melting of pelitic source rocks. Thick plagioclase mantles grew at the interface between the aluminous liquid and the enclosing basaltic ma...

Petrology and geochemical characteristics of granitic rocks from South Sulawesi, especially from Polewaliand Masamba area are presented in order to elucidate their origin of magma and geodynamic setting. The granitic rocks in these areas are dominated by granodiorite and granite in composition. Quartz, K-feldspar and plagioclase occur as major phases with hornblende and biotite as major ferroma...

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Southern Peru is located in the northern Central Andes, which is the highest plateau along an active subduction zone. In this region, the Nazca slab changes from normal to flat subduction, with the associated Holocene volcanism ceasing above the flat subduction regime. We use 6 s to 67 s period surface wave signals from ambient noise cross-correlations and ...

The Izu-Bonin arc (IBA) has been colliding with the Honshu arc since the middle Miocene, which together form the active Izu arc-arc collision zone (ICZ) in central Japan. To understand the entire collisional system, we have used refraction/wide-angle reflection data to model velocity structures of the Honshu arc, northwest of the ICZ. The seismic data indicate that the upper 4-km crust of the H...

Fractures and faults riddle the Earth's crust on all scales, and the deformation associated with them is presumed to have had significant effects on its petrological and structural evolution. However, despite the abundance of directly observable earthquake activity, unequivocal evidence for seismic slip rates along ancient faults is rare and usually related to frictional melting and the formati...