Deep mantle roots and continental emergence: implications for whole-Earth elemental cycling, long-term climate, and the Cambrian explosion

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dc.citation.firstpage431en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber4en_US
dc.citation.journalTitleInternational Geology Reviewen_US
dc.citation.lastpage448en_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber60en_US
dc.contributor.authorLee, Cin-Ty A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorCaves, Jeremyen_US
dc.contributor.authorJiang, Heheen_US
dc.contributor.authorCao, Wenrongen_US
dc.contributor.authorLenardic, Adrianen_US
dc.contributor.authorMcKenzie, N. Ryanen_US
dc.contributor.authorShorttle, Oliveren_US
dc.contributor.authorYin, Qing-zhuen_US
dc.contributor.authorDyer, Blakeen_US
dc.date.accessioned2018-07-11T18:51:12Zen_US
dc.date.available2018-07-11T18:51:12Zen_US
dc.date.issued2018en_US
dc.description.abstractElevations on Earth are dominantly controlled by crustal buoyancy, primarily through variations in crustal thickness: continents ride higher than ocean basins because they are underlain by thicker crust. Mountain building, where crust is magmatically or tectonically thickened, is thus key to making continents. However, most of the continents have long passed their mountain building origins, having since subsided back to near sea level. The elevations of the old, stable continents are lower than that expected for their crustal thicknesses, requiring a subcrustal component of negative buoyancy that develops after mountain building. While initial subsidence is driven by crustal erosion, thermal relaxation through growth of a cold thermal boundary layer provides the negative buoyancy that causes continents to subside further. The maximum thickness of this thermal boundary layer is controlled by the thickness of a chemically and rheologically distinct continental mantle root, formed during large-scale mantle melting billions of years ago. The final resting elevation of a stabilized continent is controlled by the thickness of this thermal boundary layer and the temperature of the Earth’s mantle, such that continents ride higher in a cooler mantle and lower in a hot mantle. Constrained by the thermal history of the Earth, continents are predicted to have been mostly below sea level for most of Earth’s history, with areas of land being confined to narrow strips of active mountain building. Large-scale emergence of stable continents occurred late in Earth’s history (Neoproterozoic) over a 100–300 million year transition, irreversibly altering the surface of the Earth in terms of weathering, climate, biogeochemical cycling and the evolution of life. Climate during the transition would be expected to be unstable, swinging back and forth between icehouse and greenhouse states as higher order fluctuations in mantle dynamics would cause the Earth to fluctuate rapidly between water and terrestrial worlds.en_US
dc.identifier.citationLee, Cin-Ty A., Caves, Jeremy, Jiang, Hehe, et al.. "Deep mantle roots and continental emergence: implications for whole-Earth elemental cycling, long-term climate, and the Cambrian explosion." <i>International Geology Review,</i> 60, no. 4 (2018) Taylor & Francis: 431-448. https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2017.1340853.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2017.1340853en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/102396en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherTaylor & Francisen_US
dc.rightsThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncnd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncnd/4.0/en_US
dc.subject.keywordEarth historyen_US
dc.subject.keywordclimateen_US
dc.subject.keywordcontinentsen_US
dc.subject.keywordlithosphereen_US
dc.subject.keywordelevationen_US
dc.subject.keywordcrusten_US
dc.subject.keywordunconformityen_US
dc.subject.keywordperidotiteen_US
dc.titleDeep mantle roots and continental emergence: implications for whole-Earth elemental cycling, long-term climate, and the Cambrian explosionen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.publicationpublisher versionen_US
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