Will Earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the Pacific Ocean?
Earth's known supercontinents are believed to have formed in vastly different ways, with two endmembers being introversion and extroversion. The former involves the closure of the internal oceans formed during the break-up of the previous supercontinent, whereas the latter involves the closure...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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OXFORD UNIV PRESS
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL150100133 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90604 |
| _version_ | 1848765400151490560 |
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| author | Huang, Chuan Li, Zheng-Xiang Zhang, Nan |
| author_facet | Huang, Chuan Li, Zheng-Xiang Zhang, Nan |
| author_sort | Huang, Chuan |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Earth's known supercontinents are believed to have formed in vastly different ways, with two endmembers being introversion and extroversion. The former involves the closure of the internal oceans formed during the break-up of the previous supercontinent, whereas the latter involves the closure of the previous external superocean. However, it is unclear what caused such diverging behavior of supercontinent cycles that involved first-order interaction between subducting tectonic plates and the mantle. Here we address this question through 4D geodynamic modeling using realistic tectonic set-ups. Our results show that the strength of the oceanic lithosphere plays a critical role in determining the assembly path of a supercontinent. We found that high oceanic lithospheric strength leads to introversion assembly, whereas lower strength leads to extroversion assembly. A theoretically estimated reduction in oceanic crustal thickness, and thus its strength, during Earth's secular cooling indicates that introversion was only possible for the Precambrian time when the oceanic lithosphere was stronger, thus predicting the assembling of the next supercontinent Amasia through the closure of the Pacific Ocean instead of the Indian-Atlantic oceans. Our work provides a new understanding of the secular evolution of plate tectonics and geodynamics as the Earth cooled. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:34:39Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-90604 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:34:39Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | OXFORD UNIV PRESS |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-906042023-03-27T04:47:59Z Will Earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the Pacific Ocean? Huang, Chuan Li, Zheng-Xiang Zhang, Nan Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics yield stress oceanic lithosphere introversion extroversion supercontinent cycle MANTLE CONVECTION POLAR WANDER CYCLES Earth's known supercontinents are believed to have formed in vastly different ways, with two endmembers being introversion and extroversion. The former involves the closure of the internal oceans formed during the break-up of the previous supercontinent, whereas the latter involves the closure of the previous external superocean. However, it is unclear what caused such diverging behavior of supercontinent cycles that involved first-order interaction between subducting tectonic plates and the mantle. Here we address this question through 4D geodynamic modeling using realistic tectonic set-ups. Our results show that the strength of the oceanic lithosphere plays a critical role in determining the assembly path of a supercontinent. We found that high oceanic lithospheric strength leads to introversion assembly, whereas lower strength leads to extroversion assembly. A theoretically estimated reduction in oceanic crustal thickness, and thus its strength, during Earth's secular cooling indicates that introversion was only possible for the Precambrian time when the oceanic lithosphere was stronger, thus predicting the assembling of the next supercontinent Amasia through the closure of the Pacific Ocean instead of the Indian-Atlantic oceans. Our work provides a new understanding of the secular evolution of plate tectonics and geodynamics as the Earth cooled. 2022 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90604 10.1093/nsr/nwac205 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL150100133 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ OXFORD UNIV PRESS fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics yield stress oceanic lithosphere introversion extroversion supercontinent cycle MANTLE CONVECTION POLAR WANDER CYCLES Huang, Chuan Li, Zheng-Xiang Zhang, Nan Will Earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the Pacific Ocean? |
| title | Will Earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the Pacific Ocean? |
| title_full | Will Earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the Pacific Ocean? |
| title_fullStr | Will Earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the Pacific Ocean? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Will Earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the Pacific Ocean? |
| title_short | Will Earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the Pacific Ocean? |
| title_sort | will earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the pacific ocean? |
| topic | Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics yield stress oceanic lithosphere introversion extroversion supercontinent cycle MANTLE CONVECTION POLAR WANDER CYCLES |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL150100133 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90604 |