Episodic growth of juvenile crust and catastrophic events in the mantle
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概要
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Episodic growth of continental crust and supercontinents at 2.7,1.9,and 1.2 Ga may be caused by superevents in the mantle as descending slabs pile up at the 660-km seismic discontinuity and then catastrophically sink into the lower mantle. A superevent cycle involves supercontinent breakup that initiates both slab avalanches and the onset of formation of a new supercontinent; arrival of slabs at the D" layer triggers mantle plumes that rise and bombard the base of lithosphere producing juvenile crust trapped in the growing supercontinent; and shielding of the mantle beneath the new supercontinent results in a mantle upwelling that eventually breaks the supercontinent as the cycle starts over. Superevents comprise three or four events each of 50-80 My duration, each of which may reflect slab avalanches at different locations and times at the 660-km discontinuity. Superplume events in the late Paleozoic and Mid-Cretaceous may have been caused by minor slab avalanches as the 660-km discontinuity became more permeable to the passage of slabs. The total duration of a superevent cycle decreases with time probably reflecting the cooling of the mantle.
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