Crustal Evolution and Deformation in a Non-Plate-Tectonic Archaean Earth: Comparisons with Venus

Harris, Lyal B.; Bédard, Jean H.

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7615-9_9

Cited by 57 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 495 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Producing the crustal thickening required to support Lakshmi implies a minimum of 2000‐3000 km of crustal convergence (Kiefer , ), with an even larger amount of convergence required to explain the high mountain belt topography. This interpretation is also supported by recent geologic mapping (Harris & Bédard, , ). Structural relationships and stratigraphy in the complexly deformed tessera terrain of Tellus Regio, 2000 by 1600 km across and ~1 km high, indicate that Tellus formed by lateral transport and assembly of three distinct tessera blocks (Gilmore & Head, ).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

The Physics of Changing Tectonic Regimes: Implications for the Temporal Evolution of Mantle Convection and the Thermal History of Venus

Weller

Kiefer

2020

JGR Planets

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Given similar sizes and compositions, Venus invites comparisons with Earth. While Earth convects in the plate tectonic regime, Venus' current and past tectonic states remain uncertain. Venus' impact crater distribution has led to competing models for its tectonic state, steady (e.g., stagnant lid) or catastrophic (e.g., episodic lid). Terrestrial geochemical evidence and geodynamic models suggest that planets may transition between tectonic states over time. Transitions can be triggered by increasing yield stress due to loss of water or by increasing surface temperature. Here, we revisit the classic endmember models of Venusian tectonics by modeling the transition from stable mobile lid convection into a stable stagnant lid in 3D spherical geometry. Transitions between states are governed by both regional and global scale instabilities, resulting in oscillations in heat flux, velocity, and magma production over Gyr time scales. The thermal and tectonic evolution of a convectively transitioning planet is neither catastrophic nor steady. Volcanism and tectonic yielding may be non-global in nature. At any given time, portions of the planetary surface may reflect apparently different styles of convection, with some regions being highly active and other regions being sluggish and inactive. For Venus, the implications are that global melt production and resurfacing are a natural consequence of lid-state evolution, without needing ad hoc resurfacing mechanisms which rely on a single governing lid-state. Geologic evidence suggests that the transition from mobile lid to stagnant lid is still on-going. Venus may have lost liquid surface water in the last third of its history. Plain Language Summary Given broad similarities, Venus naturally invites comparisons withthe Earth, yet Venus' surface reveals a world strikingly different. Mantle convection on Earth is linked to plate tectonics, but the current tectonic state of Venus is hotly debated. The distribution of impact craters on Venus' vast volcanic plans have been used to generate two endmember tectonic models: a steady single plate with waning melt production over time, or a catastrophic overturn model with strong, short-lived melting events. Here, we explore a change in tectonic regimes for Venus triggered by either loss of water or increasing surface temperature. Transitions in regimes are highly disruptive with significant changes in surface motions, mantle temperatures, melt production, and heat flow. These disruptive events can be restricted to hemispheric or sub-hemispheric regions, indicating that different portions of the planet may record apparently contrasting tectonic regimes. Such a transition between tectonic regimes is neither steady nor catastrophic, and it naturally results in punctuated resurfacing and melting events. This can explain many puzzling aspects of Venus' geologic evolution within the framework of a single evolutionary model.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

The Physics of Changing Tectonic Regimes: Implications for the Temporal Evolution of Mantle Convection and the Thermal History of Venus

Weller

Kiefer

2020

JGR Planets

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In contrast, upwelling may accomplish crustal thickening and plateau formation through magmatic underplating above a laterally spreading hot plume Phillips et al 1991;Hansen & Willis 1998;Phillips & Hansen 1998;. The latter hypothesis is consistent with the evidence of low-density felsic rocks within crustal plateaux (Basilevsky et al , 2012Nikolaeva et al 1992;Jull & Arkani-Hamed 1995;ArkaniHamed 1996;Hashimoto et al 2008;Helbert et al 2008;Mueller et al 2008;Harris & Bédard 2014a), which could have been generated by hightemperature plumes in an earlier, wetter environment on Venus (McGill et al 2010;Shellnutt 2013). Upwelling in response to bouyant melt formed by the impact of large bolides (c. 20 -30 km in diameter) may have contributed to the formation of crustal plateaux and tesserated terrain (Hansen 2006).…”

Section: Tectonicssupporting

confidence: 52%

“…These structures have been interpreted as linear zones of mantle upwelling and lithospheric extension, in several cases punctuated by single plumes or plume clusters manifest as volcanic rises, shield volcanoes, coronae and radiating graben-fissure systems (e.g. Schaber 1982;Head & Crumpler 1987;Hansen & Phillips 1993;Baer et al 1994;Hamilton & Stofan 1996;Aittola & Kostama 2000;Magee & Head 2001;Stofan et al 2001;Krassilnikov & Head 2003;Harris & Bédard 2014a). On the basis of structural observations and gravitational data, further major extensional rifts have been proposed to follow plains' depressions that were later covered by volcanic materials (Sullivan & Head 1984;Harris & Bédard 2014b).…”

Section: Tectonicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On a planet dominated by vertical tectonism and characterized by widely distributed deformations, there is no space for strikeslip shear belts that have traditionally been highly underconsidered on Venus (e.g. Solomon 1993;McGill et al 2010) despite the apparently straightforward evidence collected so far (Raitala 1994;Brown & Grimm 1995;Ansan et al 1996;Koenig & Aydin 1998;Tuckwell & Ghail 2003;Kumar 2005;Romeo et al 2005;Chetty et al 2010;Fernàndez et al 2010;Harris & Bédard 2014a, b). For example, Brown & Grimm (1995) highlighted en echelon fractures and folds along and within Artemis Chasma.…”

Section: Tectonicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Volcanism and tectonism across the inner solar system: an overview

Platz

Byrne

Massironi

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Volcanism and tectonism are the dominant endogenic means by which planetary surfaces change. This book, in general, and this overview, in particular, aim to encompass the broad range in character of volcanism, tectonism, faulting and associated interactions observed on planetary bodies across the inner solar system -a region that includes Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Mars and asteroids. The diversity and breadth of landforms produced by volcanic and tectonic processes are enormous, and vary across the inventory of inner solar system bodies. As a result, the selection of prevailing landforms and their underlying formational processes that are described and highlighted in this review are but a primer to the expansive field of planetary volcanism and tectonism. In addition to this extended introductory contribution, this Special Publication features 21 dedicated research articles about volcanic and tectonic processes manifest across the inner solar system. Those articles are summarized at the end of this review.

show abstract

“…Regime diagrams by Foley et al (2012) show that systems exhibit stagnant lid or mobile lid convection based on damage number, healing number, plate strength and Rayleigh number (Ra). The development of models to buttress limited observations of spatially far off planets works equally well in supporting limited information about Earth in times past (Griffin et al, 2014;Harris et al, 2014;Johnson et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%