TY - JOUR
T1 - Supercontinents
T2 - Myths, mysteries, and milestones
AU - Pastor-Galán, Daniel
AU - Nance, R. Damian
AU - Murphy, J. Brendan
AU - Spencer, Christopher J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding DPG is funded by a JSPS fellowship to overseas researchers (P16329) and a MEXT/JSPS KAKENHI grant (JP16F16329). RDN acknowledges ongoing support from Ohio University. JBM acknowledges the continuing support of NSERC Canada and a Hadyn Williams Fellowship at Curtin University. This work is a contribution to IGCP 648 (Supercontinent Cycles & Global Geodynamics).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - There is an emerging consensus that Earth’s landmasses amalgamate quasi-periodically into supercontinents, interpreted to be rigid super-plates essentially lacking tectonically active inner boundaries and showing little internal lithosphere–mantle interactions. The formation and disruption of supercontinents have been linked to changes in sea-level, biogeochemical cycles, global climate change, continental margin sedimentation, large igneous provinces, deep mantle circulation, outer core dynamics and Earth’s magnetic field. If these hypotheses are correct, long-term mantle dynamics and much of the geological record, including the distribution of natural resources, may be largely controlled by these cycles. Despite their potential importance, however, many of these proposed links are, to date, permissive rather than proven. Sufficient data are not yet available to verify or fully understand the implications of the supercontinent cycle. Recent advances in many fields of geoscience provide clear directions for investigating the supercontinent cycle hypothesis and its corollaries but they need to be vigorously pursued if these far-reaching ideas are to be substantiated.
AB - There is an emerging consensus that Earth’s landmasses amalgamate quasi-periodically into supercontinents, interpreted to be rigid super-plates essentially lacking tectonically active inner boundaries and showing little internal lithosphere–mantle interactions. The formation and disruption of supercontinents have been linked to changes in sea-level, biogeochemical cycles, global climate change, continental margin sedimentation, large igneous provinces, deep mantle circulation, outer core dynamics and Earth’s magnetic field. If these hypotheses are correct, long-term mantle dynamics and much of the geological record, including the distribution of natural resources, may be largely controlled by these cycles. Despite their potential importance, however, many of these proposed links are, to date, permissive rather than proven. Sufficient data are not yet available to verify or fully understand the implications of the supercontinent cycle. Recent advances in many fields of geoscience provide clear directions for investigating the supercontinent cycle hypothesis and its corollaries but they need to be vigorously pursued if these far-reaching ideas are to be substantiated.
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U2 - 10.1144/SP470.16
DO - 10.1144/SP470.16
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85076497667
VL - 470
SP - 39
EP - 64
JO - Geological Society Special Publication
JF - Geological Society Special Publication
SN - 0305-8719
IS - 1
ER -