HR: 1330h
AN: P12B-1061    [PDF]
TI: The feedback between planetary evolution, melt production and tectonic regimes
AU: Collier, M
AF: Rice University, Department of Earth Sciences, 6100 Main Street, MS 126, Houston, TX 77005 United States
AU: * O'Neill, C J
EM: craig@geosci.usyd.edu.au
AF: The University of Sydney, School of Geosciences, Building F05, Sydney,, NSW 2006 Australia
AU: Moresi, L
AF: School of Mathematical Sciences, Monash University, Building 28, Monash, VIC 3800 Australia
AU: Lenardic, A
AF: Rice University, Department of Earth Sciences, 6100 Main Street, MS 126, Houston, TX 77005 United States
AB: Earth appears unique among the terrestrial planets in possessing plate tectonics, an 'active-lid' mantle convection regime. Most other planets appear to be in a stagnant-lid regime, where the convective stresses due to mantle convection are unable to generate failure in the rigid surface boundary layer. Venus shows evidence for a catastrophic overturn event at ~750Ma, based on the cratering record. The tectonic regime of a planet, and the magnitude and distribution of heat production within it, are both factors in governing the internal temperatures, and subsequently melt production rates on the terrestrial planets. We use the Moresi and Solomatov (1998) failure criteria for brittle lithosphere, which is dependent on mantle temperatures, and boundary layer scalings for interior temperatures in internally heated systems to show a relationship between internal heat production and tectonic regime on the terrestrial planets. Crustal thickness variations also contribute to interior mantle temperatures in two ways: providing a heterogeneous surface boundary condition, and depleting the mantle of heat producing elements. We present two-phase convection simulations to show the conditions under which each of these two effects are dominant, and the effect they have on the melt production history of a planet.
DE: 5430 Interiors (8147)
DE: 5475 Tectonics (8149)
DE: 5480 Volcanism (8450)
DE: 6207 Comparative planetology
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting