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Introducing ProAc (www.fabiocrameri.ch/proac), an incentive-creating, multi-metric academic profile. ProAc allows to profile academics based on not just one, but a selection of elaborate metrics. It aims to reduce unnecessary competition between academics and current ranking biases, and foster high-quality, instead of high-quantity, research., ProAc is a pro-bono effort for the greater good of academia. Any support (for example via donating a coffee via www.fabiocrameri.ch/proac) is very welcome. – Fabio, {"references":["Crameri, Fabio. (2023). ProAc visual academic profile (0.1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7691086"]}

Academia evaluation is currently done by rankingacademics, mainlyon the basison one single, flawed number, the h-index.ProAc (www.fabiocrameri.ch/proac),a data-based, visual toolbox that allows to profile academics based on not just one, but a selection of elaborate metrics. Crucially, this will reduce unnecessary competition between academics and current ranking biases, and foster high-quality, instead of high-quantity, research.

Geodynamic modelling provides a powerful tool to investigate processes in the Earth's crust, mantle, and core that are not directly observable. However, numerical models are inherently subject to the assumptions and simplifications on which they are based. In order to use and review numerical modelling studies appropriately, one needs to be aware of the limitations of geodynamic modelling as well as its advantages. Here, we present a comprehensive yet concise overview of the geodynamic modelling process applied to the solid Earth from the choice of governing equations to numerical methods, model setup, model interpretation, and the eventual communication of the model results. We highlight best practices and discuss their implementations including code verification, model validation, internal consistency checks, and software and data management. Thus, with this perspective, we encourage high-quality modelling studies, fair external interpretation, and sensible use of published work. We provide ample examples, from lithosphere and mantle dynamics specifically, and point out synergies with related fields such as seismology, tectonophysics, geology, mineral physics, planetary science, and geodesy. We clarify and consolidate terminology across geodynamics and numerical modelling to set a standard for clear communication of modelling studies. All in all, this paper presents the basics of geodynamic modelling for first-time and experienced modellers, collaborators, and reviewers from diverse backgrounds to (re)gain a solid understanding of geodynamic modelling as a whole.

Academia currently ranks academics and the ranking is mainly based on one single, flawed number, the h-index. This proposal suggest to move forward toProAc (www.fabiocrameri.ch/proac),a data-based, visual toolbox that allows to profile academics based on not just one, but a selection of elaborate indices. Crucially, this will reduce unnecessary competition between academics and current ranking biases, and foster high-quality, instead of high-quantity, research. And it will provide funding to a keen academic. Support this project, and its PI, here.

Plate tectonics is the root concept underpinning our current knowledge of how Earth's internal dynamics are linked to geologic deformation at the surface. Since the discovery of plate tectonics in the 1960s, geoscientists have developed a first-order understanding of a plate system in which the Earth's surface is broken into about a dozen mostly rigid tectonic plates that move relative to each other at speeds of a few centimeter per year. The boundaries of these plates accommodate diverging, converging, and lateral motions, and are associated with surface features such as rift zones, mountain belts, faults, earthquakes, and volcanoes. The motions of the plates can be detected geodetically, described kinematically, and reconstructed back in time. This descriptive understanding of Earth's surface deformation is now recognized as the surface expression of a larger, dynamic framework of mantle convection. Gravity acting on density variations within Earth's interior generates broad-scale flow of the mantle, which mainly drives, but can also resist, the horizontal plate motions at the surface. Within this system, oceanic plates originate from and are recycled back into the mantle, forming a dynamic cycle captured by the recently described “ocean-plate tectonics” concept. This intimate relationship between surface and internal dynamics appears to be unique to the Earth, as it is clearly different from the modes of mantle convection inferred for other rocky planetary bodies within our solar system. Earth's unique interplay between its interior and surface shapes our planet's morphology and recycles its volatiles to produce the lively and life-bearing planet that Earth has become. How ocean-plate tectonics started, how it has repeatedly opened and closed ocean basins, assembled and dispersed supercontinents, and initiated and terminated fault systems, and how it continues to operate today are still major open questions. New techniques for studying Earth's interior dynamics, new possibilities for comparing Earth to other freshly understood or recently detected planetary bodies, and new unifying concepts like ocean-plate tectonics bode well for future resolution of the remaining mysteries surrounding plate tectonics today.

The long-wavelength surface deflection of Earth's outermost rocky shell is mainly controlled by large-scale dynamic processes like isostasy or mantle flow. The largest topographic amplitudes are therefore observed at plate boundaries due to the presence of large thermal heterogeneities and strong tectonic forces. Distinct vertical surface deflections are particularly apparent at convergent plate boundaries mostly due to the convergence and asymmetric sinking of the plates. Having a mantle convection model with a free surface that is able to reproduce both realistic single-sided subduction and long-wavelength surface topography self-consistently, we are now able to better investigate this interaction. We separate the topographic signal into distinct features and quantify the individual topographic contribution of several controlling subduction parameters. Results are diagnosed by splitting the topographic signal into isostatic and residual components, and by considering various physical aspects like viscous dissipation during plate bending. Performing several systematic suites of experiments, we are then able to quantify the topographic impact of the buoyancy, rheology, and geometry of the subduction-zone system to each and every topographic feature at a subduction zone and to provide corresponding scaling laws. We identify slab dip and, slightly less importantly, slab buoyancy as the major agents controlling surface topography at subduction zones on Earth. Only the island-arc high and the back-arc depression extent are mainly controlled by plate strength. Overall, his modeling study sets the basis to better constrain deep-seated mantle structures and their physical properties via the observed surface topography on present-day Earth and back through time. © 2017 American Geophysical Union