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Individual sinking slabs present markedly different geometries between 410 and 660 km depths, from vertical slabs penetrating the lower mantle to slabs stagnating above the lower mantle. The proposed factors determining these contrasted geometries include mantle viscosity and the magnitude and evolution of trench retreat. Here, we assess the success of paleo‐geographically driven global mantle flow models in matching slabs in tomographic models between 400 km and 1,000 km depth. We quantify the spatial match between predicted present‐day mantle temperature anomalies and vote maps of tomographic models. We investigate the sensitivity of the spatial match to input parameters of the mantle flow model: imposed tectonic reconstruction, model start age, and viscosity contrast between the upper and lower mantle. We evaluate the visual match between model slabs and tomographic vote maps for three circum‐Pacific regions with contrasted slab dip angles between 400 km and 1,000 km depth. Predicted model slabs better match slabs inferred from tomography when there is an increase in viscosity at 660 km depth. The temporal evolution of the models and the global match at present day suggest that the subduction history could be refined in the global tectonic reconstructions that we considered. For example, we suggest that the subduction to the east of Japan should be offset by approximately 100 km to the west at ∼80 Ma to match the anchoring of a continuous slab into the lower mantle suggested by tomography. Plain Language Summary: Oceanic lithosphere is recycled as sinking slabs into Earth's mantle, and the analysis of global earthquake data compiled in tomographic models has revealed that the dip angle of slabs varies between regions. In this manuscript, we analyze the geometry of mantle slabs predicted by forward models of past global mantle flow that follow imposed surface tectonic motions. We present some of the first quantifications of the spatial match between the present‐day mantle temperature predicted by reconstructions of past global mantle flow and that imaged by global tomographic models. Few studies have quantified this match and clearly exposed it spatially. We quantify the match between the upper mantle slabs predicted by these models and those inferred from a series of tomographic models. We show that the models successfully reproduce the steeply dipping Mariana slab and stagnating Western Pacific slab under Japan and the intermediate geometry of the Farallon and Nazca slabs under South America. We find that trench retreat is the main driver of the geometry of these slabs. Our results suggest that the geometry of slabs can be used to refine global tectonic reconstructions and to calibrate the viscosity contrast between the upper and lower mantle in global mantle flow models. Key Points: We quantitatively compare slab locations in mantle flow and tomographic modelsTrench retreat and mantle viscosity influence the location of sinking slabsOur comparison indicates where global tectonic reconstructions could be improved [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heat flux across the core–mantle boundary (CMB) is a fundamental variable for Earth evolution and internal dynamics. Seismic tomography provides access to seismic heterogeneities in the lower mantle, which can be related to present-day thermal heterogeneities. Alternatively, mantle convection models can be used to either infer past CMB heat flux or to produce statistically realistic CMB heat flux patterns in self-consistent models. Mantle dynamics modifies the inertia tensor of the Earth, which implies a rotation of the Earth with respect to its spin axis, a phenomenon called true polar wander (TPW). This rotation must be taken into account to link the dynamics of the mantle to the dynamics of the core. In this study, we explore the impact of TPW on the CMB heat flux over long timescales (∼1 Gyr) using two recently published mantle convection models: one model driven by a plate reconstruction and a second that self-consistently produces a plate-like behaviour. We compute the geoid in both models to correct for TPW. In the plate-driven model, we compute a total geoid and a geoid in which lateral variations of viscosity and density are suppressed above 350 km depth. An alternative to TPW correction is used for the plate-driven model by simply repositioning the model in the original paleomagnetic reference frame of the plate reconstruction. The average TPW rates range between 0.4 and 1.8° Myr -1 , but peaks up to 10° Myr -1 are observed. We find that in the plate-driven mantle convection model used in this study, the maximum inertia axis produced by the model does not show a long-term consistency with the position of the magnetic dipole inferred from paleomagnetism. TPW plays an important role in redistributing the CMB heat flux, notably at short timescales (≤10 Myr). Those rapid variations modify the latitudinal distribution of the CMB heat flux, which is known to affect the stability of the magnetic dipole in geodynamo simulations. A principal component analysis (PCA) is computed to obtain the dominant CMB heat flux pattern in the different cases. These heat flux patterns are representative of the mantle convection cases studied here and can be used as boundary conditions for geodynamo models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pace of scientific discovery is being transformed by the availability of 'big data' and open access, open source software tools. These innovations open up new avenues for how scientists communicate and share data and ideas with each other and with the general public. Here, we describe our efforts to bring to life our studies of the Earth system, both at present day and through deep geological time. The GPlates Portal (portal.gplates.org) is a gateway to a series of virtual globes based on the Cesium Javascript library. The portal allows fast interactive visualization of global geophysical and geological data sets, draped over digital terrain models. The globes use WebGL for hardware-accelerated graphics and are cross-platform and cross-browser compatible with complete camera control. The globes include a visualization of a high-resolution global digital elevation model and the vertical gradient of the global gravity field, highlighting small-scale seafloor fabric such as abyssal hills, fracture zones and seamounts in unprecedented detail. The portal also features globes portraying seafloor geology and a global data set of marine magnetic anomaly identifications. The portal is specifically designed to visualize models of the Earth through geological time. These space-time globes include tectonic reconstructions of the Earth's gravity and magnetic fields, and several models of long-wavelength surface dynamic topography through time, including the interactive plotting of vertical motion histories at selected locations. The globes put the on-the-fly visualization of massive data sets at the fingertips of end-users to stimulate teaching and learning and novel avenues of inquiry.

Heat flux across the core-mantle boundary (CMB) is an important variable of Earth's thermal evolution and dynamics. Seismic tomography provides access to seismic heterogeneities in the lower mantle, which can be related to present-day thermal heterogeneities. Alternatively, mantle convection models can be used to either infer past CMB heat flux or to produce statistically realistic CMB heat flux patterns in self-consistent models. Mantle dynamics modifies the inertia tensor of the Earth, which implies a rotation of the Earth with respect to its spin axis, a phenomenon called true polar wander (TPW). This rotation must be taken into account to link the dynamics of the mantle to the dynamics of the core. In this study, we use two recently published mantle convection models to explore the impact of TPW on the CMB heat flux over long timescales (~ 1 Gyr). One of the mantle convection models is driven by a plate reconstruction, while the other self-consistently produces a plate-like behavior. We compute the geoid in both models to correct for TPW. In the plate-driven model, we compute a total geoid and a geoid in which lateral variations of viscosity and temperature are suppressed above 350 km depth. We show that TPW plays an important role in redistributing the CMB heat flux, notably at short time scales (≤ 10 Myr). Those rapid variations modify the latitudinal distribution of the CMB heat flux, which is known to affect the stability of the magnetic dipole in geodynamo simulations. A principal component analysis (PCA) is computed to obtain the dominant CMB heat flux pattern in the different cases. These heat flux patterns can be used as boundary conditions for geodynamo models as representative of the mantle convection cases studied here. We note that the geoids produced by the two models are widely different from each other and from the observed present-day geoid. Work thus still needs to be done to improve the computation of the geoid in mantle convection models related to plate-tectonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Author(s): Rakib Hassan (corresponding author) [1]; R. Dietmar Mller [1]; Michael Gurnis [2]; Simon E. Williams [1]; Nicolas Flament [1] Volcanic hotspot tracks featuring linear progressions in the age of [...]

Stresses acting on cold, thick and negatively buoyant oceanic lithosphere are thought to be crucial to the initiation of subduction and the operation of plate tectonics (1,2), which characterizes the present-day geodynamics of the Earth. Because the Earth's interior was hotter in the Archaean eon, the oceanic crust may have been thicker, thereby making the oceanic lithosphere more buoyant than at present (3), and whether subduction and plate tectonics occurred during this time is ambiguous, both in the geological record and in geodynamic models (4). Here we show that because the oceanic crust was thick and buoyant (5), early continents may have produced intra-lithospheric gravitational stresses large enough to drive their gravitational spreading, to initiate subduction at their margins and to trigger episodes of subduction. Our model predicts the co-occurrence of deep to progressively shallower mafic volcanics and arc magmatism within continents in a self-consistent geodynamic framework, explaining the enigmatic multimodal volcanism and tectonic record of Archaean cratons (6). Moreover, our model predicts a petrological stratification and tectonic structure of the sub-continental lithospheric mantle, two predictions that are consistent with xenolith (5) and seismic studies, respectively, and consistent with the existence of a mid-lithospheric seismic discontinuity (7). The slow gravitational collapse of early continents could have kick-started transient episodes of plate tectonics until, as the Earth's interior cooled and oceanic lithosphere became heavier, plate tectonics became self-sustaining., Present-day plate tectonics is primarily driven by the negative buoyancy of cold subducting plates. Petrological and geochemical proxies of subduction preserved in early continents point to subduction-like processes already operating [...]

During the Paleozoic, sedimentary basins developed within Gondwana without evolving to diverging plate boundaries. Such intracontinental basins present long subsidence histories with multiple phases of accelerated subsidence that are not always easily explained by far-field tectonic forces, and may be driven by processes other than rifting and thermal subsidence. Here we investigate the subsidence of Paleozoic Australian intracontinental basins by comparing one-dimensional backstripped tectonic subsidence histories from the western Australian Canning and Southern Carnarvon Basins and the central Australian Cooper Basin to forward subsidence models for pure shear lithospheric thinning. We make the hypothesis that differences between observed and model subsidence may be explained by mantle-flow driven topography, in addition to tectonic forces. To test this hypothesis, we compute dynamic topography from the first geodynamic models of mantle flow spanning the entire Phanerozoic Eon, and we analyse the relationship between dynamic topography and anomalous basin subsidence to dynamic topography and mantle flow. Although reconstructions of mantle flow in deep geological times are uncertain, our results suggest that long-wavelength dynamic topography could explain aspects of the complex tectonic histories intracontinental basins. In the presented reconstruction of mantle flow, topographic rebound following the sinking of a Cambrian aged slab resulted in a minor phase of dynamic uplift in the Cooper Basin in middle Permian times. Throughout Carboniferous-Triassic times Australia was positioned above a mantle upwelling driven by a hot structure at the base of the mantle. Structural uplift in the Canning and Southern Carnarvon basins during the Triassic-Jurassic interval was augmented by dynamic uplift produced by that large-scale upwelling, and possibly augmented by a focused active mantle plume during the Permo-Triassic. In Late Jurassic-Cretaceous times, Australia drifted east away from the mantle upwelling, resulting in a period of subsidence in the Canning and Southern Carnarvon basins. During the Cretaceous the Cooper Basin moved over a downwelling produced by long-lived subduction along the east Australian margin, resulting in a period of accelerated subsidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]