Session outline

Solid Earth Sciences(S) Session Sub Category Science of the Earth's Interior & Tectonophysics(IT) Session ID S-IT05 Title Cause and evolution of plate tectonics: Advances in understanding oceanic plate-continental systems Short title Cause and evolution of plate tectonics Convener Name Thorsten Becker Affiliation Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California Co-convener 1. Name John Hernlund Affiliation Earth-Life Science Institute Co-convener 2. Name Takashi Nakagawa Affiliation JAMSTEC/IFREE International Symposium 'International Symposium' in addition to Scientific session. Language English Scope Plate tectonics is moderately well described by the behavior of a cold thermal boundary layer in thermal convection. However, Earth's thermal evolution is co-determined by fractionation and the resulting complexities of a thermo-chemical system. The recent years have seen dramatic advances in our ability to quantitatively model the behavior of such a system, and there has also been a resurgence in the analysis of geological, geophysical, and geochemical constraints on plate tectonics over time. We invite contributions from across the disciplines that speak to the question on how and why plate tectonics operates on terrestrial planets, including but not limited to: modeling studies of plate generation; convection studies including continental cycles; plate tectonic reconstruction analysis; geochemical reservoir evolution; stochastic and deterministic models of mantle structure; deep mantle phase transition dynamics;basal magma ocean dynamics; thermo-chemical pile dynamics; links between solid Earth and exosphere;continent formation and destruction; and long term volatile cycles. Type of presentation Oral and Poster presentation Invited papers