Plate Tectonics, the Wilson Cycle, and Mantle Plumes: Geodynamics from the Top

Abstract

By 1968, J. Tuzo Wilson had identified three basic elements of geodynamics: plate tectonics, mantle plumes of deep origin, and the Wilson Cycle of ocean opening and closing, which provides evidence of plate tectonic behavior in times before quantifiable plate rotations. My pre-1968 experience disposed me to try to play a part in testing these ideas. Most recently, with colleagues, I have been able to show that deep-seated plumes of the past ∼5.5 × 108 years have risen only from narrow plume generation zones (PGZs) at the core-mantle boundary (CMB) mostly on the edges of two Large Low Shear wave Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) that have been stable, antipodal, and equatorial in their present positions for hundreds of millions of years and perhaps much longer. A need now is to develop an understanding of Earth that embodies plate tectonics, deeply subducted slabs, and stable LLSVPs with plumes that rise from PGZs on the CMB.