Triggering The End Of Plate Tectonics By Forced Climate Changes.

SPAGNUOLO, M. G; DOHM J.

Houston, Texas. Estados Unidos

Workshop; Workshop on Hemispheres Apart: The Origin and Modification of the Martian Crustal Dichotomy.; 2004

LPI

 Several investigators havesuggested that plate tectonics was an active process[1,2], recently proposed for extremely ancient Mars [3-6]. Based on the assumption that accretion andsubduction were active processes in the extremelyancient past, and plate tectonism ended in theformation of the southern cratered highlands [7], wepropose that the cratered highlands represents asupercontinent that formed through plate tectonism andthat  it had a significant influence on the subsequentevolution of the planet, which includes catastrophicglobal climate change. This work brings together someexogenic- and endogenic-derived evidences to proposea new global dynamic model.