Geophysicists uncover new evidence for an alternative style of plate tectonics November 28, 2017 When renowned University of Toronto (U of T) geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson cemented concepts in the emerging field of plate tectonics in the 1960s, he revolutionized the study of Earth's physical characteristics and behaviours. Decades later, successor researchers at U of T and Istanbul Technical University have determined that a series of volcanoes and a mountain plateau across central Turkey formed not solely by the collision of tectonic plates, but instead by a massive drip and then detachment of the lower tectonic plate beneath Earth's surface. The researchers propose that the reason the Central Anatolian (Turkish) Plateau has risen by as much as one kilometre over the past 10 million years is because the planet's crust and upper mantle - the lithosphere - has thickened and dripped below the region. As the lithosphere sank into the lower mantle, it first formed a basin at the surface, which later sprang up when the weight below broke off and sank further into the deeper depths of the mantle. Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-geophysicists-uncover-evidence-alternative-style.html#jCp ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01611-3 Drip tectonics and the enigmatic uplift of the Central Anatolian Plateau: Abstract Lithospheric drips have been interpreted for various regions around the globe to account for the recycling of the continental lithosphere and rapid plateau uplift. However, the validity of such hypothesis is not well documented in the context of geological, geophysical and petrological observations that are tested against geodynamical models. Here we propose that the folding of the Central Anatolian (Kırşehir) arc led to thickening of the lithosphere and onset of “dripping” of the arc root. Our geodynamic model explains the seismic data showing missing lithosphere and a remnant structure characteristic of a dripping arc root, as well as enigmatic >1 km uplift over the entire plateau, Cappadocia and Galatia volcanism at the southern and northern plateau margins since ~10 Ma, respectively. Models show that arc root removal yields initial surface subsidence that inverts >1 km of uplift as the vertical loading and crustal deformation change during drip evolution.
