澳大利亚莫纳什大学Prasanna M. Gunawardana及其研究组成员，在探究早期地球上地幔冷却与构造转换的关系中取得新进展。2024年1月12日出版的《地质学》杂志发表了这一最新研究成果。

研究人员在适合于太古宙时期地狱般的温度下，对地幔对流进行了二维数值模拟，结果表明地球上俯冲和裂谷系统可能是由早期的滴流，和裂谷主导的构造模式自发形成的，以响应地幔的长期冷却。地幔的冷却是由数亿年来反复发生的裂谷和滴流事件介导的。随着地幔冷却，其有效粘度以及岩石圈的厚度和强度增加，这有助于建立刚性板块并启动地球上的板块构造。

据了解，早期地球的主要构造模式(大约2.5 Ga以前)。)仍然令人难以捉摸，越来越多的证据表明，非板块构造模式在当时可能更为普遍。因此，板块构造在那之后是如何演变的这一话题仍然存在争议。

附：英文原文

Title: Correlating mantle cooling with tectonic transitions on early Earth

Author: Prasanna M. Gunawardana, Priyadarshi Chowdhury, Gabriele Morra, Peter A. Cawood

Issue&Volume: 2024-01-12

Abstract: The dominant tectonic mode operating on early Earth (before ca. 2.5 Ga) remains elusive, with an increasing body of evidence suggesting that non-plate tectonic modes were likely more prevalent at that time. Thus, how plate tectonics evolved after that remains contentious. We performed two-dimensional numerical modeling of mantle convection at temperatures appropriate for the HadeanArchean eons and show that subduction and rift systems may have spontaneously emerged on Earth from an earlier drip-and-riftdominated tectonic mode in response to the secular cooling of the mantle. This cooling of the mantle was mediated by repeated events of rifting and dripping that likely occurred over a few hundred million years. As the mantle cooled, its effective viscosity and the thickness and strength of the lithosphere increased, which helped establish rigid plates and initiate plate tectonics on Earth.

DOI: 10.1130/G51874.1

Source: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/doi/10.1130/G51874.1/632897/Correlating-mantle-cooling-with-tectonic