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Did a change in tectonic regime occur between the Phanerozoic and earlier Epochs?

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Abstract

A compilation of palaeogeographical maps of the Neo Proterozoic (Ptz) and Phanerozoic (Pz) 0.6 Ga BP to the present is analyzed in the terms of the (a) ratio between continental to oceanic crust areas (in short continent-to-ocean ratio), (b) length of spreading centres and (c) length of subduction zones. The variation of these tectonic processes is then compared to the variations occurred during the Archean (Arc 3.8–2.5 Ga BP) and Proterozoic (Ptz 2.5–0.54 Ga BP). The discussion takes the geomagnetic field and changes in length of the day (LOD) into account as well. From the constancy of the continent-to-ocean ratio through Pz and from the small size of the continental area above sea level in Neoproterozoic it follows that at the border between Ptz and Pz there has been a large change of the length of the shelf zones. This change can explain contemporary change of the despinning rate from about 0.35 to about 1.79 ms/century. In general, our findings suggest a change in tectonic regime at the border between Ptz and Pz.

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Notes

  1. 1 Ga = 1 eon = 103 Ma = 109 years.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was completed in the framework of the bilateral project DFG-HAS 189 (“Study of the time dependent geophysical and geodetic processes”) funded by the German Research Foundation DFG and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences HAS. Financial support from the MIUR COFIN is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Seismological Observatory, Institute for Geodesy and Geophysics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Meredek 18, 112, Budapest, Hungary

    P. Varga

  2. Geodätisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 24/D, 70174, Stuttgart, Germany

    F. W. Krumm, E. W. Grafarend & N. Sneeuw

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università Sapienza, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    C. Doglioni

  4. Dipartimento di Matematica e Geoscienze, Università di Trieste, Via E. Weiss 1, 34128, Trieste, Italy

    G. Panza

  5. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata, 605 00143, Rome, Italy

    F. Riguzzi

  6. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 36, Nahimovski Prospect, Moscow, 117997, Russia

    A. A. Schreider

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  1. P. Varga
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  2. F. W. Krumm
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Correspondence to P. Varga.

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Varga, P., Krumm, F.W., Doglioni, C. et al. Did a change in tectonic regime occur between the Phanerozoic and earlier Epochs?. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 23, 139–148 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-012-0172-6

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