A Lagrangian Particle Finite Element scheme is presented which is suited to problems in which material composition and history must be tracked through very large deformations associated with creeping fluid flow. The method is applied to large-scale geodynamic modeling in which some parts of the system are actively convecting which others remain nearly stagnant. Introduction Geology records the ...

Plate tectonics was originally established as a kinematic theory of global tectonics, in which the Earth’s rigid outer layer, lithosphere, consists different size plates that move relative to each other along divergent, convergent or transform boundaries overlying ductile asthenosphere. It comprises three elements: lithosphere plates, asthenosphere, and coupled movement systems. operates throug...

New concepts related to the mobility of the earth's crust have focused attention on the Red Sea area. Anyone familiar with the geographic outline of western Arabia and northeast Africa is struck by the apparent jig-saw fit that appears possible in closing the Red Sea. Indeed, the modern paradigm of plate tectonics would have the Arabian Peninsula drifting away from the African continent. Consid...

We describe how we use models of mantle dynamics to understand and test the controls and effects of plate tectonics, such as ocean basin volume, magma production and the formation of natural resources. Numerical modeling and geological ground-truthing were incorporated to test the hypothesis that vertical motion of the Australian continental plate, as observed from sediments deposited during a ...

Subducting lithospheric plates are the cool, downwelling limbs of mantle convection and the negative buoyancy of subducting slabs (slab pull) drives plate tectonics [Forsyth and Uyeda, 1975]. Subduction zones are regions of intense earthquake activity, explosive volcanism, and complex mass transfer between the crust, mantle, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. In this contribution, I present subductio...

The Hawaiian-Emperor hotspot track has a prominent bend, which has served as the basis for the theory that the Hawaiian hotspot, fixed in the deep mantle, traced a change in plate motion. However, paleomagnetic and radiometric age data from samples recovered by ocean drilling define an age-progressive paleolatitude history, indicating that the Emperor Seamount trend was principally formed by th...