Plate tectonics is one of the major factors affecting the potential habitability of a terrestrial planet. The physics of plate tectonics is, however, still far from being complete, leading to considerable uncertainty when discussing planetary habitability. Here, I summarize recent developments on the evolution of plate tectonics on Earth, which suggest a radically new view on Earth dynamics: co...

The long-wavelength geoid and topography are dynamic effects of a convecting mantle. The long-wavelength geoid of the Earth is controlled by density variations in the mantle and has been explained by circulation models involving whole mantle flow. However, the relationship of long-wavelength topography to mantle circulation has been a puzzling problem in geodynamics. We show that the dynamic to...

[1] The ‘‘transition zone water filter’’ model of mantle convection attempts to reconcile geochemical evidence for isolated mantle reservoirs with geophysical evidence for whole mantle circulation by decoupling incompatible elements from bulk mantle circulation via a melt layer above the 410 km discontinuity. This would result in a stratified heating distribution similar to layered convection m...

T solid inner core (Fig. 1) is the most remote and enigmatic part of our planet, and, next to the crust, is the smallest ‘‘official’’ subdivision of Earth’s interior. It was discovered in 1936 (1), and by 1972 it was established that it was solid, albeit with a very small rigidity (2–4). By 1993 it had been established that it was crystalline (5). The inner core is isolated from the rest of Ear...

The Lunar cratering record is consistent with the occurrence of a late heavy bombardment (LHB), which marked the end of terrestrial planet accretion 3.8 billion years ago. However, clear evidence of a LHB on Earth has not yet been identified. Based on a volatile budget of the terrestrial mantle, the atmosphere and hydrosphere we propose that the LHB did indeed occur on Earth and that we are bre...

Hydrogen-helium mixtures at conditions of Jupiter’s interior are studied with first-principles computer simulations. The resulting equation of state (EOS) implies that Jupiter possesses a central core of 14 – 18 Earth masses of heavier elements, a result that supports core accretion as standard model for the formation of hydrogen-rich giant planets. Our nominal model has about 2 Earth masses of...

Komatiites from Alexo and Pyke Hill in the Archean Abitibi greenstone belt provide petrological evidence for an early Earth carbon and water cycle, ingassing in the cool Hadean and outgassing in the hot Archean. The komatiites have SiO2 contents that are lower than those expected of advanced volatile-free melting of mantle peridotite. The SiO2 misfit cannot be plausibly accounted for by variati...

The past two decades have witnessed tremendous progress in seismological, geodynamical, geomagnetic, and mineral physics efforts to quantify deep Earth processes. Our understanding of structures and processes in the lowermost mantle has advanced accordingly, and there is now widespread agreement that some form of major thermo-chemical boundary layer (TCBL) exists on the mantle side of the core-...

Three-dimensional, spherical models of mantle convection in the earth reveal that upwelling cylindrical plumes and downwelling planar sheets are the primary features of mantle circulation. Thus, subduction zones and descending sheetlike slabs in the mantle are fundamental characteristics of thermal convection in a spherical shell and are not merely the consequences of the rigidity of the slabs,...

We explore the nonlinear dynamics of a forced core-mantle system. We show that the free axisymmetric motion of a uniform-vorticity Ñuid core coupled to a rigid mantle (the model) is Poincare -Hough integrable. We derive an approximate Hamiltonian for the core tilt mode that includes the leading nonlinear contribution. We then include gravitational perturbations in the analysis. We identify the...