1. Background: Mid-Ocean Ridges and the oceanic lithosphere 2. Methods of study of the oceanic lithosphere 3. Components of the oceanic lithosphere and their physical properties 4. Structure of the oceanic lithosphere 4.1 ‘Homogeneous’ lithosphere 4.2 ‘Heterogeneous’ lithosphere 4.3 Hot Spot Influenced Lithosphere 4.4.Continent to Ocean Transition 5. Forming the oceanic lithosphere at the ridge...

Gravitational lithosphere removal in continental interior has been inferred from various observations, including anomalous surface deflections and magmatism. We use numerical models and a simplified theoretical analysis to investigate how lithosphere removal can be recognized in the magmatic record. One style of removal is a Rayleigh-Taylor-type instability, where removal occurs through drippin...

[1] Surface topography and associated gravity anomalies above a layer resembling continental lithosphere, whose mantle part is gravitationally unstable, depend strongly on the ratio of viscosities of the lower-density crustal part to that of the mantle part. For linear stability analysis, growth rates of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities depend largely on the wave number, or wavelength, of the pert...

The Re-Os isotope system is increasingly providing new insight into continental dynamics due to the fact that it is the only radiogenic isotope system that provides information on melt depletion events (hence lithosphere formation) in the uppermost mantle. Here we review application of the ReOs isotopic system to dating melt depletion in peridotites. In particular, we highlight examples of how ...

We review both present and past motions at major plate boundaries, which have the horizontal component in average 10 to 100 times faster (10–100 mm/yr) than the vertical component (0.01–1 mm/yr) in all geodynamic settings. The steady faster horizontal velocity of the lithosphere with respect to the upward or downward velocities at plate 5 boundaries supports dominating tangential forces acting ...

We propose a mechanism previously developed as a hypothetical cause of the initiation of subduction in the Earth's mantle, to describe a situation where such subduction may occur transiently, at irregular intervals of time. It has been suggested that tectonics on Venus may be described by such a scenario. In our model, a subduction event is followed by resumption of high Rayleigh number mantle ...

The stretching and break-up of tectonic plates by rifting control the evolution of continents and oceans, but the processes by which lithosphere deforms and accommodates strain during rifting remain enigmatic. Using scattering of teleseismic shear waves beneath rifted zones and adjacent areas in Southern California, we resolve the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary and lithospheric thickness va...

Teleseismic tomography across the Chinese Tien Shan shows that seismic wave speeds in the lithosphere beneath central Tien Shan are high and therefore the lithosphere is not weaker than that beneath the adjacent undeformed Tarim and Junggar basins. There is evidence for significant velocity contrasts within the lithosphere that are presumably inherited from the Palaeozoic collision history. The...

[1] The development of transient thermal stress in suboceanic mantle is investigated on the basis of two-dimensional thermoviscoelastic models incorporating composite rheology appropriate for dry oceanic lithosphere. Thermal stress is shown to be sufficiently high to deeply fracture the coldest part of lithosphere, e.g., to the depth of at least 30 km (and possibly down to 50 km) in 100-Ma-old ...

I discuss thermal, rheological and compositional definitions of the Earth’s lithosphere and describe the data that can be brought to bear in refining these definitions. Models of the behaviour of the lithosphere are useful in describing such diverse effects as continental basin subsidence, the flexural response to imposed loads such as seamounts or sediment accumulations, the partial melting of...