Understanding of secular evolution of the Earth system is based largely on the rock and
mineral archive preserved in the continental lithosphere. Based on the frequency and range …

The formation and preservation of cratons—the oldest parts of the continents, comprising
over 60 per cent of the continental landmass—remains an enduring problem. Key to craton …

If we accept that a critical condition for plate tectonics is the creation and maintenance of a
global network of narrow boundaries separating multiple plates, then to argue for plate …

On the contemporary Earth, distinct plate tectonic settings are characterized by differences in
heat flow that are recorded in metamorphic rocks as differences in apparent thermal …

The Earth as a planetary system has experienced significant change since its formation c.
4.54 Gyr ago. Some of these changes have been gradual, such as secular cooling of the …

Plate tectonics, involving a globally linked system of lateral motion of rigid surface plates, is
a characteristic feature of our planet, but estimates of how long it has been the modus …

Kimberlite magmatism has occurred in cratonic regions on every continent. The global age
distribution suggests that this form of mantle melting has been more prominent after 1.2 Ga …

The lithosphere, as the outermost solid layer of our planet, preserves a progressively more
fragmentary record of geological events and processes from Earth's history the further back …

Plate tectonics was originally established as a kinematic theory of global tectonics, in which
the Earth's rigid outer layer, the lithosphere, consists of different size plates that move …

One of the key scientific questions about diamonds is “how are they formed?” To answer this
question, we need to know the diamond-forming reactions and the physicochemical …