Premium
Plate tectonics and the evolution of climate
Author(s) -
Sleep Norman H.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/95rg00126
Subject(s) - geology , earth science , subduction , plate tectonics , tectonics , oceanic crust , island arc , crust , atmosphere (unit) , back arc basin , erosion , paleontology , physics , thermodynamics
Recent work has shown that climate, life, and tectonics interact in ways that are sometimes profound yet not obvious. I review two better understood terrestrial examples in this paper. First, the development of compressional orogens is strongly influenced by climate in that the extent of erosion determines whether high or low mountain ranges develop. Second, global geochemical processes are strongly influenced by tectonics and climate. For example, the build‐up of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere has been aided by deposit of organic‐rich sediments in new ocean basins which prevented reaction of the oxygen with the reduced products of photosynthesis. The volume of the ocean depends on the extent to which water is subducted within the oceanic crust and sediments and on the extent which this water is returned to the surface at island arcs. Studies of island arc lavas erupted in deep water and 10 Be indicate that water and sediments are actually subducted to great depths and are a significant component in island arc volcanics.