WHAT would it take to jam a planet’s tectonics? It seems that a huge rise in atmospheric temperatures would do the trick, causing continents to grind to a halt, mountains to stop growing and earthquakes to cease.
On Earth, the motion of magma in the mantle pushes continental plates around on the surface, but if the magma became too hot and runny it would lose the grip needed to do this.
According to Adrian Lenardic of Rice University in Houston, Texas, and colleagues, a very hot atmosphere can trigger this effect by slowing heat loss from the mantle. The team’s…
