earth's interior heat is the engine that powers plate techtonics theory of movement.
earth's interior heat is the engine that powers plate techtonics theory of movement.
earth's interior heat is the engine that powers what theory of movement?
plate techtonics
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external sources of planetary heat (namely, radiation from a planet's host star) can have drastic effects on geodynamic regime. with all other variables held constant, an earth-sized exoplanet with a surface temperature of 273 k will evolve over its geological lifetime from a plate tectonic regime, to episodic periods of plate tectonics interspersed with stagnant lid geodynamics, to a terminal stagnant lid phase as interior heat is exhausted. meanwhile, a “hot” planet (759 k surface temperature) under the same initial conditions will have an amorphous surface (due to lithospheric yield stress being constantly exceeded) to a stagnant lid as interior heat is exhausted, with no plate tectonics observed.
geodynamics of terrestrial exoplanets