A paper just published in Nature Geoscience, and led by Illinois Geology team Jiashun Hu, Lijun Liu, Quan Zhou, Craig Lundstrom, and Stephen Marshak, in collaboration with Manuele Faccenda of the University of Padova and Karen Fischer of Brown University, highlights that geology activity within stable portions of Earth's uppermost layer may have occurred more recently than previously believed. These findings challenge some of today's leading theories regarding plate tectonics.
Cratonic lithosphere with a high density root undergoes delamination when perturbed by mantle plumes from beneath. The removed cratonic root then thermally grows back, with its rock fabrics preserving recent mantle deformation.
See the full story on the Illinois News Bureau and the paper at Nature Geoscience