Understanding planetary-scale reorganisations in plate tectonics

This project aims to understand the causes of global tectonics reorganisations. The Earth’s tectonics follows regular cycles, in every ~500 million years, of continents aggregation and dispersal, which are intervened by periodic destabilisation and rapid reorganisations. Exactly what causes the reorganisations and reversal of the tectonics remain standing questions in planetary dynamics. This project plans to investigate the dynamics of Earth’s tectonics and its plate motions, with the aim of elucidating the mechanisms that force single plates or whole-Earth motions’ changes. The anticipated outcomes of this project will provide an understanding of the recent supercontinent formation and its fragmentation into the present-day continents.