Conceptual illustration of different styles (regimes) of tectonics and mantle convection, which are relevant for rocky planets. A planet in “stagnant-lid” regime is covered by a single plate, without any plate boundaries and little to no surface motion. Today, this is likely the case for Mars. A planet evolving in a “heat-pipe” regime, such as Jupiter’s moon Io, is characterised by vertical channels through the lithosphere through which magma erupts to the surface in the form of volcanism. In a “mobile lid” style planet, the multiple cold surface plates are continuously in motion, often with differing (usually higher) velocities than the mantle below. Earth’s ocean-plate tectonics is a subcategory of such a mobile-lid regime, marked by narrow plate boundaries at which plates are either created or recycled back into the mantle. The “squishy-lid” regime is characterised by a strong surface plate that is regionally weakened and deformed by intrusive magmatism. Venus is commonly considered to be in a squishy-lid mantle regime.
- Creator: Anna Gülcher
- This version: 02.04.2023
- License: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
- Specific citation: These graphics by Anna Gülcher from Rolf et al. (2022) are available via the open-access s-Ink.org repository.
- Related reference: Rolf, T., Weller, M., Gülcher, A.J.P., et al. (2022), Venus mantle dynamics and evolution through time. Space Science Reviews, vol. 218, 70 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-022-00937-9
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