Orogenic quiescence in Earth’s middle age
Abstract
A boring billion for mountains: Earth's crust has changed over time as supercontinents formed and broke apart. Tied into this cycle are the building and erosion of high mountains, which are tied to collisions between tectonic plates. Tang et al. use europium anomalies in zircons to estimate the mean thickness of crust over Earth's history. This proxy shows that mountain building has not always been as active as it is today or as it was very early in Earth's history. Mountain building, and the subsequent erosion, was less intense for about a billion years, roughly correlated with a so-called “boring billion” period of biological evolution. Science , this issue p. 728
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Plate tectonics was in full swing during the boring billion, but tectonic/orogenic signals are far less dramatic than those before and after-marked instead by lithospheric stability and a paucity of both passive margins and geochemical records of mountain building and intense concomitant weathering.
“Plate tectonics was in full swing (Cawood, 2020), but as another testament to the unique stability of this time, the tectonic/orogenic signals are far less dramatic than those before and after (Tang et al., 2021)—marked instead by lithospheric stability and a paucity of both passive margins and geochemical records of mountain building and intense concomitant weathering (Cawood and Hawkesworth, 201”
From Oxygenation, Life, and the Planetary System during Earth's Middle History: An Overview (2021) · cites this paper as Tang et al., 2021
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References 60 · Cited by 220
- Authors
- Tang, M., Chu, X., Hao, J., & Shen, B.
- Affiliations
- Peking University (CN)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Corresponding author
- Tang, Ming
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2021-02-12
- Volume
- 371
- Issue
- 6530
- Pages
- 728-731
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W3127695197
- Cited by
- 220
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 52 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 17
- FWCI
- 21.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (42073026, 41888101)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geology › Geological and Geophysical Studies
- Keywords
- Proterozoic, Archean, Phanerozoic, mantle thermal structure, nutrient cycling, ocean anoxia, early Earth
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