Reconciling thermal regimes and tectonics of the early Earth

Thermomechanical models of mantle convection and melting in an inferred hotter Archean Earth show the emergence of pressure-temperature (P-T) regimes that resemble present-day plate tectonic environments yet developed within a non–plate tectonics regime. The models’ P-T gradients are compatible with those inferred from evolving tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite series rocks and the paired metamorphic belt record, supporting the feasibility of...