Concealed deep beneath the oceans is a carbon conveyor belt, propelled by plate tectonics.
Our understanding of its modern functioning is underpinned by direct observations, but its …

Kimberlites are volcanic rocks enriched in CO2 and H2O and derive from the deepest-
sourced melts (up to 300 km) that reach Earth's surface. The mantle processes that generate …

To understand how plate tectonics became Earth's dominant mode of convection, we need
to address three related problems.(i) What was Earth's tectonic regime before the present …

Diamond is not a common rock-forming mineral (an exception being “diamondite”; see
Jacob and Mikhail 2022, this volume) nor a common crustal mineral (the exceptions being …

Plate tectonics shapes Earth's surface, and is linked to motions within its deep interior,. Cold
oceanic lithosphere sinks into the mantle, and hot mantle plumes rise from the deep Earth …

How cratons, the ancient cores of continents, evolved since their formation over 2.5 Ga ago
is debated. Seismic tomography can map the thick lithosphere of cratons, but its resolution is …

The absence of low-thermal gradients in old metamorphic rocks (< 350° C GPa− 1) has
been used to argue for a fundamental change in the style of plate tectonics during the …

Carbon in the upper mantle controls incipient melting of carbonated peridotite and so acts as
a critical driver of plate tectonics. The carbon-rich melts that form control the rate of volatile …

Kimberlites are volatile-rich, occasionally diamond-bearing magmas that have erupted
explosively at Earth's surface in the geologic past,–. These enigmatic magmas, originating …

Understanding the long-term evolution of Earth's plate–mantle system is reliant on absolute
plate motion models in a mantle reference frame, but such models are both difficult to …