Alec Brenner on When Tectonic Plates First Moved

About this episode

Alec Brenner discusses the early movement of tectonic plates and his research on ancient cratons.

A key development in the history of the early Earth is the formation of lithospheric plates that move independently of one another. In this episode, Brenner describes how he used paleomagnetic methods to detect relative motion between two ancient cratons, the East Pilbara and the Kaapvaal, 3.5 billion years ago. This is a full billion years earlier than any previous such detection, and it enables us to narrow down the kind of tectonics operating in the Paleoarchean. Of the candidate regimes, episodic subduction models fit his data best. Brenner is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Earth & Planetary Science at Yale University.

People in this episode

Host: Oliver Strimpel

Guest: Alec Brenner

Topics covered

• tectonic plates
• paleomagnetism
• ancient cratons
• Paleoarchean tectonics
• subduction models

Keywords

• tectonic plates
• paleomagnetic methods
• East Pilbara
• Kaapvaal
• subduction models
• Paleoarchean
• geology
• earth science

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Yale University

Places: East Pilbara, Kaapvaal

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