Plating (geology)
Encyclopedia
In geology
, plating is a hypothesized process whereby asthenospheric
mantle
hardens beneath crustal
material, thereby becoming attached to it and thereafter moving together with the crustal material as part of the lithosphere
.
A complementary process, although it does not necessarily always involve the upper mantle, is called delamination
.
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, plating is a hypothesized process whereby asthenospheric
Asthenosphere
The asthenosphere is the highly viscous, mechanically weak and ductilely-deforming region of the upper mantle of the Earth...
mantle
Mantle (geology)
The mantle is a part of a terrestrial planet or other rocky body large enough to have differentiation by density. The interior of the Earth, similar to the other terrestrial planets, is chemically divided into layers. The mantle is a highly viscous layer between the crust and the outer core....
hardens beneath crustal
Crust (geology)
In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a rocky planet or natural satellite, which is chemically distinct from the underlying mantle...
material, thereby becoming attached to it and thereafter moving together with the crustal material as part of the lithosphere
Lithosphere
The lithosphere is the rigid outermost shell of a rocky planet. On Earth, it comprises the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or greater.- Earth's lithosphere :...
.
A complementary process, although it does not necessarily always involve the upper mantle, is called delamination
Delamination (geology)
In geophysics, delamination refers to the loss and sinking of the portion of the lowermost lithosphere from the tectonic plate to which it was attached.This can occur when the lower portion of the lithosphere becomes more dense than the surrounding mantle...
.