Geological Society of America Topical Session

Comparative Early Evolution of the Terrestrial Planets

GSA Topical Session T237:  Comparative Early Evolution of the Terrestrial Planets.

Organizers: Kent Condie and Charles Shearer

Summary: There is considerable interest in when plate tectonics began on Earth and why other terrestrial planets do not have plate tectonics.  We propose to bring together Earth and planetary scientists to address these questions and to compare, from a variety of different perspectives, the early (4.5 – 2.0 Ga) evolution of the crust, mantle and core of Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Moon.  We also invite papers that compare atmospheric evolution of these planets prior to 2 Ga.  Major objectives of the session are 1) to better understand the conditions necessary for some stagnant lid planets to evolve into plate tectonic planets, while others do not; and 2) to better constrain the timing of this evolution on Earth.

This year the GSA meeting is in Seattle, Washington October 22-25. (meeting website: http://community.geosociety.org/gsa2017/home).

Please let any of your colleagues know of the session and keep in mind the deadline for abstract submission is August 1, 2017.