From plate margins to continental interiors: Theoretical reconstruction and paradigm breakthrough
image: Active rifting of continental lithosphere is caused by asthenospheric upwelling subsequent to lithospheric thinning along fossil suture zones. Whereas continental breakup is the successful modal rift, continental rifting without breakup is the failed rift which can be either modal or cryptic in the form of surface expression.
Credit: ©Science China Press
This study is led by Prof. Yong-Fei Zheng at University of Science and Technology of China. It is accomplished by a systematic inspection of geological, geochemical and geophysical records from divergent, convergent and transform plate margins. A series of kinematic processes and dynamic mechanisms are examined within the framework of Wilson cycles in plate tectonics. The thermobaric and dynamic regimes of plate margins are seen as two critical variables in modulating the internal and external Earth systems. The results provide spatiotemporal constraints on the structure, composition and dynamics of plate margins.
In general, plate margins are tectonic zones where relative plate motions and interactions are most intense, and relevant processes have become the core components of plate tectonics theory. During tectonic processes either from seafloor spreading to oceanic subduction or from continental collision to post-collisional reworking, transform faults can appear in all plate tectonic processes involving lateral motion. At convergent plate margins, oceanic plates can subduct into the asthenospheric mantle, whereas continental plates can only subduct into the lithospheric mantle. The development of divergent plate margins involves either aborted or successful continental rifting; if successful, continental breakup is followed by seafloor spreading.
Plate margins are the most active tectonic zones on the solid Earth, controlling the exchange of material and energy between the lithosphere and the asthenosphere. Deciphering the structure, composition, and dynamics of plate margins provides insights into not only the formation and evolution of intracontinental orogenic belts but also the operating mechanisms of plate tectonics. Understanding the formation, evolution, and dynamics of plate margins fundamentally requires determining the structure and composition of plate margins.
By a systematic inspection of the results from transform faults, mid-ocean ridges, continental rift zones, oceanic subduction zones, continental collision zones, and intracontinental orogenic belts, it is evident that plate tectonics theory has made remarkable progress in the 21st century and has essentially completed a series of paradigm shifts in conceptual frameworks. Transform faults have moved from conservative boundaries toward complex systems, continental collision has progressed from a progressive to a non-progressive model, and intracontinental orogenesis has shifted from plate-margin affiliated to an independent dynamic mechanism.
Alongside the theoretical innovation, nevertheless, a series of deep-rooted problems are also revealed, including insufficient empirical support, disconnection between dynamic simulations and geological observations, and declining predictive power caused by conceptual generalization or oversimplification. Therefore, future breakthroughs need to embrace complexity while pursuing simplicity, move from explaining the past to predicting the future, and establish tectonic evolution models from plate margins to continental interiors.
See the article:
Zheng Y.F., Chen R.X., Chen Y.X., Dai L.Q., Gao X.Y., Xia Q.X. (2026) From plate margins to continental interiors: Theoretical reconstruction and paradigm breakthrough. Science China Earth Sciences, 69 (7): 2435-2456; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-026-1975-9