Viscous Cycle: Quartz is Key to Plate Tectonics

Viscous Cycle: Quartz is Key to Plate Tectonics
Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:26:00 -0500

More than 40 years ago, pioneering tectonic geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson published a paper in the journal Nature describing how ocean basins opened and closed along North America's eastern seaboard.

His observations, dubbed "The Wilson Tectonic Cycle," suggested the process occurred many times during Earth's long history, most recently causing the giant supercontinent Pangaea to split into today's seven continents.

Wilson's ideas were central to the ...

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