Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450

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Tectonophysics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto

Structure of the Earth's crust and upper mantle and problems of

global geodynamics
Ninel Pavlenkova
Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences, B. Gruzinskaya str., 10, build. 1, 123242 Moscow, Russian Federation

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This work presents findings of deep geological and geophysical studies, which have revealed new and often
Earth's crust unexpected features of the structure of the Earth's crust and the upper mantle of the continents and oceans, not
Upper mantle easily explainable by current geodynamic concepts. For example, deepwater drilling has shown the old age of the
Petrophysics
oceanic crust and its inhomogeneous composition. Seismic studies of long-range profiles with nuclear explosions
Deep fluids
Global faults
and laboratory studies of mantle xenoliths at high pressures and temperatures have revealed that the advection of
Earth degassing energy-intensive and geochemically active deep fluids is central to the formation of the upper mantle structure. A
comprehensive analysis of these data provides a geodynamic model for the natural transformation of the upper
mantle substance influenced by deep fluids and the formation of continents and oceans as a result of unevenly
distributed degassing of the Earth. The global variability of the deep fluid advection intensity led to formation of
two hemispheres: the Indo Atlantic Hemisphere where almost all continents are located and the Pacific Hemi­
sphere that consists of oceans. This formation of the hemispheres can be explained by the specific features of the
Earth's rotation in the Earth-Moon-Sun system. This work provides a review and analysis of these data and then
offers a possible explanation based on an integrated geodynamic model.

1. Introduction
Global geodynamics usually refers to a range of processes that shape
the Earth's crust and upper mantle. Until recently, the study of these
processes was based on geological and geophysical data about the
continental crust, but recently many new data have been obtained from
deepwater drilling in the oceans and from deep seismic studies of the
upper mantle. These data have revealed many new unusual character­
istics of this upper shell of the Earth, over 400 km thick, which are
difficult to explain by current geodynamic concepts.
2. Global characteristics of the crust and upper mantle
2.1. Subdivision of the surface into continents and oceans
The Earth's surface has a clear division into two hemispheres: the
Pacific Hemisphere, with its lowered relief and thin oceanic crust, and
the opposite Indo-Atlantic Hemisphere, where almost all continents are
located. A distinctive feature of the Pacific Ocean is the surrounding ring
of high tectonic activity zones (Fire Ring, (Fig. 1) and high seismicity
zones, Benioff zones (Benioff, 1954) (Fig. 2). Fig. 2 clearly shows the
second ring on the global scale, which crosses the Pacific Ring at a right
angle – this is the Alpine-Himalayan zone of deep earthquakes. As seen
in Fig. 2, this ring has a regular circular shape. The Benioff zones can be
traced in the mantle as high seismic velocity anomalies that cross the
whole mantle and spread further to a depth of about 2000 km (Fig. 3).
This deep structure of the Pacific Ocean is confirmed by gravity anomaly
map (Fig. 4). All these features of the Pacific Ring structure indicate their
connection with the deep inhomogeneity of the planet. It is impossible to
explain them by the peculiarities of the lithosphere structure because
they cross completely different regions: central Eurasia, the Indian
Ocean, and eastern North and South Americas.
Thus, the above comparison of summarized geological (Fig. 1),
seismological (Figs. 2 and 3) and gravimetric (Fig. 4) data clearly
revealed that the Earth is divided into two hemispheres: the oceanic
Pacific Hemisphere and the Indo-Atlantic Hemisphere, where all conti­
nents are located. These hemispheres are separated by a ring of deep
faults. The given data vary significantly in the detail and depth of
research, as well as in the nature of the identified structural features of
the planet. The geological data describe the structure of the Earth's crust;
the seismological data show the structure of the mantle. The gravimetric
studies reveal the deepest structure of the planet, but the nature of these

E-mail address: ninapav@mail.ru.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2022.229450
Received 15 November 2021; Received in revised form 23 May 2022; Accepted 8 June 2022
Available online 16 June 2022
0040-1951/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
N. Pavlenkova Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450

anomalies is still unexplored. Despite the different nature of the data

described, they are highly consistent with each other, which confirms
their reliability.
The shapes of the described structural features of the Earth's surface
suggest their planetary origin associated with the basic laws of planetary
formation. The division into two hemispheres with different reliefs is not
an exclusive feature of the Earth, the same structure is characteristic of
other planets, such as the Moon and Mars. The two planets are also
divided into two hemispheres with predominantly increased and low­
ered reliefs (Araki et al., 2009). Some assumptions about the nature of
this planetary shape are made in the paper by Kochemasov (2015). This
author shows that the rotation of the planets in elliptical orbits causes
periodic changes in their rotation rate, an alternation between acceler­
ation and deceleration. It may lead to the planet's division into two
hemispheres. It is important to note that such a division is not only
limited to the different topography of the hemispheres. As a result of the
systematic alternation of acceleration and deceleration of the planet's
rotation, one of its hemispheres becomes more stable, and this may
explain the different tectonic history of the hemispheres.

2.2. The system of mid-ocean ridges

The mid-ocean ridges can be referred to the global-scale structures by

their length and position in the center of the oceans. These are two mid-
ocean ridges in the Indo-Atlantic Hemisphere: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
and the Indian Ridge. In the Pacific Hemisphere, a similar ridge was
found in the southeastern Pacific Ocean (Searle, 2013). Recent studies of
deep fluids showed that these oceanic ridges are located along the
Earth's high degassing zones, i.e., along deep fault zones (Fig. 5). Based
on a high fluid flow, a similar fault zone was found in the western Pacific
Ocean; it can be traced from the eastern edge of Australia through the
Mariana Islands to the eastern edge of Sakhalin Island. Together, these
zones form a regular system of meridional deep faults that are almost
equally spaced, with a 90◦ interval. In the southern hemisphere, this
system is supplemented by latitudinal strike-slip fault zones. It is
assumed that these deep faults extend into the continents. In the eastern
Pacific Hemisphere, the fault zone runs from the East Pacific Ridge and
further along the tectonically active western margin of North America.
Fig. 2. Two regular circular shaped rings of deep earthquakes: the Pacific Ring
and the Alpine-Himalayas Zone (Wilson, 1954).
The fault zone of the Indian mid-oceanic ridge extends into the continent
along the Fersian Gulf and further along the deep fault that bounds the
Timan-Pechora Trough and the Urals in the west. The high fluid flow
zone, found on the western margin of the Pacific Ocean, extends into the
continent along the fault that bounds the Siberian Craton in the east.
3. Crustal structure of continents and oceans
The most complete data on the crustal structure are currently ob­
tained from seismic profiling and deepwater drilling. According to
seismic data, there are three groups of basic crust types: three types of
continental crust, two transitional types, and two types of oceanic crust

Fig. 1. The Pacific Ring of the intense magmatism and volcanism areas, “Ring of Fire”, and data on the ancient crust (Yano, 2014).

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(Fig. 6). The continental crust is thick, from 25–30 to 50–60 km, and its
consolidated part consists of three layers with seismic velocities of
6.0–6.4 km/s (upper crust), 6.5–6.7 km/s (middle crust) and 6.8–7.2
km/s (lower crust) (Beloussov and Pavlenkova, 1984). Deep drilling and
xenolith studies allowed us to determine the average composition and
degree of metamorphism of these layers: granite-gneiss upper crust,
granulite-gneiss middle crust, and granulite-basite lower crust (Pavlen­
kova, 1989; Downes, 1993, 1997). The three types of continental crust
differ in depth and thickness of the main layers, denoted by types 1, 2
and 3 in Fig. 6. The transitional types differ in the thickness of the
granite-gneiss layer: in the subcontinental crust (type 4) it is thinner
than in the continental crust, and it is completely absent in the sub­
oceanic crust (type 5). When constructing the classifications of crustal
types, one type of oceanic crust, about 10 km thick, represented by
igneous rocks of the mafic composition, was usually marked out. How­
ever, according to deepwater drilling data, there are at least two types of
oceanic crust in the oceans, which are different in ages, internal struc­
tures and features of the geophysical fields (Fig. 6).

Fig. 4. Map of gravity anomalies of the Pacific Ocean, according to satellite

3.1. Continental crust observations GRACE gravity anomaly (Choi and Pavlenkova, 2009).

Detailed geological and seismic studies have shown that the crustal
structure of continents depends on the age and tectonic evolution of the
different geological regions (Chistensen and Mooney, 1995; Pavlenkova,
1996; Kostyuchenko et al., 1999, 2004; Mooney, 2007; Mooney et al.,
1998, 2002; Chulick et al., 2013; Carbonell et al., 2013; Wang et al.,
2017). The thickest crust is observed beneath old platforms and orogens.
For example, in Eurasia, a thick (40–50 km) crust with high velocities is
observed under the East European and Siberian cratons; an anomalously
thick (about 60 km), but low-velocity crust is detected under Tibet
(Wang et al., 2013). On all continents, there is a natural change in the
crustal structure: a thick crust is typical of the inner parts of the conti­
Fig. 5. System of planetary zones of deep faults characterized by maximum
nents, and its thickness decreases towards the continental margins
flows of deep fluids. (Syvorotkin, 2002).
(Mooney, 2007; Mooney et al., 2002). At the same time, there is also a
change in the type of crust due to a decreasing thickness of the lower
continent to the 30-km crust on the shelf (Xia et al., 2016). Sometimes
granulite-basite layer. For example, this has been well demonstrated in
the change in the crust type occurs abruptly along a deep fault. An
the long meridional profile of the LITHOPROBE project, which crosses
example is the crust of the old East European craton and the young West
North America from Vancouver and further in the Canadian part to its
European plate, which are separated by an extended fault, the Tesseyer-
north end (Fernandez Viejo and Glowes, 2003). This profile shows a
Tornquist zone (Fig. 7).
transition from a three-layer crust with a thickness of 40 km to a thin
(about 30 km) two-layer crust. Another example is a large area of eastern
China with a system of several seismic profiles, where there is also a
natural change of the thick (40 km) crust in the central part of the

Fig. 3. Tomographic models of the mantle structure along the lines: (a) Mexico – Atlantic Ocean, (b) Mongola-Japan (Bijwaard et al., 1998).

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N. Pavlenkova
Fig. 7. The crustal P- wave velocity section of the boundary zone between the East-European craton and West-European plate in the Karpathians (Pavlenkova, 1996).
The numbers indicate the P-wave velocities. Legend: 1 - the Moho (M), 2 – layer with hither velocity 3 - low-velocity zone; 4 – deep fault; 5 - velocity isoline; 6 –
refraction boundary; 7 – intensive reflection boundary.
3.2. Transitional crust types
he transitional crust types are most often found on continental
margins, where the thickness of the crust decreases and its granite-gneiss
layer becomes thinner (Fig. 6). Large areas of the transitional-type crust
are observed on the northern margin of Eurasia and in the central Arctic:
the average thickness of the crust of the Mendeleev and Alpha Ridges is
30 km, but the granite-gneiss layer in it is only 5 km thick (Kashubin
et al., 2013).
The transitional-type crust is also observed under islands and oceanic
plateaus: in the Indian Ocean – the Argentine Puna Plateau (Schurr et al.,
1999), the Kerguelen Plateau (Charvis et al., 1995; Operto and Charvis,
1996), and the Agulhas Plateau (Allen and Tucholke, 1981; Gohl and
Uenzelmann-Neben, 2001) (Fig.8). In the Atlantic, such a crust has been
found at the southern margin of South America (Chulick et al., 2013;
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Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450
Fig. 6. Scheme of the main crustal types: 1,
2, 3-continental types, 4,5 – transitional
types; 6 - ancient oceanic crust with a con­
tinental magnetic field; 7- young oceanic
crust of mid-oceanic ridges. Type of the crust
is defined by the composition of rocks
determined by the P-waves velocities: a -
granite-gneiss layer (velocities 6.0–6.4 km/
s), b- granulite-gneiss layer (6.5–6.7 km/s),
c- basite layer (6.8–7.2 km/s). A - mid-
oceanic ridges, B – large faults on the con­
tinents and in the Western Pacific. The areas
of the transition types 4 and 5 are shown
together in this scheme.
Schimschal and Jokat, 2018). In the North Atlantic, the subcontinental
crust is observed under the Rockall basin, Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, and
under the Farrero-Iceland Ridge (Pavlenkova and Zverev, 1981; Suckro
et al., 2012). Together with Greenland, they form a subcontinental
bridge between Europe and North America. A similar bridge is emerging
between Asia and Australia, as all of the islands and large areas on the
northwestern margin of Australia have a continental and subcontinental
crust (Ray et al., 2008) (Fig. 6). In the Pacific Ocean, the transition crust
type covers most of the eastern part of the ocean (Nacumoro and
Kasahara, 1988; Ishikawa et al., 1999). Deep sedimentary basins on
continental shelves also have a transitional-type crust (James, 2011;
Wang et al., 2017): the Bay of Bengal (Brune and Singh, 1986; Dibakar
Ghosul, 2008), the Caribbean Sea (James, 2011, the Okhotsk Sea
(Pavlenkova et al., 2020).
N. Pavlenkova
Fig. 8. Seismic P-wave velocity cross-sections of the oceanic islands, plateaus and rifts with the transition types of the crust: (a) Agulhas Plateau near the southern
Africa (Gohl and Uenzelmann-Neben, 2001), (b) Bonnin rift in the Japan sector of the Pacific (Tsunoda, 2007) and (c) Falklands islands near continental margins of
the Southern Atlantic [Schimschal and Jokat, 2018].
3.3. Structure of the oceanic crust
New and most important data on the structure and composition of
the oceanic crust have been obtained from the international Deep Sea
Drilling Project (DSDP) of the Oceanic Drilling Project (ODP) across all
oceans. These data are now consolidated in Russia on the basis of a
detailed analysis of well cores by B.A. Blyuman (2011, 2018). The crust
in the oceans turned out to be old and consists not only of igneous rocks,
but also of metamorphic rocks. It usually includes three layers of
different compositions: the first layer is composed of sediments (Vp
velocities of about 3.0 km/s), the second layer is composed of pillow
basalts (2.5–3.8 km/s) and a dyke complex (4.0–6.0 km/s); the third and
thickest layer is composed of gabbro (6.5–6.8 km/s). The type of gabbro
frequently detected is isotropic gabbro with bubble or porphyry struc­
ture, these are metamorphic rocks of the gneiss basic composition
(Gaggero and Cortesogno, 1997; Elton, 1987). This granulite phase of
metamorphism corresponds to a pressure of more than 6 kbar and a
temperature of 700–1000◦ . It means that these rocks could not have
been created as intrusive rocks in a thin oceanic crust. It is impossible to
classify these rocks as the cumulative gabbro of magmatic nature
because they are almost always observed in the presence of trictole
crystallization, incompatible with magma conditions (Blyuman, 2011).
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Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450
These crystalline mafic-ultramafic rocks are old, 1.6–3.7 billion years of
age.
The old oceanic crust has also been detected in all oceans from
geological data (Yano et al., 2009, 2011; Funk et al., 2011; Hamilton,
2013). In the Atlantic Ocean, some part of the crust is composed of
Precambrian gneiss rocks overlain by Mesozoic basalts. In the western
Indian Ocean, the ODP Leg 176 well drilled near the mid-ocean ridge
revealed 1.5 km of old oceanic crust (Dick et al., 2000; Bortnikov et al.,
2008) presented data on the old age of zircons found in the axial zone of
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In the Pacific Ocean, the old crust was discov­
ered by deepwater drilling in the central part of the ocean.
New data on the oceanic crust were obtained from magnetic field
studies. At the initial stage of magnetic field studies, extended magnetic
anomalies of a linear shape were detected in large segments of the
oceans, and this was thought to be typical of all oceans. Later, it was
found that only the regions of mid-ocean ridges have extended anoma­
lies parallel to the ridge axis. In other parts of the oceans, the magnetic
field is the same as on the continents, with large positive and negative
anomalies of different shapes (Korhonen et al., 2007; Maus et al., 2009).
Similar patterns are typical of other oceans, where the linear magnetic
anomalies are observed only along ridges with a thin oceanic crust and
the continental-type magnetic field covers large areas with the transition
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types crust. In these parts of the ocean, the continental magnetic field is 4. Upper mantle beneath continents and oceans
probably created by destroyed and recycled continental crust.
A well-defined combination of the two types of magnetic fields is The upper mantle of the continents and oceans has been studied by
observed in the South Atlantic, where linear magnetic anomalies extend various geophysical and geological methods, but unevenly in terms of
only along the ridge. The continents bounding the ocean are charac­ detail and area. The main structural differences between continents and
terized by a typical continental magnetic field with intensive local oceans were determined from seismological data: large high-velocity
anomalies of a complex shape. As an exception, along the African and anomalies, 350–400 km thick, were detected under continents, which
South American shelves, the continental magnetic field continues into were named continental “roots” or “keels” (Green and Hales, 1968;
the ocean for 200–300 km (Fig. 9a). Jordan, 1979; Dziewonski and Anderson, 1981; Gossler and Kind, 1996;
Initially, it was assumed that this pattern of magnetic fields was due Glowes et al., 2005; Pérez-Gussinyé et al., 2009) (Fig. 10).
to the subcontinental type of the crust in these coastal zones. However, These anomalies were attributed to lower temperatures beneath
deep seismic studies along the Angola-Brazil Geotraverse showed that continents (Hasterok and Chapman, 2011) and were, therefore,
the crust along the entire geotraverse is thin, 10–12 km, and the seismic considered as high-density regions. The geological data also suggested a
velocities in it are 6.6–6.8 km/s (Zverev and Tulina, 1993; Pavlenkova different composition of the continental and oceanic upper mantle, since
et al., 1993). If we cut out the central part with linear anomalies from the
observed magnetic field of the South Atlantic, the large anomalies of the
South American and African shelf zones match well in shape and in­
tensity, forming a single system with the continental regions (Fig. 9b).
In the southern part, this general picture of the global magnetic field
is complicated by a number of local anomalies of different directions. It
can be explained by a more complex crustal structure in this part of the
South Atlantic, which is clearly demonstrated by the change in the
crustal type and fluid flow intensity in the Falkland Islands region
(Figs. 5 and 6). However, this does not generally preclude an important
geodynamic conclusion. Only along the mid-oceanic ridge, did the Af­
rican and South American plates tear and pull apart and form a wide
band with linear magnetic anomalies parallel to the ridge axis. The
continental-type magnetic field bounding this band corresponds to the
submerged but undisturbed shelf zones of these continental plates,
which are overlain by the oceanic-type crust.
The tomographic studies of the upper mantle carried out in this re­
gion (Fig. 9c) provide an estimated possible depth of the geodynamic
process described by the magnetic field of the crust and the thickness of
the lithospheric plates involved in this process. It is not less than 250 km, Fig. 10. General seismological model of the upper mantle of continents and
which corresponds to the average thickness of continental shelf plates. oceans (after Dziewonski and Anderson, 1981; Woodhouse and Dziewonski,
1984). The great circles show the location of the vertical cross-sectional image
of the upper part of the mantle to a depth of 670 km.

Fig. 9. Observed (a) and transformed (b) magnetic fields of the South Atlantic. At the transformation of the observed magnetic field (Fig.9b), the central part with
linear magnetic anomalies in the region of the mid-ocean ridge was cut out (James, 2011). ABGT - Angola-Brazilian geotraverse; (c) Seismotomography data on the
structure of the lithosphere in the western cratonic part of Africa (Begg et al., 2009).

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continents are characterized by alkaline magma, and oceans by tholeiitic
magma (Lutz, 1994). Deepwater drilling confirmed these findings;
spinel peridotites were shown to be predominantly developed in the
oceanic mantle, with garnet peridotites prevailing in the continental
mantle (Blyuman, 2011, 2018).
4.1. Upper mantle under continents
The most detailed and reliable data on the structure of the upper
mantle were obtained from deep seismic investigations with peaceful
nuclear explosions (PNEs). Such studies were conducted in the United
States and Canada as part of the Early Rise Experiment, in which several
nuclear explosions made in Lake Superior were recorded along long
profiles crossing various tectonic provinces of North America (Mereu
and Hanter, 1969; Green and Hales, 1968; Iyer et al., 1969). The most
detailed data were obtained from long-range seismic profiles in Russia
(Egorkin et al., 1981, 1987; Kostyuchenko et al., 1999; Pavlenkova,
2011). These over-20,000-km-long profiles with 25 PNEs cross the East
European and Siberian platforms of the Archean-Proterozoic, the Ura­
lian orogenic belt of the Paleozoic, and the West Siberian and Timan-
Pechora plates of the Caledonian- Hercynian. Along these profiles
waves were recorded from the entire upper mantle and from the tran­
sition zone to the lower mantle to a depth of 400–700 km. During the
1990s, these PNE records were digitized and made available to inter­
national researchers (Mechie et al., 1993; Priestly et al., 1994; Ryberg
et al., 1995; Fuchs, 1997). In Russia, they were used to generalize all the
experimental data on the basis of their interpretation according the ray
tracing modeling method (Pavlenkova and Pavlenkova, 2006; Pavlen­
kova, 2011, 2020). An example of this interpretation is given for the
Quartz and Kimberlite profiles in Fig. 11.
The data obtained from all these profiles confirmed the aforemen­
tioned main characteristics of the upper mantle: seismic velocities
depend mainly on the temperatures; increased velocities are typical of
the cold cratons of both continents, and they decrease in western
tectonically active North America and under the young West Siberian
and Timan-Pechora plates of Northern Eurasia. However, many new,

Fig. 11. Geophysical data on the crust upper mantle structure along the PNE profiles (Pavlenkova, 2011). (a) Geophysical fields along Quartz and Kimberlite profiles:
1 - HF-heat flow (mW/m2), 2 - Δg – gravity anomalies (mgal). (b) Combined seismic cross-sections along Quartz and Kimberlite profiles. Q1, Q2-K1, K2, K3 – nuclear
explosions. (c) Scheme of the PNE long-range seismic profiles. 1- the Siberian craton, 2 – Vilyui basin. (d) seismic cross-section along Craton profile.
1 - the refraction boundaries between layers with different seismic velocities (km/s), 2 - reflection boundary, 3 – low velocity layers, 4 – high velocity blocks, 5 - areas
of high heterogeneity in the upper mantle, 6 – reduced density mantle block, 7 - the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary determined by the heat flow method as a
zone of partial melting (Artemieva and Mooney, 2001).

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N. Pavlenkova
unusual features of the upper mantle were also revealed. For example, in
the Siberian Craton, high seismic velocities are observed in the region of
a large gravitational minimum contrary to the accepted positive corre­
lation between the velocity and density (Fig. 11a). Such a minimum is
possible only if the density of the entire lithosphere is reduced by 0.03 g/
cm3 relative to the density of the primary mantle (Yegorova and Pav­
lenkova, 2014). Another new finding was a clear division of the litho­
sphere into several layers with different velocities, separated by
extended, complex reflecting boundaries (boundaries N1, N2, L and H in
Fig. 11b). These boundaries were previously detected for individual
regions: the L and H boundaries from seismological data (Lehmann,
1959; Hales, 1991), and the N boundary from seismic profiling data
(Giese et al., 1973).
Waves reflected from these boundaries are characterized by a com­
plex multiphase record (Fig. 12). Mathematical modeling showed that
these boundaries obviously consist of zones, 5–10 km thick, with alter­
nating interbeds with increased and decreased velocities (Pavlenkova,
2011).
The most important finding from the PNE profiles was a clear sub­
division of the continental lithosphere into two layers with different
rheological properties. These layers differ mainly in the degree of their
internal heterogeneity. The upper layer is characterized by a well-
defined block structure, which disappears at a greater depth. This is
most often observed at depths of 100–150 km above boundary N2, and
can be explained by a significant increase in the plasticity of rocks at this
depth. At the boundary of these layers, we very often observe layers with
decreased velocities. These layers are supported by reliable experi­
mental records data where we observe a so-called shadow zone on
almost all profiles at a distance of 700–800 km from the source, when
the first arrivals attenuate, after which they are recorded with a time
shift (Fig. 12). Such a wave pattern is characteristic of velocity inversion
zones. It is observed both in North America along the Early Rise
Experiment profiles (Thybo and Рerchuc, 1997; Nielsen et al., 2002) and
in other regions. In this case, the upper 150-km thick layer is observed
beneath the Archean roots of continents, and it decreases on Paleozoic
margins and continental shelves (Griffin et al., 2008; Yuan and Roma­
nowicz, 2010).
However, seismic tomography and PNE profiles revealed significant
difficulties in determining the base of the lithosphere (Eaton et al., 2009;
Fig. 12. Record section along the Craton profile, the nuclear explosion C1. t- time, d-distance from the explosion. PN1, PN2, PL, PH – waves from the upper mantle
boundaries, P410, P520, P680 –waves from the transitional zone between upper and lower mantle at depths of 410–680 km.
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Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450
Fischer et al., 2010; Ford et al., 2010; Pavlenkova, 2011). The
lithosphere-asthenosphere model is considered the basic model of the
upper mantle. The asthenosphere is defined by the heat flow data as a
partial melting zone (temperature about 1300 deg) (Artemieva and
Mooney, 2001; Hasterok and Chapman, 2011). There is no decrease in
seismic velocities corresponding to such a “thermal asthenosphere”
anywhere on the Russian PNE profiles at depths of over 200 km (Fig. 11
b). Thus, we can assume that such an asthenosphere does not exist
beneath the Eurasian continent. However, the asthenosphere should not
necessarily be considered as a partial melting zone but it can be a layer
of increased plasticity, which provides mobility for the lithospheric
plates. According to the PNE data, such an asthenosphere was detected
at a depth of over 250 km by detailed spectral analysis of seismic records
and by determining the values of the Q-factor, which characterizes the
degree of material plasticity (Egorkin et al., 1981). It is also possible to
determine the lithosphere thickness from indirect data, such as the de­
gree of internal heterogeneity, the presence of complex reflective
boundaries within it, and their shape. For example, in the Siberian
Craton, boundary H can be considered the base of the lithosphere
because, according to the law of isostasy, its depth increases under the
block of lithosphere with lower density (Fig. 11). However, this depth
does not correlate with the data on the lithosphere thickness determined
by the heat flow.
All of the above specific features of the continental upper mantle
were observed to varying degrees from seismic and seismological data
on other continents as well (Dey et al., 1993; Poupinet et al., 2003; Wang
et al., 2008; Foley, 2008; Revenaugh and Sipkin, 1994; Vinnik et al.,
1996, 2009; Chen, 2010; Xia et al., 2016).
4.2. Upper mantle of oceans
The upper mantle beneath the oceans has not been studied as thor­
oughly as the mantle of the continents. Reliable seismological data were
obtained only in tectonically active transition zones from continents to
oceans, where there is a dense network of seismological stations. As
mentioned above, large high-velocity anomalies extending to the depth
of 2000 km are detected in these zones (Fig. 3). In the deep parts of
oceans, important data were obtained by isotope-chemical studies of
basalts in islands and oceanic rises. These data allowed us to detect
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individual blocks of continental-type lithosphere and determine the
nature and old age of these blocks. For example, old mantle rocks were
found under the Gakkel Rise (Atlantic Mid-Ocean Ridge) (Liu et al.,
2008). As a result, the prolonged and isolated existence of geochemical
deep “reservoirs” was determined (O'Reilly et al., 2009). It can be sup­
posed that these “reservoirs” are the lithospheric “roots” of the oceanic
rises with sub-continental crust. The complex inhomogeneous structure
of the upper mantle was also revealed by seismic profiling. One example
is the profile in the Japanese sector of the Pacific Ocean (Asada and
Shimamura, 1979; Nacumoro and Kasahara, 1988). Large explosions
and near earthquakes were recorded along this profile, and extended
(about 1000 km) traveltime curves were obtained. Comparing these
traveltime curves with data on North America and Eurasia yielded un­
expected results: instead of the expected decreased velocities relative to
the continents, the Pacific traveltime curves turned out to be practically
identical to those of the West European and Siberian platforms
(Fig. 13a). Moreover, two additional high-velocity layers N1 and N2
separated by a zone of decreased velocities were detected in the ocean at
depths of 70 and 120 km. In Northern Eurasia, layers of decreased ve­
locity or complex reflecting boundaries are observed at approximately
the same depths (Fig. 13b). The nature of the anomalously high veloc­
ities within layers N1 and N2 is unclear. Potentially, this may be the
result of velocity anisotropy.
Velocity anisotropy within the upper mantle was detected on con­
tinents by the clearly observed teleseismic S-wave splitting (Leven et al.,
1981; Bostock, 1997; Vauchez et al., 1998; Simons et al., 2003; Sebai
et al., 2006). However, it was noted that this splitting is poorly defined
beneath cratons, but it usually increases in extension zones (rifts and
fault zones). This splitting is most often explained by a single-layer
model with a horizontal axis of increased velocity. It was supposed to
be caused by the lattice preferred orientation of olivine in the mantle
rocks, resulting from the flows of substance along the aligned and
magma-saturated lenses (Walker et al., 2004). But the form of such
lenses in the upper mantle has not been sufficiently studied yet.
The presence of velocity anisotropy within the upper mantle of
oceans was confirmed by seismic data for the South Atlantic. As
mentioned above, deep seismic studies with explosions and ocean bot­
tom stations were carried out here along the Angola-Brazil Geotraverse
(Fig.14) (Zverev and Tulina, 1993; Pavlenkova et al., 1993). These
studies revealed layers with high velocities (8.4–8.5 km/s) at depths of
40 and 60 km and boundary N with an anomalously high velocity at a
Fig. 13. (a) Comparison of the mantle waves travel-times obtained in the North
American and Eurasian continents and in the Pacific. Legends: travel times for:
1 - the Pacific (Asada and Shimamura, 1979), 2 – the East-European platform
(Pavlenkova, 2011), 3 – the Siberian craton (Pavlenkova, 2011). 4 - American
tectonically active regions (Thybo and Рerchuc, 1997). (b) The corresponding
velocity models for the North Eurasia and the Pacific.
9
Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450
depth of 80 km in the Atlantic lithosphere, just as in the Pacific Ocean.
The velocities beneath boundary M are slightly decreased only in the
region of the mid-ocean ridge with the oceanic type of the magnetic field
(Fig. 9). In the other parts of the geotraverse, mantle velocities are
comparable to continental velocities, 8.0–8.3 km/s, and on the African
shelf along detailed profile I, a block with velocities of 8.5–8.6 km/s and
a thickness of over 70 km is detected. However, in the Angola Basin,
decreased average velocities (about 7.9 km/s) up to a depth of 60 km
were determined on a profile perpendicular to the geotraverse (Fig. 14).
These are the actual experimental data confirming the suggested ve­
locity anisotropy in the oceanic lithosphere.
Thus, the aforementioned geophysical data revealed many new
characteristics of the continental and oceanic upper mantle, the geo­
dynamic nature of which is being widely discussed but remains not
entirely clear. First of all, it is the nature of the formation of the high-
velocity lithosphere with decreased density, the nature of the clear di­
vision of the lithosphere into two layers of different plasticity and the
complex seismic boundaries separating them, and the nature of the
differences in the determination of the lithosphere thickness from
seismic data and from the heat flow. Some explanations of these data can
be obtained by a comprehensive analysis of laboratory studies into the
petrophysical parameters of mantle rocks at a high pressure and tem­
perature together with seismological data and with data on geophysical
fields.
5. Nature of the revealed characteristics of the crust and upper
mantle
5.1. Laboratory data on the petrophysical properties of rocks
The most detailed and reliable laboratory data on the petrophysical
parameters of rocks at a high pressure and temperature were obtained
for Northern Eurasia (Boyd et al., 1997; Ionov et al., 2002; Kukkonen
et al., 2003; James et al., 2004; Kuskov and Kronrod, 2007; Griffin et al.,
2008; Berry et al., 2008; Doncet et al., 2014). Fig.15.
Fig.15a shows the measured velocities of P waves and densities of
mantle rocks of a different composition for two conductive geotherms
corresponding to heat flow of 35 and 50 mW/m2 (Kuskov et al., 2014).
There were unexpected findings: velocities in mantle rocks of different
composition are almost equal, but the densities of these rocks are
different. For example, decreased densities are typical of depleted
mantle material (garnet harzburgite Hzb and garnet peridotite GP),
which is almost identical to other mantle rocks in terms of velocities. In
the Siberian Craton, most of the collected xenoliths are common peri­
dotites (harzburgites and lherzolites), significantly depleted in CaO,
Al2O3 and FeO relative to the primary mantle, and they have decreased
densities (Walter, 1998; Griffin et al., 1999; Ionov et al., 2010).
The revealed dependence of seismic velocities of mantle rocks on
only temperature conditions opens up new possibilities for studying the
temperatures of the upper mantle. In the papers by (Kuskov and Kron­
rod, 2006; Kuskov et al., 2014; Kronrod et al., 2010), the deep isotherms
for the craton lithosphere were determined from seismic velocities for all
long-range seismic profiles crossing the Siberian Craton. A special
methodology was used, which includes petrological and geochemical
data on the composition of garnet peridotite xenoliths (GP) and fertile
material of the primitive mantle, as well as the results of their phase
transitions and plasticity changes. Fig. 15c shows the results of such
determinations for three points in the Craton profile between SPs C2 and
C3 at distances of 1100, 1900 and 2300 km from the profile beginning.
These data confirm that the depths of the possible solidus (1300◦ at a
depth of 300 km) are much greater than the depths determined from the
heat flow data. The detected decreased densities of depleted mantle
rocks (Fig. 15c) explain the aforementioned lack of correlation between
the velocity model and the gravity field in the region of the Siberian
Craton, where high seismic velocities corresponding to the decreased
temperatures are observed in the region of the gravity minimum
N. Pavlenkova
Fig. 14. Geophysical data of the Angola-Brazilian geotraverse (Pavlenkova et al., 1993). (a) the geotraverse position; (b) the heat flow (HF) and Δg – gravity data; (c)
the velocity cross-section. 1 – reflection boundary, 2 –velocity isoline, 3- fault, 4 – higher velocity layer, 5 – low velocity layer; 6 – velocity determined on the profile
crossing this geotraverse.
(Fig. 11).
The laboratory studies described above have also shown that deep
fluids play a major role in the formation of petrophysical parameters of
rocks. These studies made it possible to investigate the properties of the
fluids themselves and determine their influence on the variability of
crustal and upper mantle parameters under high PT conditions.
5.2. Data on deep fluid advection
The Earth's specific feature that distinguishes it from other planets is
a high content of hydrogen and helium in the planet's core. It can be the
main source of the Earth's degassing (Pollack et al., 1993; Williams and
Hemley, 2001; Barkin, 2002; Porcelli and Turekian, 2003; Gilat and Vol,
2005). The Earth's degassing is currently studied by various geological
and geophysical methods. For example, natural gas studies (Griffin et al.,
2008; Valyaev and Dremin, 2015), global studies of the ozone layer,
which is destroyed by hydrogen flows (Syvorotkin, 2002), and direct
measurements of hydrogen degassing in various parts of the planet
(Larin, 1995). These studies have shown that hydrogen degassing is
more active in the southern hemisphere, being the main cause of ozone
holes over Antarctica. Intensive hydrogen flows are observed in mid-
10
Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450
ocean ridges and other regions of the destroyed lithosphere.
It should be noted that the aforementioned specific features of the
Earth's rotation, which change the shape of the planet, can also change
the intensity of fluid flows in the different hemispheres, creating a lower
intensity in the compacted Pacific Hemisphere and a higher intensity in
the decompacted Indo-Atlantic Hemisphere. All this undoubtedly
influenced the geodynamic development of these hemispheres.
The most complete data on the role of deep fluid advection in the
geodynamic transformations of the crustal and upper mantle material
are provided in papers by (Letnikov, 2006). They mainly consider fluids
to be water-gas and gas systems with several components containing
hydrogen, (H), helium (He), carbon (C) and their oxides (H2, CO2, CH4,
CO). In the upper part of the mantle, fluids consist of gas mixtures,
where H2O is also in a gaseous state. In contrast to a virtually incom­
pressible liquid fluid, gas mixtures are compressed to high densities, and
a small volume of gas contains a large amount of thermal energy. As a
result, gas fluids are universal non-cooling flows of thermal and chem­
ical energy and their carriers to the upper spheres of the planet. Another
important geodynamic property of deep fluids is the functional trans­
formation of their own properties: they concentrate elements with
different physical and chemical parameters and transport them over
N. Pavlenkova Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450

Fig. 15. Comparison of P-velocities (a) and densities (b) for garnet harzburgite (Hzb), garnet lherzolite (Lh), average garnet peridotite (GP) and primitive mantle
(PM) calculated along conductive geotherms 35 mW/m2 (dashed lines) and 40 mW/m2 (solid lines); (c) upper mantle temperatures (Tp) beneath the Siberian Craton
derived from P-velocity models along the Craton profile (P1100, 1900 and 2300 km). The light and dark stars are the P–T parameters for low- and high-temperature
xenoliths of garnet peridotites from the kimberlite pipes. The dashed line is the 1300 ◦ C adiabate. The line Тp(АК135) is an average continental geotherm. The thin
dashed lines are the conductive geothermes for the heat flow of 32.5–50 mW/m2.

long distances. As a result, deep fluids carry radioactive material into the
lithosphere, which is an important additional source of energy for
various geodynamic processes.
Letnikov's (2006) deep fluid degassing model also allows us to
describe the nature of deep matter transformation and continental
lithosphere formation. It is assumed here that this formation took place
over a long geological history in regions of intensive advection of deep
fluids. Under high P-T conditions of the upper mantle, there was a
saturation of fluids coexisting with silica and alkalis, other fluids and the
incompatible elements. The long process of these components moving
from the mantle to the crust led to the depletion of rocks, their crys­
tallization, and the formation of a thick lithosphere of decreased density.
The depletion of mantle rocks also changed the composition of the crust.
Additional SiO2, K and Na content and fluids, which were brought into
the crust from the mantle, increased the thickness of the granite-gneiss
layer and formed the crust of continental and transitional types. The
high content of fluids in granite-gneiss rocks revealed by geological data
(Lutz, 1994) confirms this assumption.
Thus, as a result of the described transformations of the mantle
material under the influence of deep fluids, large plates of lower-density
lithosphere are formed, which rise relative to denser primary litho­
sphere, and the formation of continents takes place. This model of
continental formation is fundamentally different from the currently
prevailing concept, according to which initially, the entire surface of the
Earth was covered by continental crust and then the oceans with a thin
high-velocity crust were formed in the regions of rifting and spreading of
these continental plates. The transitional type of the crust is explained
by the destruction and redistribution of the continental crust, its basi­
fication (saturation by mantle intrusions), and metamorphism of rocks.
These processes of continental crust transformations are indeed
observed at the continental margins and in deep depressions (Frolova
et al., 1992; Artyushkov and Poselov, 2010), but they cannot explain the
formation of the subcontinental crust type over a large area of oceans,
because such a transformation of the continental crust produces large
amounts of alkalis and other elements that are very rarely found in
oceans (Lutz, 1994).
The revealed patterns in the structure of the continental crust make it
possible to describe the main features of the Earth's degassing process.
The thickness of the granite-gneiss and granulite-gneiss layers on all
continents has a fairly similar regional distribution; it peaks in the
central parts of continents in the areas of old cratons and decreases at the
continental margins and in the shelf zones (Mooney, 2007). This means
that the deep fluid flows that formed these layers covered the entire area
of future continents and had a steady intensity throughout the geological
evolution of these layers, consistent with the platform endogenous
conditions. Such steady state conditions did not exist in the oceans, and
there was no increase in crustal thickness in local regions of an intense
but variable fluid flow, e.g., along mid-ocean ridges.
What remains unknown is the formation of separate blocks of the old
crust in the oceans, composed not only of igneous, but also of

11
N. Pavlenkova
metamorphic rocks of the basic composition (Gaggero and Cortesogno,
1997; Elton, 1987). Such rocks are formed under high pressure and at
high temperatures at a depth of at least 20–30 km. It can be assumed that
at an early stage of formation, the planet was covered with this thick
layer of igneous rocks, where metamorphic gabbro was formed over
time. Then this layer (proto-crust) was destroyed by intense and pro­
longed flows of deep matter, which resulted in the formation of a thin
oceanic crust. However, some fragments of the proto-crust may have
survived in the oceans to this day.
5.3. Nature of lithospheric stratification, low-velocity layers, and complex
seismic boundaries
It was already mentioned above that the lithosphere of continents
and oceans is clearly divided into layers with different internal struc­
tures, and these layers are separated by extended, complex seismic
boundaries or zones of decreased velocities. A particularly distinct
subdivision is observed in the lower crust and at a depth of 100–150 km
(Fig. 11), where the degree of internal inhomogeneity of the lithosphere
changes abruptly. The changes in the lithospheric structure with depth
are natural: as the pressure and temperature increase, the plasticity of
the material increases, and this reduces its inhomogeneity. However,
why do these changes occur abruptly at a certain depth where complex
reflecting boundaries or low-velocity layers (waveguides) are formed? A
joint analysis of these data with the findings of deep material laboratory
studies allows us to propose that fluid advection features play a major
role in the formation of such a stratification (Lambert and Wyllie, 1970;
Lebedev et al., 1989; Kern, 1982, 1993; Menzies and Chazot, 1995;
Wang, 2010). The intensity of deep fluid flows is determined by the
permeability of the material. At shallow depths, permeability is deter­
mined by porosity and fracturing. At great depths, it is insignificant in
rigid crystalline rocks and increases with depth in a more plastic ma­
terial. This means that at some depth, where the plasticity of rocks de­
creases, the saturation of the material with deep fluids will increase and,
therefore, seismic velocities in it will decrease. This nature of low-
velocity zones at a depth of 100–150 km is confirmed by electromag­
netic studies, which revealed increased electrical conductivity at this
depth, i.e., fluid-saturated layers (Jones, 1992; Meqbel et al., 2014). A
change in the fluids' conditions can also explain the formation of com­
plex seismic boundaries composed of zones that are 5–10 km thick with
internally alternating interbeds with decreased and increased velocities
(Pavlenkova, 1996).
Another important factor in the formation of seismic boundaries
between the rigid and plastic lithosphere at a depth of 100–150 km is the
transformation of the physical state of the fluids themselves. At this
depth, due to a change in the degree of rock fracturing, some compo­
nents of the fluids change: gas components turn into a liquid and energy
concentrated in the gases is released with high intensity. This can result
in the formation of layers with partial melting (“asthenolites”). Such
layers explain the observed discrepancy in lithospheric thickness results
between seismic data and heat flow data, for which this additional en­
ergy source, fluid “asthenolites”, is not taken into account. Deeper
seismic boundaries L and H may be of the same nature. It is confirmed by
the statistics of data on xenoliths in the kimberlite provinces of the Si­
berian Craton. These data showed that there are partial melting in­
terbeds in the kimberlites obtained from the depths of the described
seismic boundaries.
The formation of low-velocity layers may also be related to various
processes of mantle material metamorphism which change the physical
properties of the material and decrease their seismic velocities. For
example, laboratory studies have shown that at a high water pressure
and a temperature of 400–800◦ , which are characteristic of the conti­
nental lithosphere at a depth of 100–150 km, there is a decrease in the
velocity of elastic waves in dunite associated with its serpentinization
(Lebedev et al., 2017).
The stratification of the continental lithosphere manifests itself not
12
Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450
only in the presence of extended well-defined seismic boundaries and
lower velocity layers. A lot of recent seismic research with the receiver
function technique showed that there are also a large number of rela­
tively short reflecting boundaries in the continental lithosphere at
various depths (Vinnik et al., 1996, 2009). This stratification is observed
not only in stable areas of old cratons, but also in tectonically active
regions. They indicate the internal inhomogeneity of the lithosphere at a
depth of over 100 km. This subhorizontal stratification of the litho­
sphere is combined with intersecting sloping seismic boundaries, such as
deep faults (Wang et al., 2013). This combination is common not only to
the continents, but also to the oceans. This was shown on the seismic
profile in the western Pacific Ocean (Fig. 13) and on the Angola-Brazil
Geotraverse (Fig. 14).
5.4. Nature of the deep structure of the tectonically active Pacific Ring, or
the “Ring of Fire”
An important geodynamic problem is the nature of the deep structure
of the tectonically active “Ring of Fire” with a regular circular shape that
encircles the Pacific Ocean (Figs. 1 and 2). This ring is usually inter­
preted as a zone of oceanic crust subduction beneath the continents.
However, the aforementioned data on the decompaction of mantle
material due to its depression allow us to make another interpretation:
decompaction of a substance leads to an increase in its volume and in­
crease in the volume of the continental lithosphere may lead to its
overthrust on the oceanic lithosphere (Griffin and O'Reilly, 2007). Such
overthrusts are in fact observed according to geological data in some
regions of the western Pacific (Hoshino, 2014). The interpretation of
seismic data is not straightforward either. For example, detailed seismic
studies into the crustal structure of the Pacific Ring were carried out in
the western South American shelf under the CINCA project (Patzwahl
et al., 1999). The project's authors interpreted these data based on the
assumption of the oceanic crust subduction beneath the continent,
supposing that the first arrivals on the obtained records were formed by
refracted waves (Fig. 16a). A more detailed modeling of the entire wave
field was performed by the method of migrating records of reflected and
refracted waves and obtaining a wave image of the medium to a depth of
over 30 km (Fig. 16b) (Pilipenko et al., 2006). According to such con­
structions, there is a deep fault detected at a depth of 12–20 km, which
separates the thin oceanic crust from the thick crust of the continent, and
there is boundary M clearly visible beneath the continent at a depth of
20–25 km. However, these studies show no indications of subduction.
This could be an overthrust of the platform crust on the oceanic litho­
sphere. Overthrusts of the same kind are also observed around large
crustal blocks of increased thickness, e.g., around old cratons (Fig. 7).
An important remaining problem is the nature of the high-velocity
anomalies which extend from the detected fault (or supposed subduc­
tion zone) in the lower mantle to a depth of 2800 km (Fig. 3). One
possible explanation is that this could be a high-stress zone that forms
deep faults in the upper mantle. In this case, at great depths, such zones
are zones of an intensive flow of deep fluids. This assumption is based on
the aforementioned features of deep fluids: at great depths, where there
are no zones of increased porosity, the fluids transfer at the sub­
molecular level with sliding of fluid films along thin planes formed at
high stresses. In terms of mass volume, such a flow is several orders of
magnitude higher than the flow of fluids in ordinary fractured zones.
Increased seismic velocities in this zone can also be explained not only
by high stress, but also by the deep material introduced by fluids.
The described change in the nature of the sloping zone of higher
velocities observed at the continental margins is confirmed by data on
the distribution of earthquake sources. Their number usually drops
sharply in the lower parts of the upper mantle at a depth of about 400
km, they are practically absent in the transition zone to the lower
mantle; and they are very rarely observed in the lower mantle, up to a
depth of 670 km.
Thus, integrated geological and geophysical studies revealed a large
N. Pavlenkova Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450

Fig. 16. (a) Velocity cross-section of the profile CINCA, crossing the western continental margin of the South America along 22◦ south latitude (Patzwahl et al.,
1999). Velocity boundary, constructed from the refraction waves (1) and from the reflection (2).
(b) Wave image of the crust constructed by the migration of reflected and refracted waves (Pilipenko et al., 2006).

number of structural features of the lithosphere, which were not
considered by current geodynamic concepts: (1) detailed studies of
oceans by deepwater drilling revealed the old age and different
composition of the oceanic crust; (2) seismic works on long-range pro­
files proved that continents are single lithospheric plates of decreased
density with a steadily decreasing thickness of the lithosphere from the
old inner parts to their margins; (3) integrated laboratory studies proved
that an important role in the formation of these global characteristics of
the Earth's upper layers belongs to the advection of deep fluids, the
Earth's degassing. A simultaneous analysis of all these data allows us to
combine them into a unified geodynamic model for the crust and upper
mantle development.
6. Generalized model of global geodynamics
According to the generalized model of global geodynamics proposed
in this paper, the formation of many characteristics of the Earth's upper
spheres is explained by features of its rotation in the Earth-Moon-Sun
system. The Earth's rotation along an ellipsoidal rather than circular
orbit led to the formation of the Pacific Hemisphere with a lowered relief
and a compacted mantle. As a result, the intensity of deep fluid advec­
tion was slightly lower in the compacted Pacific Hemisphere and higher
in the Indo-Atlantic Hemisphere, which led to different lithosphere
development histories in these hemispheres. First, a thick (over 20 km)
old crust of mafic composition was formed on the entire surface of the
planet. Such a thickness of this primary crust results from its composi­
tion, which includes not only igneous rocks, but also metamorphic
gabbro, formed at a depth of at least 20 km under high temperature
conditions (Blyuman, 2011). This original layer of the young planet was
almost completely destroyed by subsequent igneous rocks of the basic
composition, which formed the primary old crust of the continents and
oceans.
The formation of the silicic crust began later due to the trans­
formation of the mafic proto-crust. This conclusion follows from the age
and structure of granitoid massifs, usually surrounded by greenstone
belts, which are products of the primary crust differentiation. The
younger age of the silicic crust is supported by a large body of data,
according to which the oldest rocks are characterized by the mafic
composition and increased density. The further growth of the crust that
was inhomogeneous in thickness and composition depended on the fluid
advection that was uneven in intensity and composition: the silicic crust
formed in regions of increased fluid flows, mainly in the Indo-Atlantic
Hemisphere. In the Pacific Hemisphere, only small blocks of the sub­
continental crust were formed.
The fluid advection was also uneven within the the Pacific and Indo-
Atlantic hemispheres. As a result, the crust formed unevenly both in
terms of the area and time. In the Precambrian, a thick continental crust
formed in several large blocks which led to the future crystalline shields

13
N. Pavlenkova
and old platforms. Simultaneously with the growth of the continental
crust, a depleted lithosphere grew in blocks with an intensive fluid flow.
According to geological data, large blocks with such a lithosphere had
been already formed in the Archean. These blocks were the primary
lithospheric microplates, the cores of future continents. These plates are
not distributed randomly on the Earth's surface but in a regular pattern:
the three most stable plates, the North American, East European, and
Siberian, were formed in the northern hemisphere, and the three other,
the South American, African, and Indo-Australian, were formed in the
southern hemisphere. In fact, with the formation of these old rigid
plates, the lithospheric plate tectonics began and the relative move­
ments of these plates being a major factor in the formation of various
tectonic structures. During the initial stages of their genesis, the plates
moved apart without ruptures (without spreading) and only the plastic
parts of the lithosphere were extended. This led to the formation of deep
depressions (geosynclines) between them. The greatest extension ocur­
red between the American plates and the plates of Eurasia and Africa,
which led to the formation of a wide tectonically active zone of the
future Atlantic Ocean.
The next and most important stage in the development of the litho­
sphere was associated with the general intensification of tectonic pro­
cesses at the end of the Paleozoic and beginning of the Mesozoic. At this
time, the large lithospheric plates of the future continents were formed.
At the same time, the internal development of the planet, the stratifi­
cation into the core and mantle, was completed, and a global system of
disturbance zones was formed, created by the general expansion of the
planet. During the general activation of the planet at the end of the
Paleozoic and beginning of the Mesozoic, the Earth's surface was sub­
divided into the present-day continents and oceans. The formation of
oceans, which concentrated the hydrosphere, and drained continental
areas resulted from the isostatic uplift of the depleted continental lith­
osphere of decreased density. This nature of continents' formation ex­
plains their relatively young age, because their “surfacing” could occur
only after the formation of a relatively thick depleted lithosphere, which
occupied the long Archean-Proterozoic periods. The planet's subdivision
into two hemispheres with different deep structures led to the formation
of a tectonically active ring around the stable Pacific Hemisphere, the
Ring of Fire. An intensive transformation of the lithosphere also took
place in the extension zones of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, where the
continental crust was destroyed and a young oceanic crust was formed.
The presented model of the tectonic development of the Earth's
upper shells combines the basic principles of many previous concepts,
lithospheric plate tectonics, expanding Earth model, endogenous re­
gimes (Beloussov and Pavlenkova, 1984) and advection-polymorphic
processes (Gordienko, 2012), but it excludes global mantle convection,
large horizontal movements of lithospheric plates and their deep sub­
duction. Recently, there have been many published papers that sub­
stantiate mantle convection based on mathematical calculations
(Chervov and Chernykh, 2014), but they use a physically unjustified
rheological model, which is inconsistent with reliable geophysical data
on the structure of the upper mantle.
7. Conclusions
Thus, the latest detailed studies of oceans by deepwater drilling and
continents by long-range seismic profiles, as well as petrophysical
studies of mantle materials have revealed many new features of the crust
and upper mantle structure, many of which are not explained by current
geodynamic concepts:
- The Earth is clearly subdivided into two hemispheres with different
structures: the Pacific Hemisphere with a lowered relief and the
Indo-Atlantic Hemisphere with prevailing continents. The Pacific
Hemisphere is surrounded by a ring of high tectonic and seismic
activity zones (Benioff zones).
14
Tectonophysics 837 (2022) 229450
- The mid-ocean ridges form a system of deep faults that are sym­
metrical about the South Pole,
- The crust of the oceans is heterogeneous in composition and age: the
old Archean oceanic crust and large blocks of subcontinental crust
have been found in all oceans.
- The oceanic crust is divided into two types with different magnetic
fields: the old crust with a complex magnetic field, like on the con­
tinents, and the young crust of mid-ocean ridges with linear magnetic
anomalies parallel to the axis of the ridges.
- Continents have a thick lithosphere (over 250–300 km) composed of
depleted material of decreased density. These are single large plates
in which the thickness of the lithosphere decreases from the centers
of the plates to their margins and to the shelf zones.
- The continental lithosphere is significantly stratified, and according
to its rheological properties, it is divided into an upper rigid part,
100–150 km thick, and a plastic lower part. These layers are sepa­
rated by low-velocity zones and complex reflecting boundaries.
- There is no clear subdivision of the upper mantle into the lithosphere
and asthenosphere as determined by the heat flow data. The
asthenosphere is detected beneath continents at a depth of 250–300
km as a layer of increased plasticity without visible partial melting.
In oceans, the depth to the asthenosphere has not been determined,
but it is at least 100 km even within the mid-ocean ridges.
- The study of petrophysical properties of crustal and upper mantle
rocks at high pressures and temperatures, data on deep xenoliths,
and natural gas studies have shown that deep fluids play a major role
in the formation of physical properties of the lithosphere.
The nature of the described characteristics of the lithosphere can be
explained by the general geodynamic model, which considers them in a
single system of cause-effect relationships. This model is based on three
main sources of geodynamic development of the lithosphere: (1) the
Earth's rotation in the Earth-Moon-Sun system, (2) the Earth's intensive
degassing by hydrogen and other deep fluids, (3) the gravitational
redistribution of the planet's material as its density changes. These
constant energy sources and their interaction may have created the
entire diversity of global geodynamic processes throughout the
geological history. The Earth's rotation around the Sun along an ellip­
tical orbit led to the division of the planet into two hemispheres with
different topographies. The Moon's rotation around the Earth created a
slightly larger southern hemisphere. Energy-intensive and chemically
active deep fluids transformed the planet's material: in regions of their
intensive advection, a silicic crust and a decompacted, depleted upper
mantle were formed. As a result, these areas of the lithosphere caused
the uplift (surfacing) of the corresponding plates and the formation of
continents. The regular change in the structure of the crust and upper
mantle from the center of continents to their margins means that they
evolved as single plates throughout the geological history. The gravi­
tational redistribution of density within the planet led to an increase in
its volume and to the formation of a system of mid-ocean ridges that are
symmetrical about the planet's poles.
The main difference between the described model of global tectonics
and the previous concepts is that it takes into account cosmic processes
of the planet formation and geochemical transformations of its inner
material by deep fluids. Fluid flows make the planet alive, it is breathing
and evolving.
Credit author statement
The author confirms sole responsibility for the following: study
conception and design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of
results, and manuscript preparation.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
N. Pavlenkova
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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