THREE STAGES OF TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH

Abstract

Three long-lasting epochs in the earth's tectonic evolution are identified. First, the Catarchean epoch was characterized by the earth's endogenic passivity. Then, the exceptionally active Archean epoch was dominated by the tectonics of thin and light (primarily basaltic) lithospheric plates. Tectonic activity reached its peak in the late Archean epoch. Beginning with the early Proterozoic epoch and continuing to the present, the endogenic geological regime of the earth's evolution has been dominated exclusively by the tectonics of lithospheric plates.