Lithospheric plates exhibit peculiar features, such as short-term motion changes on the order of few Myrs, which make them not fully compatible with a purely mantle-driven system where they only passively drift. Because of their properties, plates exert thermal and mechanical feedbacks on mantle convection that evolve through time. The geologic record can monitor the spatial and temporal variations of forces driving and resisting plate motions. Stress and strain indicators, as well as mountain building, erosion and sedimentation, and other geological and geophysical observables can be viewed as indicators of the evolving force balance and interactions between plates and mantle. The scope of this session is to bring together observations and interpretations that help quantify the history of dynamics and thermodynamics between mantle and plates. We encourage contributions from field-based as well as modeling (both analog and numerical) studies on the evolution of the lithosphere and its ability to feed back on mantle convection. Invited speakers include Lapo Boschi, Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni, Robert Moucha, Seth Stein, Trond Torsvik.