Tracing upper mantle flow patterns through continent-scale hiatus surfaces in the Indo-Atlantic Realms since the Upper Jurassic

Mantle convection is a fundamental driving force of plate tectonics. It is commonly perceived that mantle convection is difficult to constrain directly. However, the convection process affects the Earth surface imprints the geological record. In particular, the positive surface deflections driven by mantle convection create erosional/non-depositional environments, which induce gaps in the stratigraphic record (i.e., an absence or thinning of a sedimentary layer). Modern digital geological maps allow us to map the largest of such un/-conformable surfaces at continental scale systematically.
We report our continent-scale hiatus mapping in geological series across America, Europe, Africa, and Australia, from the Upper Jurassic onward. We find significant differences in the spatial extent of hiatus patterns across and between continents, which is on the order of 2000 – 3000 km in diameter. These surfaces change at geological series, ten to a few tens of millions of years (Myrs). This duration is significantly shorter than the timescale of mantle convection of about 100 – 200 Myrs, implying that different timescales for convection and topography in convective support must be an integral component of time-dependent geodynamic Earth models. Our results call for intensified collaboration between geodynamicists and geologists to test geodynamic Earth models by assembling relevant geological observations at continental scales.