Secular cooling of the Earth as a source of intraplate stress

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Abstract

As a result of secular cooling and contraction of the Earth, an increasingly extensional horizontal stress is imposed on the central portions of the plates. While the rate of increase of this stress is small in most situations, it is enhanced for large plates and during any episodes of accelerated global cooling. This source of stress may have contributed to the rifting and breakup of long-lived supercontinental plates.

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