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+--- Thread: Toffee Planets: Lack of Plate Tectonics (/showthread.php?tid=4087)
Toffee Planets: Lack of Plate Tectonics - Cray - 04-04-2019
Super-Earths may have a problem: their mantles may reach nearly to the surface, preventing plate tectonics and thus Earth-like environments.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toffee-planets-hint-at-earths-cosmic-rarity/
Original paper:
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2019/pdf/1315.pdf
RE: Toffee Planets: Lack of Plate Tectonics - iancampbell - 04-04-2019
Not just super-Earths; Venus is thought to have a similar problem. In that case, it's no vulcanism to speak of for half a billion years and then a total resurfacing.
This may also be one possible reason for Arrakis-like desert planets to be unlikely. Why? Because the presence of water in sedimentary rocks is highly important for plate tectonics. So there would be little vulcanism, and that means eroded continents and little water flow even considering the low water levels.
RE: Toffee Planets: Lack of Plate Tectonics - stevebowers - 04-05-2019
One possibility is a planet with a shallow ocean and numerous small, half submerged continents like New Zealand or the Kerguelen plateau. With little or no tectonics there would be no mountain chains, just a few scattered volcanos and hot spots. This may be what the Earth looked like in the early Archaean.