Abstract
Extensive magmatic and metamorphic events have occurred within the Earth's continental crust far from plate margins. During the last 800 million years Africa has only been host to such events during the breaks in the systematic motion of the African plate. This suggests that sublithospheric heat sources have little effect on a moving plate and can only produce recognisable effects in the upper crust if focused for long periods on the same part of the lithosphere.
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Briden, J., Gass, I. Plate movement and continental magmatism. Nature 248, 650–653 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/248650a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/248650a0
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