THE WLSON CYCLE

STAGE A A stable continental craton

Imagine a very simple situation - a tectonically stable continental craton

bordered by ocean basins all around.
STAGE B HOT SPOT AND RIFTING

Into the peaceful stable continent of Stage A comes a disturbance. From

deep in the mantle a plume of hot Mafic Or Ultramafic Magma, rises toward
the surface and ponds at the base of the continent creating a hot spot. Heat
from the hot spot warms the continental crust causing it to expand and swell
into a dome 3-4 kilometers high and about a thousand kilometers in
diameter. As the dome swells it thins and stretches like pulled taffy (or silly
putty) until the brittle upper surface cracks along a series of three rift valleys
radiating away from the center of the hot spot.
STAGE C CREATION OF NEW OCEANIC CRUST: EARLY DIVERGENT MARGIN
The process of ocean basin formation begins with a great surge of mafic
volcanic activity along one side of the axial rift. Axial rifts do not usually split
in two, down the middle, but separate along one side or the other (Detailed
Drawing). As the volcanic activity continues, the two pieces of the original
continent begin to drift apart and the gap between them fills with mafic
igneous rock. The final result is that beginning with only one tectonic plate
in Stage A, rifting has created a new divergent plate boundary and two
plates, one on the west (containing Westcontinent) and one on the east
(containing Eastcontinent).
STAGE D FULL DIVERGENT MARGIN
Meanwhile a great wedge of sediment is deposited on the DCM, expanding
and thickening from a feather edge on the continent side toward the ocean
basin. These sediments are derived from the eroding continent in the case of
clastics, and by chemical and biological activity in the case of carbonates. It
consists mostly of shallow-water marine deposits because subsidence and
deposition go on at about the same rate.
STAGE E CREATING A CONVERGENT BOUNDARY: VOLCANIC ISLAND ARC
MOUNTAIN BUILDING
At some point, however, divergence stops and the two continents begin to
move back toward each other, initiating the second, closing, half of the
Wilson Cycle. This is convergence and a new plate boundary must be created
for it. Convergence begins when oceanic crust decouples, that is, breaks at
some place and begins to descend into the mantle along a subduction zone.
STAGE F ISLAND ARC CONTINENT COLLISION MOUNTAIN BUILDING

Westcontinent and the volcanic island have now converged and collided,
creating a large mountain, and the remnant ocean basin is reduced to a
suture zone. Eastcontinent has also come onto the cross section, but it is still
far away.
STAGE G CORDILLERAN MOUNTAIN BUILDING

The subduction zone under the island arc is now dead, and the mountain on
the edge of Westcontinent peneplaned, but Eastcontinent and
Westcontinent are still being driven together by forces outside the cross
section. Therefore, another subduction zone has to begin. It could begin
anywhere within the ocean basin and form another island arc, and it could
dip in any direction. But in this model, decoupling occurs dipping east under
the edge of the Eastcontinent, forming a Cordilleran (volcanic arc) type of
mountain building.
STAGE H CONTINENT-CONTINENTCOLLISION MOUNTAIN BUILDING

By Stage H the remnant ocean basin separating East- and Westcontinents

has closed and they have collided to form a Continent-Continent Collision
Orogeny. This mountain building has many of the same elements as
the Island Arc-Continent Collision: a hinterland, foreland, suture zone,
foreland basin, and a towering mountain range, most likely Himalayan size
STAGE I: STABLE CONTINENTAL CRATON

The cycle which began in Stage A now comes to an end. The original
continental craton of Stage A which was rifted into two pieces in Stage C is
now back together, and stabilized once more.
Note, however, that this new continent is quite complex compared with
the Stage A craton, and that the basement rocks exposed at the surface are
very diversified. In the Enlarged And Detailed Drawing you can see that in
addition to the original