2024 GSA DONATH MEDAL: CASE STUDIES IN THE COEVOLUTION OF THE DEEP EARTH WITH THE SURFACE EARTH SYSTEM

The deep Earth, including the continental and oceanic crust, the mantle, and the core, contains the vast majority of both Earth's matter and potential energy. However, the direct interaction of life, including our own, with this vast reservoir of matter and energy is typically restricted to only the uppermost exposed surface of the solid Earth, and with the much less massive hydrosphere and atmosphere. Here we will consider some examples of the geologic interactions between this massive but ponderous deep Earth system with the surface Earth and biosphere – many of which have become increasingly well-quantified as a result of the analysis of large and open datasets. These interactions span from the influence of mantle-plume-derived flood basalts on Phanerozoic mass extinctions to the influence of climate on surficial erosion rates and the Great Unconformity – all bounded, and in many cases driven, by the gradual, ongoing secular cooling of the mantle and core that both constrains and powers magmatism and tectonics throughout Earth's history.