Water plays a crucial role in plate tectonics by easing the brittle and ductile deformation of the Earth's lithosphere. Water lowers the Mohr-Coulomb for brittle fractures. During ductile deformation, it lubricates different deformational regimes. This is also important for the deformation in the asthenosphere.

In addition, water plays an important role in the formation of water-bearing minerals and the fluxing of melts, thereby substantially changing the rheology of the lithosphere and asthenosphere.

So, what would plate tectonics look like on a waterless Earth? Would it even work? Would there be different rates, or totally different processes taking over, similar to what is seen on adjacent solar system bodies?

Water plays a crucial role in plate tectonics by easing the brittle and ductile deformation of the Earth's lithosphere. Water lowers the Mohr-Coulomb for brittle fractures. During ductile deformation, it lubricates different deformational regimes. This is also important for the deformation in the asthenosphere.

In addition, water plays an important role in the formation of water-bearing minerals and the fluxing of melts, thereby substantially changing the rheology of the lithosphere and asthenosphere.

So, what would plate tectonics look like on a waterless Earth? Would it even work? Would there be different rates, or totally different processes taking over, similar to what is seen on adjacent solar system bodies?

Water plays a crucial role in plate tectonics by easing the brittle and ductile deformation of the Earth's lithosphere. Water lowers the Mohr-Coulomb for brittle fractures. During ductile deformation, it lubricates different deformational regimes. This is also important for the deformation in the astenosphere.

In addition water play an important role in the formation of water-bearing minerals, and the fluxing of melts, thereby substantially changing the rheology of the lithosphere and astenosphere.

So what would plate tectonics look like on a waterless Earth? Would it even work? Would we see different rates, or totally different processes taking over, similar to what can be seen on adjacent solar system bodies?

Water plays a crucial role in plate tectonics by easing the brittle and ductile deformation of the Earth's lithosphere. Water lowers the Mohr-Coulomb for brittle fractures. During ductile deformation, it lubricates different deformational regimes. This is also important for the deformation in the asthenosphere.

In addition, water plays an important role in the formation of water-bearing minerals and the fluxing of melts, thereby substantially changing the rheology of the lithosphere and asthenosphere.

So, what would plate tectonics look like on a waterless Earth? Would it even work? Would there be different rates, or totally different processes taking over, similar to what is seen on adjacent solar system bodies?

Water plays a crucial role in plate tectonics by easing the brittle and ductile deformation of the Earth's lithosphere. Water lowers the Mohr-Coulomb for brittle fractures and during ductile deformation it lubricates different deformational regimes. This is also important for the deformation in the astensophere.

In addition water play an important role in the formation of water-bearing minerals, and the fluxing of melts. Thereby substantially changing the rheology of the lithosphere and astenosphere.

So what would plate tectonics look like on a waterless Earth? Would it even work? Would we see different rates, or totally different processes taking over, similar to what can be seen on adjacent solar system bodies?

Sources: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001AGUFM.U21A..09S

See also: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/48318/plate-tectonics-and-water

Water plays a crucial role in plate tectonics by easing the brittle and ductile deformation of the Earth's lithosphere. Water lowers the Mohr-Coulomb for brittle fractures. During ductile deformation, it lubricates different deformational regimes. This is also important for the deformation in the astenosphere.

In addition water play an important role in the formation of water-bearing minerals, and the fluxing of melts, thereby substantially changing the rheology of the lithosphere and astenosphere.

So what would plate tectonics look like on a waterless Earth? Would it even work? Would we see different rates, or totally different processes taking over, similar to what can be seen on adjacent solar system bodies?