Role of global seismicity in accelerating gravitational-energy conversion

Determine whether global seismicity actively facilitates and accelerates gravitational-potential-energy-to-heat conversion more efficiently than would occur without earthquakes, thereby influencing mantle convection, plate motions, and the long-term cooling rate of Earth.

Background

The paper proposes that earthquake faulting is not merely a passive consequence of plate tectonics but may actively participate in the energetics of mantle convection. At subduction zones, thrust-faulting earthquakes are argued to release gravitational energy at a rate of approximately 10 TW, converting it into heat that helps supply island-arc volcanism; at spreading centers, normal-faulting earthquakes are associated with a smaller gravitational-energy gain.

The authors suggest that this coupling could produce a positive feedback: seismicity may facilitate gravitational-energy-to-heat conversion, thereby strengthening mantle convection and plate motions, which in turn generate further seismicity. They also acknowledge the opposite possibility, namely that fault locking could impede gravitational-energy exchange and produce a negative feedback. The paper does not resolve which mechanism operates globally, nor whether the proposed seismic facilitation is more efficient than gravitational-energy conversion in the absence of earthquakes.