The continental plates of Earth are known to drift over a geophysical timescale, and their interactions have lead to some of the most spectacular geoformations of our planet while also causing natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic activity. Understanding the dynamics of interacting continental plates is thus significant. In this work, we present a fluid mechanical investigation of the plate motion, interaction, and dynamics. Through numerical experiments, we examine the coupling between a convective fluid and plates floating on top of it. With physical modeling, we show the coupling is both mechanical and thermal, leading to the thermal blanket effect: the floating plate is not only transported by the fluid flow beneath, it also prevents the heat from leaving the fluid, leading to a convective flow that further affects the plate motion. By adding several plates to such a coupled fluid-structure interaction, we also investigate how floating plates interact with each other and show that, under proper conditions, small plates can converge into a supercontinent.

翻译：地球的大陆板块已知在地质时间尺度上漂移，其相互作用不仅塑造了我们星球上最壮观的地质构造，同时也引发了地震与火山活动等自然灾害。因此，理解相互作用大陆板块的动力学机制具有重要意义。本研究从流体力学角度对板块运动、相互作用及动力学过程进行了探究。通过数值实验，我们考察了对流流体与其上方漂浮板块之间的耦合关系。物理模型表明，这种耦合同时具备力学与热学性质，导致热毯效应的产生：漂浮板块不仅受下方流体输运，还阻碍热量从流体中散逸，从而引发进一步影响板块运动的对流流动。通过在此类流固耦合系统中引入多个板块，我们还探究了漂浮板块间的相互作用，并证明在适当条件下，小型板块能够汇聚形成超大陆。