The accurate representation of data is essential in science communication. However, colour maps that visually distort data through uneven colour gradients or are unreadable to those with colour-vision deficiency remain prevalent in science. These include, but are not limited to, rainbow-like and red–green colour maps. Here, we present a simple guide for the scientific use of colour. We show how scientifically derived colour maps report true data variations, reduce complexity, and are accessible for people with colour-vision deficiencies. We highlight ways for the scientific community to identify and prevent the misuse of colour in science, and call for a proactive step away from colour misuse among the community, publishers, and the press.

Mid-ocean ridges, transform faults, subduction and continental collisions form the conventional theory of plate tectonics to explain non-rigid behaviour at plate boundaries. However, the theory does not explain directly the processes involved in intraplate deformation and seismicity. Recently, damage structures in the lithosphere have been linked to the origin of plate tectonics. Despite seismological imaging suggesting that inherited mantle lithosphere heterogeneities are ubiquitous, their plate tectonic role is rarely considered. Here we show that deep lithospheric anomalies can dominate shallow geological features in activating tectonics in plate interiors. In numerical experiments, we found that structures frozen into the mantle lithosphere through plate tectonic processes can behave as quasi-plate boundaries reactivated under far-field compressional forcing. Intraplate locations where proto-lithospheric plates have been scarred by earlier suturing could be regions where latent plate boundaries remain, and where plate tectonics processes are expressed as a ‘perennial' phenomenon.

Mesozoic‐Cenozoic rifting between Greenland and North America created the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay, while leaving preserved continental lithosphere in the Davis Strait, which lies between them. Inherited crustal structures from a Palaeoproterozoic collision have been hypothesized to account for the tectonic features of this rift system. However, the role of mantle lithosphere heterogeneities in continental suturing has not been fully explored. Our study uses 3‐D numerical models to analyze the role of crustal and subcrustal heterogeneities in controlling deformation. We implement continental extension in the presence of mantle lithosphere suture zones and deformed crustal structures and present a suite of models analyzing the role of local inheritance related to the region. In particular, we investigate the respective roles of crust and mantle lithospheric scarring during an evolving stress regime in keeping with plate tectonic reconstructions of the Davis Strait. Numerical simulations, for the first time, can reproduce first‐order features that resemble the Labrador Sea, Davis Strait, Baffin Bay continental margins, and ocean basins. The positioning of a mantle lithosphere suture, hypothesized to exist from ancient orogenic activity, produces a more appropriate tectonic evolution of the region than the previously proposed crustal inheritance. Indeed, the obliquity of the continental mantle suture with respect to extension direction is shown here to be important in the preservation of the Davis Strait. Mantle lithosphere heterogeneities are often overlooked as a control of crustal‐scale deformation. Here, we highlight the subcrust as an avenue of exploration in the understanding of rift system evolution.

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Crustal inheritance is often considered important in the tectonic evolution of the Wilson Cycle. However, the role of the mantle lithosphere is usually overlooked due to its difficulty to image and uncertainty in rheological makeup. Recently, increased resolution in lithosphere imaging has shown potential scarring in continental mantle lithosphere to be ubiquitous. In our study, we analyze intraplate deformation driven by mantle lithosphere heterogeneities from ancient Wilson Cycle processes and compare this to crustal inheritance deformation. We present 2‐D numerical experiments of continental convergence to generate intraplate deformation, exploring the limits of continental rheology to understand the dominant lithosphere layer across a broad range of geological settings. By implementing a “jelly sandwich” rheology, common in stable continental lithosphere, we find that during compression the strength of the mantle lithosphere is integral in generating deformation from a structural anomaly. We posit that if the continental mantle is the strongest layer within the lithosphere, then such inheritance may have important implications for the Wilson Cycle. Furthermore, our models show that deformation driven by mantle lithosphere scarring can produce tectonic patterns related to intraplate orogenesis originating from crustal sources, highlighting the need for a more formal discussion of the role of the mantle lithosphere in plate tectonics.

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Several processes unfold during the supercontinent cycle, more than one of which might result in an elevation in subcontinental mantle temperatures, thus multiple interpretations of the concept of continental insulation exist. Although a consensus seems to have formed that subcontinental mantle upwellings appear below large continents extensively ringed by subduction zones, there are differing views on what role continental insulation plays in the production of elevated mantle temperatures. Here we investigate how the heating mode of the mantle can change the influence of the “thermal blanket” effect. We present 2‒D and 3‒D Cartesian geometry mantle convection simulations with thermally and mechanically distinct oceanic and continental plates. The evolution of mantle thermal structure is examined after continental accretion at subduction zones (e.g., the formation of Pangea) for a variety of different mantle‒heating modes. Our results show that in low‒Rayleigh number models the impact of the role of continental insulation on subcontinental temperatures increases, when compared to models with higher convective vigor. Broad, hot upper mantle features generated in low‒Rayleigh number models (due, in part, to the thermal blanket effect) are absent at higher Rayleigh numbers. We find that subcontinental heating in a high‒Rayleigh number flow occurs almost entirely as a consequence of the influence of subduction initiation at the continental margin, rather than the influence of continental insulation. In our models featuring Earth‒like convective vigor, we find that it is difficult to obtain subcontinental temperatures in significant excess of suboceanic temperatures over timescales relevant to supercontinent aggregation.

[1] Evidence indicating that the mantle below Pangea was characterized by elevated temperatures supports the widely held view that a supercontinent insulates the underlying mantle. Implementing a 3D model of mantle convection featuring distinct oceanic and continental plates, we explore different effects of supercontinent formation on mantle evolution. We find that a halt in subduction along the margins of the site of the continental collision is sufficient to enable the formation of mantle plumes below a composite "super-plate" and that the addition of continental properties that contribute to insulation have little effect on sub-continental temperature. Our findings show that the mean temperature below a supercontinent surpasses that below the oceanic plates when the former is a perfect insulator but that continental thermal insulation plays only a minor role in the growth of sub-supercontinent mantle plumes. We suggest that the growth of a super-oceanic plate can equally encourage the appearance of underlying upwellings. Citation: Heron, P. J., and J. P. Lowman (2010), Thermal response of the mantle following the formation of a "super-plate," Geophys.