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Earth and Space Sciences · Glossary

What is Wilson cycle?

Definition 15.3 University Earth and Space Sciences — Year 2 · Chapter 15 — Ancient Massifs and the Wilson Cycle

The Wilson cycle is the succession of stages through which an ocean basin opens and closes again between continental margins: continental rifting, break-up and sea-floor spreading, a widening ocean with passive margins, the start of subduction, the narrowing and closure of the ocean, continental collision, and the collapse and erosion of the belt, after which the welded continent may rift again along the same zone.

The stages of the Wilson cycle, as schematic sections (not to scale): continental crust in orange, oceanic crust in grey, the ridge in red, volcanoes of the arc as triangles; in the last panel the suture and a granite remain in a crust of normal thickness.
The stages of the Wilson cycle, as schematic sections (not to scale): continental crust in orange, oceanic crust in grey, the ridge in red, volcanoes of the arc as triangles; in the last panel the suture and a granite remain in a crust of normal thickness.
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