Fig2-0; Click on to zoom. Fig2-1; Click on to zoom. Fig2-2; Click on to zoom.
(2-0)(2-1)(2-2)

Fig2-3; Click on to zoom. Fig2-4; Click on to zoom.
(2-3)(2-4)

Figure 2. Key points in the Earth's history: mantle overturns. (2.0) Post-accretionary state and the convection onset, (2.1) Formation of a pair of epi-Archean supercontinents, (2.2) Formation of an epi-Paleoproterozoic supercontinent, (2.3) Formation of the epi-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia, (2.4) Formation of the Wegener's Pangea.

Each event is represented by three states: (a) end of the global state: unstable state of the mantle (2.0a, initial state); (b) change of global cycles: mantle overturns; (c) beginning of the global cycle: stable thermochemical state. Each state is characterized by distributions of temperature and admixtures, shown at top of a figure, and by a distribution of streamlines, shown at the bottom (lines of the same color; yellowish and greenish tints indicate clockwise and counterclockwise motions, respectively).
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