<p>There is good evidence that the presence of water on a planet's surface is necessary for that planet to have plate tectonics. My question is this: Do we know if there is a minimum amount of surface water that is needed to sustain this? How little water could a planet hypothetically have, yet still possess active plate tectonics?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-15T12:24:45.487Z
a link to this good evidence had been very helpful when trying to answer this.
trond hansen
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2018-10-15T19:34:47.543Z
Sure thing! Here you go: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001AGUFM.U21A..09S
Arkenstein XII
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-16T10:24:39.087Z
@Arkenstein - I wouldn't call a conference paper that has been cited one time  since it was published 17 years ago "good evidence".
David Hammen
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2018-10-16T20:49:39.153Z
Here are a few more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X97001829 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/294/5542/578 As well as a refutation of the hypothesis: http://www.nature.com/articles/nature12193
Arkenstein XII
<plate-tectonics><planetary-science><hydrogeology>
Minimum Surface Water for Plate Tectonics?
Arkenstein XII
# Minimum Surface Water for Plate Tectonics?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-10-14)

There is good evidence that the presence of water on a planet's surface is necessary for that planet to have plate tectonics. My question is this: Do we know if there is a minimum amount of surface water that is needed to sustain this? How little water could a planet hypothetically have, yet still possess active plate tectonics?

Thanks in advance!

**Tags:** plate-tectonics, planetary-science, hydrogeology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: a link to this good evidence had been very helpful when trying to answer this.  
> **username_0**: Sure thing! Here you go: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001AGUFM.U21A..09S  
> **username_2**: @username_0 - I wouldn't call a conference paper that has been cited one time  since it was published 17 years ago "good evidence".  
> **username_0**: Here are a few more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X97001829 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/294/5542/578 As well as a refutation of the hypothesis: http://www.nature.com/articles/nature12193  

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