Here is the abstract from an article published 4th January in Science:
Intermittent Plate Tectonics?
Paul G. Silver and Mark D. Behn
Although it is commonly assumed that subduction has operated continuously on Earth without interruption, subduction zones are routinely terminated by ocean closure and supercontinent assembly. Under certain circumstances, this could lead to a dramatic loss of subduction, globally. Closure of a Pacific-type basin, for example, would eliminate most subduction, unless this loss were compensated for by comparable subduction initiation elsewhere. Given the evidence for Pacific-type closure in Earth's past, the absence of a direct mechanism for termination/initiation compensation, and recent data supporting a minimum in subduction flux in the Mesoproterozoic, we hypothesize that dramatic reductions or temporary cessations of subduction have occurred in Earth's history. Such deviations in the continuity of plate tectonics have important consequences for Earth's thermal and continental evolution.
This would help to explain why the rate of cooling of the Earth is less than that predicted by models employing continuously active plate tectonics.
If plate tectonics does stop then erosion of the continents would, in theory, eventually remove all land from the globe. One wonders if the thinning of the continental bodies, along with isostatic uplift and heat build up might contribute to the eventual initiation of new rifting zones and forced subduction.