The History and Dynamics of Global Plate Motions by Mark A. Richards, Richard G. Gordon, Robert D. van der Hilst

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By Mark A. Richards, Richard G. Gordon, Robert D. van der Hilst

Published through the yank Geophysical Union as a part of the Geophysical Monograph Series.

The new international tectonics that emerged 3 a long time in the past profoundly replaced our view of the Earth and its evolution. even if the speculation of plate tectonics supplies a kinematic description of a lot of Earth's floor motions, our dynamical realizing is still incomplete and unsatisfactory in lots of methods. Key ultimate matters comprise the mechanics of plate barriers and intraplate deformation, the relation among plate-scale dynamics and hotspot volcanism, vertical floor motions (dynamic topography) linked to subduction, and the starting place of the plate-tectonic variety of convection itself. The previous 20 years have noticeable quite regular development on a few those difficulties, spurred largely by means of the appearance of three-D seismic imaging of the Earth's inside. extra lately, advances in excessive functionality computing have supplied long-needed 3-D geodynamic modeling instruments which are yielding new insights into the relation among mantle convection and plate tectonics, and the translation of seismic heterogeneity structure.

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11). e. over up­ wellings) and convergent zones (downwellings), and is relatively immobile a n d strong in between the these two zones. Moreover, as noted by King et al. , King and Hager, 1990; Zhong and Gurnis, 1995a]. However, t o obtain sufficient plateness with t h e non-Newtonian models, it is necessary t o use a power-law index n con­ siderably higher t h a n inferred from rheological experi­ ments (typically n > 7 is needed). e. weak boundaries and strong plate interiors, in a con­ vection model.

H J J __( ^ b flip's (0 § 5 S'Sh § era * BERCOVICI ET AL. P l a t e 6. Generation of plate-like motion in lithospheric flow driven from below by a convective-type buoyancy field. Frame (a) shows the temperature lield from simple basally heated convection. This is used as a static source of buoyancy to drive flow that then drags an overyling layer of fluid with stick-slip rheology (equation (13)). The sharp changes in viscosity (b) surrounding nearly isoviscous (red) blocks, along with nearly uniform velocity fields in these blocks, is suggestive of highly plate like flow.

A n o t h e r i m p o r t a n t criterion for plate-like toroidal motion is t h a t it be manifest in nar­ row b u t intense b a n d s of strike-slip shear which is w h a t deformation on a fault would look like. 1. Imposing plates or faults. , Hager a n d O'Connell, 1978, 1979; Bunge a n d Richards, 1996]. , t h e observation t h a t t h e flow lines of t h e forced motion correlates with slab dip [Hager and O'Connell, 1978]. A possibly more self-consistent approach is t o drive t h e plate motion with buoyancy driven (poloidal) flow; t h e tractions on t h e base of a plate are first pro­ vided by t h e poloidal flow a n d t h e n t h e resulting plate motion subsequently drives toroidal flow.

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