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Current Plate Motions by C. DeMets; R. G. Gordon; D. F. Argus; S. Stein is a Earth and Planetary Sciences article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Current Plate Motions about?

We determine best-fitting Euler vectors, closure-fitting Euler vectors, and a new global model (NUVEL-1) describing the geologically current motion between 12 assumed-rigid plates by inverting plate motion data we have compiled, critically analysed, and tested for self-consistency. We treat Arabia, India and Australia, and North America and South America as distinct plates, but combine Nubia and Somalia into a single African plate because motion between them could not be reliably resolved. The 1122 data from 22 plate boundaries inverted to obtain NUVEL-1 consist of 277 spreading rates, 121 transform fault azimuths, and 724 earthquake slip vectors. We determined all rates over a uniform time interval of 3.0m.y., corresponding to the centre of the anomaly 2A sequence, by comparing synthetic magnetic anomalies with observed profiles. The model fits the data well. Unlike prior global plate motion models, which systematically misfit some spreading rates in the Indian Ocean by 8-12mmyr-', the systematic misfits by NUVEL-1 nowhere exceed -3 mm yr-'. The model differs significantly from prior global plate motion models. For the 30 pairs of plates sharing a common boundary, 29 of 30 P071, a

Who reads Current Plate Motions?

Author

C. DeMets; R. G. Gordon; D. F. Argus; S. Stein

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Published

1990

Language

EN

Field

Earth and Planetary Sciences (Physical Sciences)