|Table of Contents|

Current Absolute Plate Motions(PDF)

《地球科学与环境学报》[ISSN:1672-6561/CN:61-1423/P]

Issue:
2009年第04期
Page:
331-343
Research Field:
院士专稿
Publishing date:

Info

Title:
Current Absolute Plate Motions
Author(s):
WEI Zi-qing
(Xi'an Research Institute of Surveying and Mapping, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi, China)
Keywords:
absolute plate motion;  hotspots;  hotspot reference frame;  no-net-rotation reference frame;  net rotation of the lithosphere
PACS:
P227
DOI:
-
Abstract:
The plate motions with respect to the hotspots, which are fixed relative to the mesosphere according to the hotspot hypothesis, are called absolute. The absolute plate motion model can be achieved by inverting the data set of the propagation rates and/or trends of volcanic chains to determine the origin in the angular space for the relative plate motion.A current absolute plate motion model designated as APM2 has been developed using a data set of migration rates and trends of recent(0～7.8 Ma)globally distributed hotspots tracks in conjunction with the plate motion model NNR-NUVEL1A. According to this model, the Pacific plate is moving at a rate of(0.833 0°±0.013 3°)/Ma about a pole at 60.063°S, 102.210°E; Africa has a motion of(0.101 5°±0.013 4°)/Ma about 46.849°N, 44.372°W; Antarctic has a motion of(0.084 6°±0.017 7°)/Ma about 46.871°N, 146.942°E; Eurasia has an even slower motion of(0.0655°±0.0206°)/Ma about 27.291°N, 171.925°W. The model shows that the lithosphere has a net rotation of(0.198 3°±0.013 5°)/Ma about 49.423°S,90.625°E with respect to the deep mantle. It is demonstrated that the Pacific hotspots are inconsistent with the Indo-Atlantic hotspots.Also, it is shown that the Pacific hotspots involved appear do not have a coherent motion. For analysis and comparison, this paper also gives the angular velocities of absolute plate motions obtained from only trend data for global distributed hotspots and from only trend data for only Indo-Atlantic hotspots.

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Last Update: 2009-12-20