TY - JOUR

T1 - Rapid plate motion variations through geological time: Observations serving geodynamic interpretation

AU - Iaffaldano, Giampiero

AU - Bunge, Hans-Peter

PY - 2015/5

Y1 - 2015/5

N2 - Past and current plate motions are increasingly well mapped from high-temporal-resolution paleomagnetic and geodetic studies, revealing rapid variations that occur on short timescales relative to the time it takes for the large-scale structure associated with mantle buoyancy to evolve. The rates of change of plate velocities hold key information on the geodynamic, tectonic, and Earth's surface processes that may have caused them. Rapid plate motion changes thus provide us with a unique opportunity to quantify the forcing associated with these processes. Important mechanisms capable of inducing such rapid changes include evolving plate boundary forces, for example, those associated with slab sinking or orogeny along convergent margins, as well as temporal variations in pressure-driven flow within the asthenosphere that link plate velocity variations explicitly to changes in dynamic topography. Here, we focus on (a) findings from recent kinematic observations and (b) the quantitative framework that allows their geodynamic interpretation.

AB - Past and current plate motions are increasingly well mapped from high-temporal-resolution paleomagnetic and geodetic studies, revealing rapid variations that occur on short timescales relative to the time it takes for the large-scale structure associated with mantle buoyancy to evolve. The rates of change of plate velocities hold key information on the geodynamic, tectonic, and Earth's surface processes that may have caused them. Rapid plate motion changes thus provide us with a unique opportunity to quantify the forcing associated with these processes. Important mechanisms capable of inducing such rapid changes include evolving plate boundary forces, for example, those associated with slab sinking or orogeny along convergent margins, as well as temporal variations in pressure-driven flow within the asthenosphere that link plate velocity variations explicitly to changes in dynamic topography. Here, we focus on (a) findings from recent kinematic observations and (b) the quantitative framework that allows their geodynamic interpretation.

UR - http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-earth-060614-105117

M3 - Journal article

VL - 43

SP - 571

EP - 592

JO - Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences

JF - Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences

SN - 0084-6597

ER -