Muller 2014
Muller 2014
Muller 2014
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Plate Motion
R. Dietmar M€
uller* and Maria Seton
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Synonyms
Plate tectonics
Definition
Plate motion can be relative or absolute. Relative plate motion describes the motion of one tectonic
plate relative to another. Absolute plate motion describes the motion of one plate relative to a fixed
reference system. Plate motion can be described by a pole of rotation and an angular velocity about
this pole.
Introduction
A tectonic plate is defined as a portion of the outer shell of the Earth that moves coherently as a rigid
body without any significant internal deformation over geological timescales. The Earth’s surface is
composed of a mosaic of rigid plates that move relative to one another over hotter, more mobile
mantle material. Plates interact at plate boundaries, which are dynamically evolving and continuous
features.
History
Alfred Wegner’s idea of “continental drift” (Wegener, 1915) to explain the geometrical, geological,
environmental, and paleontological similarities between now distant continents lacked a physically
plausible mechanism to explain the vast distances travelled by the continents. The interpretation of
ocean floor data during a rapid increase in seafloor mapping after World War II led Hess (1962) and
Dietz (1961) to propose the concept for seafloor spreading. They suggested that new seafloor is
created at mid-ocean ridges, where a cold, strong surface boundary layer diverges, dividing tectonic
plates. The new seafloor then spreads away from the mid-ocean ridge as it ages and is eventually
subducted at deep-sea trenches, where it detaches from the surface and is recycled back into the
Earth’s convecting mantle. Wilson (1965) developed the concept of plates and transform faults,
suggesting that the active mobile belts on the surface of the Earth are not isolated but continuous and
that these mobile belts, marked by active seismicity, separate the Earth into a rigid set of plates.
These active mobile belts consist of ridges where plates are created, trenches where plates are
destroyed, and transform faults, which connect the other two belts to each other.
*Email: dietmar.muller@sydney.edu.au
Page 1 of 10
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
rotation axis
rotation pole
small circles
great circle
Fig. 1 Euler’s theorem describes the motion of a tectonic plate by a rotation about a virtual axis that passes through the
center of the sphere. The Euler poles are the intersections between the rotation axis and the surface of the sphere. Small
circles describe the angular motion of a given plate. The set of small and great circles describing the rotation pole
coordinate system is equivalent to a tilted (rotated) version of the familiar geographic coordinate system of the Earth
represented by parallels and meridians
Euler’s Theorem
All tectonic plates can be viewed as rigid caps on the surface of a sphere. The motion of a plate can be
described by a rotation about a virtual axis that passes through the center of the sphere (Euler’s
theorem). In terms of the Earth, this implies that a single angular velocity vector originating at the
center of the globe can describe the motion of a plate. The most widespread parametrization of such
a vector is using latitude and longitude to describe the location where the rotation axis intersects the
surface of the Earth and a rotation rate that corresponds to the magnitude of the angular velocity
(in degrees per million years or microradians per year). The latitude and longitude of the angular
velocity vector constitute the so-called Euler pole (Fig. 1).
Page 2 of 10
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
In some regions, the boundaries are not well defined because the deformation there extends over
a broad belt, a plate-boundary zone (Gordon, 2000). These plate-boundary zones tend to have
complicated geological structures and earthquake patterns as they involve at least two large plates
and one or more microplates caught up between them.
1. The orientation of active transform faults between two plates can be used to compute their
direction of relative motion. The relative motion of two plates sharing a mid-ocean ridge is
assumed to be parallel to the transform faults and in turn assumed to follow small circles. Based
on two or more transform faults between a plate pair, the intersection of the great circles, which
are perpendicular to the small circles paralleling transform faults, approximates the position of the
rotation pole (e.g., Morgan, 1968).
2. The spreading rates along a mid-ocean ridge as determined from magnetic anomaly patterns (e.g.,
M€ uller et al. (2008)) can be used to compute a rotation pole, since the spreading rate varies as the
sine of the colatitude (i.e., angular distance) from the rotation pole.
3. Fault plane solutions (focal mechanisms) of earthquakes at plate boundaries can be utilized to
compute the direction of relative motion between plates. Only the location of the pole, but not the
spreading rate, can be determined this way. A global model for current plate motions based on
data of types (1), (2), and (3) has been constructed and reviewed by DeMets et al. (2010), utilizing
data which cover 3.2 million years of plate motion.
4. Geological markers are used along plate boundaries on land, in particular along strike-slip faults,
to determine geologically recent local relative motion. Markers used include streambed channels,
roads, and field boundaries that have been offset by strike-slip motion.
5. A satellite method called very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) uses quasars as signal source
and terrestrial radio telescopes as receivers. The difference in distance between two telescopes is
measured over a period of years.
6. Satellites have made it possible to measure present-day plate motions in real time at many more
stations than possible using the VLBI technique, which depends on permanent radio telescopes as
the receivers. Satellite laser ranging techniques using the Global Positioning System (GPS) have
been used very successfully recently to measure plate motions all over the world, especially in
areas that are subject to earthquake hazards. A current plate motion model based on a few decades
of GPS data was constructed by Kogan and Steblov (2008).
7. Coupled geodynamic plate models, which model plate boundary locations and mantle density
heterogeneity, have been used to predict present plate motions (e.g., (Stadler et al., 2010)). These
predicted motions are entirely model driven and sensitive to the mantle properties used but can be
compared to present-day observations.
Page 3 of 10
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Page 4 of 10
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
hypothesis and consider the deflection of plumes through time in a convecting mantle. Absolute
plate motion models in which seamount chains with age progression are assumed to be due to the
interaction of plates relative to non-stationary hot spots are termed moving hot spot models
(Doubrovine et al., 2012; O’Neill et al., 2005). Moving hot spot models only work well for the
last 70–100 million years at most and thus require a changeover to an alternative reference frame
(e.g., paleomagnetic-based) for earlier times. These models, which combine reference frames using
two techniques, are termed “hybrid models.” Another complication for constructing absolute plate
models is the process of true polar wander, the wholesale rotation of the Earth relative to its spin axis
(Torsvik et al., 2002). True polar wander is believed to occur mainly in response to the changing
mass distribution in the Earth’s convecting mantle due to the time dependence of subduction
(Steinberger and Torsvik, 2010). When true polar wander is much faster than the average speed of
the tectonic plates, it is expressed in all plates on the same hemisphere exhibiting the same sense of
rotation. This method can be used to construct a true polar wander corrected absolute plate motion
model (Steinberger and Torsvik, 2008).
Page 5 of 10
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
80 Ma
Grn
Izanagi
North
Eurasia
America
Ibr
Pacific
Australia
LHR
Antarctica
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280
Age of Oceanic Lithosphere [m.y.]
60 Ma
Grn
North Eurasia
Kula
America
Ibr
IZA
Pacific
Car
India
Africa
Farallon South
America Jun
LHR Australia
Antarctica
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280
Age of Oceanic Lithosphere [m.y.]
Fig. 2 (continued)
Page 6 of 10
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
40 Ma
Grn
Eurasia
North
Kula
America
Van Ibr
Car
PS
Pacific Africa India
South
Farallon
America
Australia
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280
Age of Oceanic Lithosphere [m.y.]
20 Ma
North
America Eurasia
J
Arabia
Car PS
Cocos India
Pacific
South Africa
America
Nazca Somalia Capricorn
Australia
Sco
Antarctica Antarctica
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280
Age of Oceanic Lithosphere [m.y.]
Fig. 2 (continued)
Page 7 of 10
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
0 Ma
North
America Eurasia
J
Arabia
R PS
Car India
Cocos
Pacific South Africa Somali
America Capricorn
Nazca
Australia
Sco
Antarctica
Antarctica
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280
Age of Oceanic Lithosphere [m.y.]
Fig. 2 Global plate reconstructions from 200 Ma to the present day in 20 million year time intervals. Base map shows
the age-area distribution of oceanic lithosphere. Red lines denote subduction zones and black lines denote mid-ocean
ridges and transform faults. Pink polygons indicate products of plume-related excessive volcanism (e.g., LIPs and
volcanic plateaus). Yellow triangles indicate present-day hot spot locations. Absolute plate velocity vectors are denoted
as black arrows. Major plates are labeled. Abbreviations include Car caribbean, Col colorado, Flk falkland, Grn
greenland, Ibr iberia, J juan de fuca, Jun junction, LHR lord howe rise, Man manihiki, Pat patagonia, PS philippine sea,
R rivera, Sco scotia sea, Van vancouver
as reconstructed ocean basins. This is essential for understanding absolute plate motions in terms of
plate driving forces through time and to evaluate to what extent mantle plumes and the surface hot
spots they cause may have been moving relative to each other. In order to advance our understanding
of the coupling and feedbacks between deep earth processes and plate kinematics, new software
tools and workflows need to be established in which observations, plate kinematics through time,
geodynamic modeling, and model/data visualization are seamlessly linked, based on open standards
and open-source tools. The burgeoning fields of simulation and modeling and “big data” analysis are
likely to enable key advances in this area.
Cross-References
▶ Hot Spots and Mantle Plumes
▶ Lithosphere – Composition and Formation
▶ Sea-floor Spreading
▶ Subduction
▶ Transform Fault
Page 8 of 10
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Bibliography
Argus, D. F., and Heflin, M. B., 1995. Plate motion and crustal deformation estimated with geodetic
data from the Global Positioning System. Geophysical Research Letters, 22(15), 1973–1976.
Argus, D. F., Gordon, R. G., Heflin, M. B., Ma, C., Eanes, R. J., Willis, P., Peltier, W. R., and Owen,
S. E., 2010. The angular velocities of the plates and the velocity of Earth’s centre from space
geodesy. Geophysical Journal International, 180(3), 913–960.
Boyden, J. A., M€ uller, R. D., Gurnis, M., Torsvik, T. H., Clark, J. A., Turner, M., Ivey-Law, H.,
Watson, R. J., and Cannon, J. S., 2011. Next-generation plate-tectonic reconstructions using
GPlates. In Randy Keller, G., Randy Keller, G., and Baru, C. (eds.), Geoinformatics: Cyberinfras-
tructure for the Solid Earth Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 95–114.
Chang, T., 1988. Estimating the relative rotation of two tectonic plates from boundary crossings.
Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83(404), 1178–1183.
Cox, A., and Hart, R. B., 1986. Plate Tectonics: How it Works. Oxford: Blackwell. 392 p.
DeMets, C., Gordon, R. G., and Argus, D. F., 2010. Geologically current plate motions. Geophysical
Journal International, 181, 1–80.
Dietz, R. S., 1961. Evolution by spreading of the sea floor. Nature, 190, 854–857.
Doubrovine, P. V., Steinberger, B., and Torsvik, T. H., 2012. Absolute plate motions in a reference
frame defined by moving hot spots in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. Journal of
Geophysical Research, 117(B9), B09101.
Golonka, J., 2007. Late triassic and early jurassic palaeogeography of the world. Palaeogeography
Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 244(1–4), 297–307.
Gordon, R. C., 2000. Diffuse oceanic plate boundaries: strain rates, vertically averaged rheology,
and comparisons with narrow plate boundaries and stable plate interiors. In Richards, M. A.,
Gordon, R. C., and van der Hilst, R. D. (eds.), The History and Dynamics of Global Plate
Motions. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, Vol. 121, pp. 145–159.
Hellinger, S. J., 1981. The uncertainties of finite rotations in plate tectonics. Journal of Geophysical
Research, 86(B10), 9312–9318.
Hess, H. H., 1962. History of Ocean Basins: Geological Society of America Bulletin. In Petrologic
Studies: A Volume to Honour A.F. Buddington. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America,
pp. 559–620.
Kogan, M. G., and Steblov, G. M., 2008. Current global plate kinematics from GPS (1995–2007)
with the plate-consistent reference frame. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113(B4), B04416.
Matthews, K. J., M€ uller, R. D., Wessel, P., and Whittaker, J. M., 2011. The tectonic fabric of the
ocean basins. Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, B12109, 1–28.
Morgan, W. J., 1968. Rises, trenches, great faults and crustal blocks. Journal of Geophysical
Research, 73, 1959–1982.
Morgan, W. J., 1971. Convection plumes in the lower mantle. Nature, 230, 43–44.
Morgan, W. J. 1972. Plate Motions and Deep Mantle Convection. Geological Society of America
Memoirs. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, Vol. 132, pp. 7–22.
M€uller, R. D., Sdrolias, M., Gaina, C., and Roest, W. R., 2008. Age, spreading rates, and spreading
asymmetry of the world’s ocean crust. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 9(Q04006),
18–36, doi:10.1029/2007GC001743
O’Neill, C., Muller, D., and Steinberger, B., 2003. Geodynamic implications of moving Indian
Ocean hotspots. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 215(1–2), 151–168.
Page 9 of 10
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_131-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
O’Neill, C., M€ uller, D., and Steinberger, B., 2005. On the uncertainties in hot spot reconstructions
and the significance of moving hot spot reference frames. Geochemistry, Geophysics,
Geosystems. 6(4), Q04003.
Scotese, C. R., 2004. A continental drift flipbook. Journal of Geology, 112(6), 729–741.
Seton, M., M€ uller, R. D., Zahirovic, S., Gaina, C., Torsvik, T., Shephard, G. E., Talsma, A. S.,
Gurnis, M., Turner, M., Maus, S., and Chandler, M. T., 2012. Global continental and ocean basin
reconstructions since 200 Ma. Earth Science Reviews, 113, 212–270.
Stadler, G., Gurnis, M., Burstedde, C., Wilcox, L. C., Alisic, L., and Ghattas, O., 2010. The
dynamics of plate tectonics and mantle flow: from local to global scales. Science, 329,
1033–1038.
Stampfli, G. M., and Borel, G. D., 2002. A plate tectonic model for the Paleozoic and Mesozoic
constrained by dynamic plate boundaries and restored synthetic oceanic isochrons. Earth and
Planetary Science Letters, 196(1–2), 17–33.
Steinberger, B., and O’Connell, R. J., 1998. Advection of plumes in mantle flow: Implications for
hot spot motion, mantle viscosity and plume distributions. Geophysical Journal International,
132, 412–434.
Steinberger, B., and Torsvik, T. H., 2008. Absolute plate motions and true polar wander in the
absence of hotspot tracks. Nature, 452(7187), 620–623.
Steinberger, B., and Torsvik, T., 2010. Toward an explanation for the present and past locations of
the poles. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 11(6).
Stock, J., and Molnar, P., 1988. Uncertainties and implications of the late cretaceous and tertiary
position of North America relative to the Farallon, Kula, and Pacific plate. Tectonics, 7(6),
1339–1384.
Torsvik, T. H., Van der Voo, R., and Redfield, T. F., 2002. Relative hotspot motions versus true polar
wander. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 202(2), 185–200.
Torsvik, T., M€uller, R. D., Van der Voo, R., Steinberger, B., and Gaina, C., 2008. Global plate motion
frames: toward a unified model. Reviews of Geophysics, 46(RG3004), doi:10.1029/
2007RG000227
Van der Voo, R., 1990. The reliability of paleomagnetic data. Tectonophysics, 184(1), 1–9.
Wegener, A., 1915. The Origin of Continents and Oceans. New York, NY: Courier Dover
Publications.
Wessel, P., and Kroenke, L. W., 1997. A geometric technique for relocating hotspots and refining
absolute plate motions. Nature, 387(6631), 365–369.
Williams, S. E., M€ uller, R. D., Landgrebe, T. C. W., and Whittaker, J. M., 2012. An open-source
software environment for visualizing and refining plate tectonic reconstructions using high-
resolution geological and geophysical data sets. GSA Today, 22(4/5), 4–9.
Wilson, J. T., 1965. A new class of faults and their bearing on continental drift. Nature, 207,
343–347.
Wright, N., Zahirovic, S., M€ uller, R. D., and Seton, M., 2013. Towards community-driven paleo-
geographic reconstructions: integrating open-access paleogeographic and paleobiology data with
plate tectonics. Biogeosciences, 10(3), 1529–1541.
Page 10 of 10