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On the Relative Importance of the Driving Forces of Plate Motion
Open accessAbstract
A number of possible mechanisms have recently been proposed for driving the motions of the lithospheric plates, such as pushing from mid-ocean ridges, pulling by downgoing slabs, suction toward trenches, and coupling of the plates to flow in the mantle. We advance a new observational method of testing these theories of the driving mechanism. Our basic approach is to solve the inverse problem of determining the relative strength of the plausible driving forces, given the observed motions and geometries of the lithospheric plates. Since the inertia of the plates is negligible, each plate must be in dynamic equilibrium, so that the sum of the torques acting on a plate must be zero. Thus, our problem is to determine the relative sizes of the forces that minimize the components of net torque on each plate. The results indicate that the forces acting on the downgoing slab control the velocity of the oceanic plates and are an order of magnitude stronger than any other force. Namely, all the oceanic plates attached to substantial amounts of downgoing slabs move with a ‘terminal velocity’ at which the gravitational body force pulling the slabs downward is nearly balanced with the resistance acting on the slab; regardless of the other features of the trailing horizontal part of the plates. The drag on the bottom of the plates which resist motion is stronger under the continents than under the oceans.
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“with the gravitational pull of subducting slabs now understood to be the dominant driving force for surface plate motion”
From Secular change and the onset of plate tectonics on Earth (2020) · cites this paper as Forsyth and Uyeda, 1975
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InfluentialThe Mesoproterozoic Single-Lid Tectonic Episode: Prelude to Modern Plate Tectonics
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“Presumably, after the eventual underthrusting of the older Cretaceous lithosphere and an additional critical convergence of 100–130 km, subduction became self-sustaining (1).”
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“…consider that the basal drag (or basal shear traction) could also be a major force driving plate motion and convergence [e.g., Forsyth and Uyeda, 1975; Conrad and Lithgow-Bertelloni, 2002], especially in explaining the continued Tethyan convergence and lithospheric Hagen-Poiseuille flow…”
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“Such migration has long been interpreted as the consequence of changes in the dip of the downgoing slab, and indeed the geometry of subduction will not remain static in time if the overall force balance on the slab is unsteady [Forsyth and Uyeda, 1975].”
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Convection‐driven tectonics on Venus
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“Forces applied at its boundaries include those due to: (1) the elevation of the mid-ocean ridges ("ridge-push" force F RP); (2) resistance along transform faults (FTR); (3) pull of the lithosphere toward subduction zones (FT5' the "trenchsuction" force); and (4) driving or resisting forces applied at the base of the l…”
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“Although in many regions, magmatism and extension closely overlapped over time and space (Gans et al., 1989), some recent studies suggest that the temporal–spatial correlation was poor on a provincial scale (Axen et al., 1993; Best and Christiansen, 1991; Taylor et al., 1989).”
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Heterogeneity and time dependence in 3D spherical mantle convection models with continental drift
Phillips, B. R., & Bunge, H. (2005) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2005.01.041 · Cited by 87
“For example, Forsyth and Uyeda [ 59 ] noted that at present predominantly oceanic plates move faster than continental plates by a factor of 3 to 4. Gordon and Jurdy [46] found analogous results for the Cenozoic.”
ResultAsthenospheric counterflow: a kinematic model
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Paleomagnetic Tests of Pacific Plate Reconstructions and Implications for Motion Between Hotspots
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“…that is distributed across the area of the plate [Hager and O’Connell, 1981]; since plate area seems to have little correlation with plate velocity [Forsyth and Uyeda, 1975] ridge push is typically assumed secondary to slab pull, (or it is almost exactly cancelled by mantle drag along the base of…”
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Mechanics of subducted lithosphere
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A paleomagnetic analysis of Cambrian true polar wander
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Permo-Triassic structural evolution of the Shiwandashan and Youjiang structural belts, South China
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The planet beyond the plume hypothesis
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Plate tectonics in the twenty-first century
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“In this regard, both slab pull and ridge push forces contribute to the movement of plates (Forsyth and Uyedaf, 1975; Carlson et al., 1983; Richardson, 1992; Lithgow-Bertelloni and Richards, 1995).”
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“In this scenario, water released from the top of the flat slab could be absorbed by MTZ materials above the slab and drawn toward the east by a deep-earth version of “trench suction” [e.g., Forsyth and Uyeda, 1975].”
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Space geodesy validation of the global lithospheric flow
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Crustal stress in and around Norway: an evaluation of stress-generating mechanisms
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“[16] Evaluation of the different forces that act in subduction/collisional systems is difficult to operate both in nature and in experiments [McKenzie, 1969; Forsyth and Uyeda, 1975].”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Forsyth, D., & Uyeda, S.
- Affiliations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (US)
- ORCID
- Forsyth, D.
- Venue
- Geophysical Journal International
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1975-10-01
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 163-200
- ISSN
- 0956-540X (ISSN-L)
- 1365-246X
- OpenAlex
- W2011893217
- Cited by
- 1,673
- References
- 86
- Citations by year
- 2026: 33 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 78 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 66 · 2020: 82 · 2019: 52 · 2018: 73 · 2017: 60 · 2016: 46 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 23.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Geophysical Journal International (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Office of Naval Research (N00014)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › earthquake and tectonic studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geology › Geological and Geophysical Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › High-pressure geophysics and materials
- Keywords
- plate motion, plate driving forces, slab pull, inverse problems, plate tectonics
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