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Published May 5, 2019 | Version 1.2
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A Global Plate Model Including Lithospheric Deformation Along Major Rifts and Orogens Since the Triassic

  • 1. EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • 2. Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
  • 3. Now at Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • 4. AUGURY, Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
  • 5. Now at Shell Global Solutions International B.V., Rijswijk, Netherlands
  • 6. Department of Earth Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • 7. State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources and School of Geosciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China
  • 8. Now at Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

Description

Global deep‐time plate motion models have traditionally followed a classical rigid plate approach, even though plate deformation is known to be significant. Here we present a global Mesozoic–Cenozoic deforming plate motion model that captures the progressive extension of all continental margins since the initiation of rifting within Pangea at ~240 Ma. The model also includes major failed continental rifts and compressional deformation along collision zones. The outlines and timing of regional deformation episodes are reconstructed from a wealth of published regional tectonic models and associated geological and geophysical data. We reconstruct absolute plate motions in a mantle reference frame with a joint global inversion using hot spot tracks for the last 80 million years and minimizing global trench migration velocities and net lithospheric rotation. In our optimized model, net rotation is consistently below 0.2°/Myr, and trench migration scatter is substantially reduced. Distributed plate deformation reaches a Mesozoic peak of 30 × 106 km2 in the Late Jurassic (~160–155 Ma), driven by a vast network of rift systems. After a mid‐Cretaceous drop in deformation, it reaches a high of 48 x 106 km2 in the Late Eocene (~35 Ma), driven by the progressive growth of plate collisions and the formation of new rift systems. About a third of the continental crustal area has been deformed since 240 Ma, partitioned roughly into 65% extension and 35% compression. This community plate model provides a framework for building detailed regional deforming plate networks and form a constraint for models of basin evolution and the plate‐mantle system.

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Additional details

Related works

Is supplement to
Journal article: 10.1029/2018TC005462 (DOI)

Funding

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Deep Carbon Observatory G-2017-9997
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Deep Carbon Observatory G-2018-11296
U.S. National Science Foundation
Division of Earth Sciences EAR-1645775