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Tectonics: Converging More Slowly

Robert S. Yeats

Published November 1993, SCEC Contribution #99

Space geodesy, principally done by means of the Global Positioning System satellites and very-long-baseline interferometry, demonstrates that the relative rates of motion of the Earth’s Plates, based on geological timescales measured over 105-106 years, are confirmed by motions based on timescales measured in years or in decades. Now the challenge is to analyse regions of less than plate dimensions where the displacement rates using the two timescales do not agree. Are differences due to higher-frequency rate changes, errors in measurements or a misunderstanding of the tectonics?

Citation
Yeats, R. S. (1993). Tectonics: Converging More Slowly. Nature, 366(6453), 299-301. doi: 10.1038/366299a0.