Mark
Some of the original work which examined this issue is contained in the
classic papers
Backus, G., J. Park & D. Garbasz, On the relative importance of the driving
forces
of plate motion, Geophys. J. Roy. Astron. Soc., v67, 415-435, 1981
Forsyth, D., and Uyeda, S., 1979. On the relative importance of the driving
forces of plate motion. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical
Society, v. 43, p. 163- 200.
Carlson, R.L., Hilde, T.W.C., and Uyeda, S., 1983. The driving mechanism of
plate tectonics: Relation to age of the lithosphere at trenches.
The objective of these papers was to compare statistics about plate margin
types with the observed plate velocities. These are a good starting point.
They are a quarter-century old by now and I am sure that more recent work,
such as the OU table referenced below, has refined plate boundary
definitions, but it's good to start with the originals, especially since one
of the authors (Jeff Park) is located in the same building as you and
should be able to give you excellent directions!
Cheers
Frank Peel
BHP Billiton Petroleum
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Holt [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 9:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Plate statistics
Mark,
As a plug for the Open University in their excellent course S267: How
the Earth Works - Block 2 Plate Tectonics there is a very useful Table
2.5 on page 91 which gives for each plate ... total plate area,
continetal area, average true velocity, circumference, and effective
lengths of ocean ridges, ocean trench and transforms.
The sources are not documented (as far as I could see) but my students
(OU) have been using it for several years....without harm.
If you don't have a copy of Block 2 easily available, I'm sure I could
copy/scan it.
Regards
Richard
Dr. R.W. Holt
Earthworks
www.earthworks-jobs.com
[log in to unmask]
Phone: +44 (0) 1223 324344
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 709513
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Brandon <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 02 April 2003 15:26
Subject: Plate statistics
|I have been looking for a while for a publication that summarizes
features
|of modern plate boundaries.
|For instance, it is often noted that there is about 40,000 km of
subduction
|zone on the modern earth,
|but I cannot find any paper as a source for that figure. I am also
looking
|for the average subduction
|velocity at modern plate boundaries. Can any one point me in the
right
|direction for this information.
|Cheers,
|Mark Brandon
|
|_____________________________________________________________________
___
|Mark Brandon, Professor, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics
|Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT
06520-8109
|e-mail: [log in to unmask]
|wk. phone: +203-432-3135, wk. fax: +203-432-3134
|Dept. Web site: http://www.geology.yale.edu
|Brandon's site: http://www.geology.yale.edu/~brandon
|_____________________________________________________________________
___
|
|
EOM
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