Geologically current motion of 56 plates relative to the no-net-rotation reference frame

Abstract

NNR-MORVEL56, which is a set of angular velocities of 56 plates relative to the unique reference frame in which there is no net rotation of the lithosphere, is determined. The relative angular velocities of 25 plates constitute the MORVEL set of geologically current relative plate angular velocities; the relative angular velocities of the other 31 plates are adapted from Bird (2003). NNR-MORVEL, a set of angular velocities of the 25 MORVEL plates relative to the no-net rotation reference frame, is also determined. Incorporating the 31 plates from Bird (2003), which constitute 2.8% of Earth's surface, changes the angular velocities of the MORVEL plates in the no-net-rotation frame only insignificantly, but provides a more complete description of globally distributed deformation and strain rate. NNR-MORVEL56 differs significantly from, and improves upon, NNR-NUVEL1A, our prior set of angular velocities of the plates relative to the no-net-rotation reference frame, partly due to differences in angular velocity at two essential links of the MORVEL plate circuit, Antarctica-Pacific and Nubia-Antarctica, and partly due to differences in the angular velocities of the Philippine Sea, Nazca, and Cocos plates relative to the Pacific plate. For example, the NNR-MORVEL56 Pacific angular velocity differs from the NNR-NUVEL1A angular velocity by a vector of length 0.039 0.011 a -1 (95% confidence limits), resulting in a root-mean-square difference in velocity of 2.8 mm a -1. All 56 plates in NNR-MORVEL56 move significantly relative to the no-net-rotation reference frame with rotation rates ranging from 0.107 a -1 to 51.569 a -1. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.