Around 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans with depths that exceed several kilometers, while continents are geographically enclosed by these vast bodies of water. The principle of fluid mechanics stipulat...Around 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans with depths that exceed several kilometers, while continents are geographically enclosed by these vast bodies of water. The principle of fluid mechanics stipulates that water yields pressure everywhere in the container that holds it, and the water pressure against the wall of container generates force. Ocean basins are naturally gigantic containers of water, in which continents form the walls of the containers. In this study, we present that the ocean water pressure against the walls of continents generates enormous force, and determine the distribution of this force around continents and estimate its amplitude to be of the order of 1017 N per kilometer of continent width. Our modelling suggests that the stresses yielded by this force are mostly concentrated on the upper part of the continental crust, and their magnitudes reach up to 2.0 - 6.0 MPa. Our results suggest that the force may have significantly impacted the dynamics of continent (lithospheric plate) and its evolution.展开更多
Plate motion representing a remarkable Earth process is widely attributed to several primary forces such as ridge push and slab pull. Recently, we have presented that the ocean water pressure against the wall of conti...Plate motion representing a remarkable Earth process is widely attributed to several primary forces such as ridge push and slab pull. Recently, we have presented that the ocean water pressure against the wall of continents may generate enormous force on continents. Continents are physically fixed on the top of the lithosphere that has been already broken into individual plates, this attachment enables the force to be laterally transferred to the lithospheric plates. In this study, we combine the force and the existing plate driving forces (i.e., ridge push, slab pull, collisional, and shearing) to account for plate motion. We show that the modelled movements for the South American, African, North American, Eurasian, Australian, Pacific plates are well agreement with the observed movements in both speed and azimuth, with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the modelled speed against the observed speed of 0.91, 3.76, 2.77, 2.31, 7.43, and 1.95 mm/yr, respectively.展开更多
文摘Around 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans with depths that exceed several kilometers, while continents are geographically enclosed by these vast bodies of water. The principle of fluid mechanics stipulates that water yields pressure everywhere in the container that holds it, and the water pressure against the wall of container generates force. Ocean basins are naturally gigantic containers of water, in which continents form the walls of the containers. In this study, we present that the ocean water pressure against the walls of continents generates enormous force, and determine the distribution of this force around continents and estimate its amplitude to be of the order of 1017 N per kilometer of continent width. Our modelling suggests that the stresses yielded by this force are mostly concentrated on the upper part of the continental crust, and their magnitudes reach up to 2.0 - 6.0 MPa. Our results suggest that the force may have significantly impacted the dynamics of continent (lithospheric plate) and its evolution.
文摘Plate motion representing a remarkable Earth process is widely attributed to several primary forces such as ridge push and slab pull. Recently, we have presented that the ocean water pressure against the wall of continents may generate enormous force on continents. Continents are physically fixed on the top of the lithosphere that has been already broken into individual plates, this attachment enables the force to be laterally transferred to the lithospheric plates. In this study, we combine the force and the existing plate driving forces (i.e., ridge push, slab pull, collisional, and shearing) to account for plate motion. We show that the modelled movements for the South American, African, North American, Eurasian, Australian, Pacific plates are well agreement with the observed movements in both speed and azimuth, with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the modelled speed against the observed speed of 0.91, 3.76, 2.77, 2.31, 7.43, and 1.95 mm/yr, respectively.
