IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-021-21723-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Caribbean plate tilted and actively dragged eastwards by low-viscosity asthenospheric flow

Author

Listed:
  • Yi-Wei Chen

    (University of Houston)

  • Lorenzo Colli

    (University of Houston)

  • Dale E. Bird

    (University of Houston
    Bird Geophysical)

  • Jonny Wu

    (University of Houston)

  • Hejun Zhu

    (University of Texas at Dallas)

Abstract

The importance of a low-viscosity asthenosphere underlying mobile plates has been highlighted since the earliest days of the plate tectonics revolution. However, absolute asthenospheric viscosities are still poorly constrained, with estimates spanning up to 3 orders of magnitude. Here we follow a new approach using analytic solutions for Poiseuille-Couette channel flow to compute asthenospheric viscosities under the Caribbean. We estimate Caribbean dynamic topography and the associated pressure gradient, which, combined with flow velocities estimated from geologic markers and tomographic structure, yield our best-estimate asthenospheric viscosity of (3.0 ± 1.5)*1018 Pa s. This value is consistent with independent estimates for non-cratonic and oceanic regions, and challenges the hypothesis that higher-viscosity asthenosphere inferred from postglacial rebound is globally-representative. The active flow driven by Galapagos plume overpressure shown here contradicts the traditional view that the asthenosphere is only a passive lubricating layer for Earth’s tectonic plates.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi-Wei Chen & Lorenzo Colli & Dale E. Bird & Jonny Wu & Hejun Zhu, 2021. "Caribbean plate tilted and actively dragged eastwards by low-viscosity asthenospheric flow," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-21723-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21723-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21723-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-021-21723-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-21723-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.