The angular velocity vectors of the main Eurasian domains in the phanerozoic and an increase in the Earth’s rotation period

• Published in: Izvestiya. Physics of the solid earth Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 80 - 88
• Main Author: Zemtsov, V. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht SP MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica 2009; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Science; Earth mantle; Earth Sciences; Geology; Geophysics; Geophysics/Geodesy; Global positioning systems; GPS; Magnetism; Paleomagnetism; Precambrian; Studies; Eurasia; 91.25.Ng
• ISSN: 1069-3513; 1555-6506
• DOI: 10.1134/S106935130901011X

Recent paleomagnetic studies and GPS-monitoring show that slow rotations of continental plates and differential rotations of separate domains inside them are important features of geophysics and geodynamics. The epicenter of rotation of contemporary Eurasia is located in the eastern Himalayas. To the second approximation, Eurasia is not a rigid plate because the angular velocities of its large domains vary several times, increasing from the periphery of the continent to the central domain, rotated. Paleomagnetic studies of the Phanerozoic rocks of ancient domains corroborate this regularity and the fact that continents in the Northern Hemisphere rotate, as a rule, clockwise, while in the Southern Hemisphere they rotate counter-clockwise, can be used to unambiguously determine the polarity of the pole from the Precambrian apparent pole wander paths (APWP). The majority of the ancient continental domains of contemporary Eurasia decrease the rotation velocity in Phanerozoic. According to the above model, their angular velocity vectors have components opposite in direction to the angular velocity vector of the proper rotation of the Earth. This factor, together with the known ocean tidal friction, resulted in a decrease in the rotational velocity of the Earth’s mantle on a geologic time scale.