How Rigid is the Stable Interior of the North American Plate?

Authors

Timothy H. Dixon, University of MiamiFollow
Ailin Mao, University of Miami
Seth Stein, Northwestern University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1996

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1029/96GL02820

Abstract

We analyze data from eight permanent GPS stations broadly distributed through the interior of the North American plate, and use the resulting velocities to estimate an Euler vector describing motion of “stable” North America as a single rigid plate. The site velocities fit the single plate model with a mean residual of 1.3 mm/yr. The residuals do not appear to reflect post-glacial rebound, and tests for differential motion between eastern and western North America at the New Madrid seismic zone show no resolvable motion within uncertainties. The residuals likely reflect observational error, and thus our estimate of the stability of the plate interior is likely an upper bound.

Rights Information

Terms of use for work posted in Scholar Commons.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

No

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Geophysical Research Letters, v. 23, issue 21, p. 3035-3038

Copyright 1996 by the American Geophysical Union.

Scholar Commons Citation

Dixon, Timothy H.; Mao, Ailin; and Stein, Seth, "How Rigid is the Stable Interior of the North American Plate?" (1996). School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications. 494.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/494