True Polar Wander of Bodies with Elastic Lithospheres: the Role of Elastic Energy in the Lithosphere

Details True Polar Wander of Bodies with Elastic Lithospheres: the Role of Elastic Energy in the Lithosphere True Polar Wander of Bodies with Elastic Lithospheres: the Role of Elastic Energy in the Lithosphere

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p31c0161m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P31C-0161

Physics

5450 Orbital And Rotational Dynamics (1221), 5455 Origin And Evolution, 6225 Mars, 6299 General Or Miscellaneous

Scientific paper

True polar wander (TPW) refers to the reorientation of the rotation axis of a body in response to changes in the inertia tensor due to mass redistribution. The lowest kinetic energy for a rigid spinning body corresponds to rotation about the principal axis associated with the largest moment of inertia. It is also generally assumed that internal energy dissipation will ultimately drive deformable (viscoelastic) bodies to this state (i.e., where the rotation vector is coincident with the maximum principal axis) (Willemann, 1984, Icarus, 60; Matsuyama et al. 2006, JGR, 111, E02003). Ojakangas and Stevenson (1989, Icarus, 81) indicate that the minimum total energy state may not correspond to principal axis rotation for planets with purely elastic lithospheres because reorientation generates elastic strains within the lithosphere, which reduces the energy available to drive further reorientation. We generalize the approach of Matsuyama et al. (2006) to obtain TPW solutions by finding the minimum total energy state that includes self-consistent elastic energy stored in the lithosphere. We quantify the stabilizing effect of the lithospheric strain term by comparing solutions with and without this term included. Finally, we also comment on the stabilization in the case of bodies with broken (Earth) rather than continuous (Venus, Mars) plates.

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