On the equipartition of kinetic energy in plate tectonics

Details On the equipartition of kinetic energy in plate tectonics On the equipartition of kinetic energy in plate tectonics

Sep 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991georl..18.1751o&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276), vol. 18, Sept. 1991, p. 1751-1754.

Mathematics

Logic

23

Equipartition Theorem, Geodynamics, Kinetic Energy, Plates (Tectonics), Earth Mantle, Geological Faults, Lithosphere

Scientific paper

A simple kinematic model is used to demonstrate that a square-shaped plate, drifting without spin, has equal poloidal and toroidal energies. It is shown that the most probable state for an array of many rectangular plates is equipartition of poloidal and toroidal kinetic energy, provided the drift directions of individual plates in the array are random. The model predicts that convergent margins occupy 42 percent of plate boundaries, while divergent and transform margins occupy 25 percent and 33 percent, respectively. It is concluded that equipartitioning of plate kinetic energy implies a large degree of decoupling between plates and a disorganized pattern of convection in the mantle.

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