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Polar Wandering and the Earth's Dynamical Evolution Cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Cheh Pan
Cheh Pan*
Affiliation:
Westinghouse Georesearch Laboratory, Boulder, Colo., U.S.A.

Abstract

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With a triaxial deformable Earth model an attempt is made to integrate the dynamics of polar wandering with that of the tectonic movements of the Earth's upper layers. Polar wandering is interpreted as a mechanical response of the rotating Earth to the episodic energy perturbation in the upper layers, whereas the tectonic movements are the adjustments of the upper layers to the polar instability. The present analysis suggests that the attempt of the Earth to adjust itself for polar stability is the driving mechanisms of continental drift and sea-floor spreading, and also that the Earth's wobble is rather a quasi-permanent (slow damping) phenomenon and has two components. And that the Earth would not reach its rotational equilibrium as long as the excess heat-generation in its interior continues to supply energy for its cyclic dynamical evolution.

Type
Research Article
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 48: Rotation of the Earth , 1972 , pp. 206 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1972 

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