Global Plate Motions and Their Impact on the Earth's Surface Area Change

Based on their Euler poles,we calculated the relative velocities between every two plates in the typical global plate motion models,respectively,and estimated the area change along these boundaries. In our calculations,plates on both sides accommodated area changes depending on the boundary types: extensional, convergent or transform, so we can estimate area change of each plate and then globally. Our preliminary results show that the area of the southern hemisphere increased while that of the northern hemisphere decreased over the past 1 million years,and global area has increased by 26,000km2 to 36,000km2,which corresponds to the 160m～250m increment on the Earth's radius if all these area increments are attributed to Earth's expansion. Taking the NUVEL-1 model as an example,of the 14 plates in this model,11 are decreasing,but the global area has increased because of the larger increment amount from Africa,North America and Antarctica. Finally,we also discussed factors affecting the global area change such as subduction zone retreating and back-arc spreading.

Based on their Euler poles, we calculated the relative velocities between every two plates in the typical global plate motion models, respectively, and estimated the area change along these boundaries. In our calculations, plates on both sides accommodated area changes depending on the boundary types： extensional, convergent or transform, so we can estimate area change of each plate and then globally. Our preliminary results show that the area of the southern hemisphere increased while that of the northern hemisphere decreased over the past I million years, and global area has increased by 26,000km^2 to 36,000km^2, which corresponds to the 160m - 250m increment on the Earth＇s radius if all these area increments are attributed to Earth＇s expansion. Taking the NUVEL-1 model as an example, of the 14 plates in this model, 11 are decreasing, but the global area has increased because of the larger increment amount from Africa, North America and Antarctica. Finally, we also discussed factors affecting the global area change such as subduction zone retreating and back-arc spreading.