The Amurian Plate motion and current plate kinematics in eastern Asia

We use Global Positioning System (GPS) velocity data to model eastern Asian plate kinematics. Out of 15 stations in Korea, Russia, China, and Japan st udied here, three sites considered to be on the stable interior of the hypo thetical Amurian Plate showed eastward velocities as fast as similar to 9-1 0 mm/yr with respect to the Eurasian Plate. They were stationary relative t o each other to within 1 mm/yr, and these velocity vectors together with th ose of a few additional sites were used to accurately determine the instant aneous angular velocity (Euler) vector of the Amurian Plate. The predicted movement between the Amurian and the North American Plates is consistent wi th slip vectors along the eastern margin of the Japan Sea and Sakhalin, whi ch reduces the necessity to postulate the existence of the Okhotsk Plate. T he Euler vector of the Amurian Plate predicts left-lateral movement along i ts boundary with the south China block, consistent with neotectonic estimat es of the displacement at the Qinling fault, possibly the southern boundary of the Amurian Plate. The Amurian Plate offers a platform for models of in terseismic strain buildup in southwest Japan by the Philippine Sea Plate su bduction at the Nankai Trough. Slip vectors along the Baikal rift, the boun dary between the Amurian and the Eurasian Plates, are largely inconsistent with the GPS-based Euler vector, suggesting an intrinsic difficulty in usin g earthquake slip vectors in continental rift zones for such studies.