Westward drift of the lithosphere: not a result of rotational drag

Authors
Ranalli, G
Citation
G. Ranalli, Westward drift of the lithosphere: not a result of rotational drag, GEOPHYS J I, 141(2), 2000, pp. 535-537
Citations number
20
Categorie Soggetti
Earth Sciences
Journal title
GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
ISSN journal
0956540X → ACNP
Volume
141
Issue
2
Year of publication
2000
Pages
535 - 537
Database
ISI
SICI code
0956-540X(200005)141:2<535:WDOTLN>2.0.ZU;2-A
Abstract
It is shown that any non-zero torque resulting from differences in angular velocity between individual shells in the Earth would be an extremely short transient phenomenon as a consequence of the viscosity of the asthenospher e. Consequently, it cannot be a factor in the origin of the toroidal veloci ty field of degree one ('westward drift') of the lithosphere.