TY - JOUR
T1 - New Kinematic models for Pacific-North America motion from 3 Ma to present, I: Evidence for steady motion and biases in the NUVEL-1A Model
AU - DeMets, Charles
AU - Dixon, Timothy H.
PY - 1999/1/1
Y1 - 1999/1/1
N2 - We use velocities derived from 2–4.5 years of continuous GPS observations at 21 sites on the Pacific and North American plates along with a subset of the NUVEL-1A data to examine the steadiness of Pacific-North America motion since 3.16 Ma, the transfer of Baja California to the Pacific plate, and the magnitude of biases in the NUVEL-1A estimate of Pacific-North America motion. We find that Pacific-North America motion has remained steady since 3.16 Ma, but at rates significantly faster than predicted by NUVEL-1A. In the vicinity of Baja California, our GPS-derived model and recent seafloor spreading rates in the southern Gulf of California both indicate that the NUVEL-1A model underestimates Pacific-North America rates by 4±2 mm yr −1 . Steady Pacific-North America motion since 3.16 Myr and increasing seafloor spreading rates since 3.58 Myr in the Gulf of California imply that Pacific-North America motion was partitioned between seafloor spreading in the Gulf of California and decelerating slip along faults in or offshore from the Baja peninsula.
AB - We use velocities derived from 2–4.5 years of continuous GPS observations at 21 sites on the Pacific and North American plates along with a subset of the NUVEL-1A data to examine the steadiness of Pacific-North America motion since 3.16 Ma, the transfer of Baja California to the Pacific plate, and the magnitude of biases in the NUVEL-1A estimate of Pacific-North America motion. We find that Pacific-North America motion has remained steady since 3.16 Ma, but at rates significantly faster than predicted by NUVEL-1A. In the vicinity of Baja California, our GPS-derived model and recent seafloor spreading rates in the southern Gulf of California both indicate that the NUVEL-1A model underestimates Pacific-North America rates by 4±2 mm yr −1 . Steady Pacific-North America motion since 3.16 Myr and increasing seafloor spreading rates since 3.58 Myr in the Gulf of California imply that Pacific-North America motion was partitioned between seafloor spreading in the Gulf of California and decelerating slip along faults in or offshore from the Baja peninsula.
UR - https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/480
U2 - 10.1029/1999GL900405
DO - 10.1029/1999GL900405
M3 - Article
VL - 26
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
ER -