Abstract
PROPOSED mechanisms for the motion of lithospheric plates over the Earth's surface range from the self-drive of plates by gravitational sliding1,2, through passive response to mantle-wide convection3, to point drive by upwelling hotspots in the mantle4. All of these models depend on the distribution of effective viscosity within the mantle. Investigations5 have established the strong likelihood that a weak layer (1020 poise) exists immediately below the lithosphere, and long spatial-wavelength loadings associated with changes in the Earth's rotation6, together with the larger scale components of glacial loading5, demand that this asthenosphere be quite thin (100 km) and bounded by material from the lower mantle with a viscosity of two to four orders of magnitude higher.
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LISTER, C. Gravitational drive on oceanic plates caused by thermal contraction. Nature 257, 663–665 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/257663a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/257663a0
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