Mid-ocean ridges, transform faults, subduction and continental collisions form the conventional theory of plate tectonics to explain non-rigid behaviour at plate boundaries. However, the theory does not explain directly the processes involved in intraplate deformation and seismicity. Recently, damage structures in the lithosphere have been linked to the origin of plate tectonics. Despite seismo...

Based on 43 Harvard CMT solutions in Yunnan region, GPS observations from 1999 to 2004 by China Crustal Movement Observatory Network, and results from SKS splitting and Pn fast wave anisotropy, we obtained the average directions of principle stress fields at different depths by average angle method. Then we further analyzed the coupling difference between geodynamic parameters in different tect...

The concept of plate tectonics is generally accepted in earth science and seismology. The surface of the earth is divided into rigid tectonic plates that move on the earth surface at extremely slow speed. The islands of Japan sit on the North American and Eurasian plates. The Pacific plate moves westward and the Philippines plate moves to northwest direction; both plates sink under the islands ...

Volcanism on Earth is known to occur in three tectonic settings: divergent plate boundaries (such as mid-ocean ridges), convergent plate boundaries (such as island arcs), and hot spots. We report volcanism on the 135 million-year-old Pacific Plate not belonging to any of these categories. Small alkalic volcanoes form from small percent melts and originate in the asthenosphere, as implied by the...

[1] We show that the two-dimensional coherence between topography and Bouguer gravity is anisotropic throughout most of the Canadian Shield, excepted Hudson Bay Basin. We interpret the axis of maximum coherence as the direction where the lithosphere is weakest. In the southeastern Shield and the Appalachians, the azimuthally averaged coherence cannot be fitted by the thin elastic plate model. I...

Experimental annealing of galena samples with known deformation histories shows that this mineral has the necessary properties to be a valuable source of information about low-grade deformational environments. Annealed galena displays recovery and/or recrystallization features dependent upon the type of texture inherited from the tectonic event, which in turn is closely linked to deformation te...