Westwanderung and the lunar tidal couple: Modulation of convection by Bulge Stress |
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| Authors: | R C Bostrom |
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| Institution: | (1) University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA |
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| Abstract: | Wegener concluded that the Earth's surface has suffered regionally variable westward displacement. Modern data support Wegener's conclusion, but a causative mechanism has not been evident. The retarding torque is too small to distort the viscous Earth. At the same time difficulty has been experienced in explaining the large value of the astronomically detected tidal dissipation. We have examined the effect of the secular rotational strain imposed by tidal bulge formation on convection in the mantle of arbitrary origin. The dissipation as measured by the lag in the bodily tides appears adequate to explain the missing part of the dissipation, some 8.5 × 1026 erg yr–1, without recourse to an unidentified mechanism in the seas. The convection must itself be influenced by the external force system. The effect to be expected is that circulation resulting in westward displacement at surface must be fostered at the expense of circulation in other directions. The history of the tidal couple, if this is based on dissipation in the mantle, is likely to differ greatly from that of a couple based on dissipation in the seas. |
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