NUVEL

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NUVEL (Nortwestern Univercity Velocity) is the collective name for geophysical earth models in which the verifiable continental displacements of 1 to 20 cm per year are described by a dynamic theory of plate tectonics .

Each continental plate moves and rotates relative to the neighboring blocks and is described by vectors for its speed and in more recent models (from NUVEL 1-B?) Also for the rotational movement.

These movements have been clearly demonstrable empirically for about 20 years, but not always without contradictions. Important measurement methods for this are the space methods VLBI , GPS and SLR , supplemented by geophysical-geological findings and a theory of viscoelasticity in the interior of the earth.

At present, the movement rates between the NUVEL models and the purely kinematic, but easily verifiable geodetic earth models such as ITRF or IGGOS differ by amounts of up to a few centimeters. With the refinement of the elasticity models of the earth's crust and upper mantle, it is to be expected that these differences will be reduced to the dimensions of today's geodetic measurement accuracy (mm to cm).

literature

  • DeMets, C., Gordon, R., Argus, D., Stein, S., 1990, Current plate motions , Geophysical Journal International, v. 101, pp. 425-478.
  • DeMets, C., Gordon, R., Argus, D., Stein, S., 1994, Effects of recent revisions to the geomagnetic reversal time scale on estimates of current plate motions , Geophysical Research Letters, v. 21, n.20 pp. 2191-2194. doi: 10.1029 / 94GL02118