Tug of war’ between Earth, Moon and

Sun could be driving tectonic plate

movements
The tectonic plates making up the rigid shell of the Earth are always
moving, impacting life on our planet in various ways.

These huge plates may move slowly, but they create many of the
Earth’s unique topographical features such as mountains, chasms,
individual islands, archipelagoes and ocean trenches – all on a
continental scale.

© Getty Images/iStockphoto

The gravitational interactions between the Earth, the Moon and the
Sun could be causing tectonic plates to move, scientists say
- Getty/iStockphoto

Earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, however, are all also the

result of the constant flux of the lithosphere – the rocky crust and
the upper part of the mantle.

An average tectonic plate may move around 40mm a year – roughly

the same speed as a fingernail grows – while the fastest, the Nazca
Plate off western South America, moves around 160mm a year,
around the same speed hair grows.

The overriding consensus over what drives the movement of the

plates has long settled on convection currents within the Earth’s
mantle, which theorises that movement of massive amounts of heat
energy drag the plates around from beneath.

But a new study by scientists at Washington University in St Louis

propose there is not enough energy inside the Earth required to
move tectonic plates, and instead the imbalanced forces of gravity
between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun together drive the
circulation of the whole mantle.

The researchers said the Earth’s plates might be shifting because

the Sun exerts such a strong gravitational pull on the Moon that it
caused the Moon’s orbit around Earth to become elongated.

Over time, the position of the "barycentre", or the centre of mass

between the orbiting bodies of the Earth and the Moon, has moved
closer to the Earth’s surface. It now oscillates 600km per month
relative to the geocenter (the centre of the Earth), scientists say. This
sets up internal stresses as the Earth continues to spin.

“Because the oscillating barycentre lies around 4,600km from the

geocentre, Earth’s tangential orbital acceleration and solar pull are
imbalanced except at the barycentre,” said Professor Anne
Hofmeister, who led the study.
“The planet’s warm, thick and strong interior layers can withstand
these stresses, but its thin, cold, brittle lithosphere responds by
fracturing.”

Furthermore, the authors contend the daily spin of the Earth, which
flattens the planet from a perfect spherical shape, contributes to
this brittle failure of the lithosphere.

These two independent stresses create the mosaic of plates

observed in the outer shell, the authors suggest.

The variety of plate motions comes from the changes in size and
direction of the imbalanced gravitational forces with time.

It is difficult for the researchers to test this theory. They have

suggested closer examination of Pluto’s crust could provide further
information about how tectonic plates respond to gravitational
forces.

“One test would be a detailed examination of the tectonics of Pluto,

which is too small and cold to convect but has a giant moon and a
surprisingly young surface,” said Professor Hofmeister.

The study also includes a comparison of rocky planets showing that

the presence and longevity of volcanism and tectonism depend on
the particular combination of moon size, moon orbital orientation,
proximity to the Sun and rates of body spin and cooling.

Earth is the only rocky planet with all the factors needed for plate
tectonics, Professor Hofmeister said.

“Our uniquely large moon and particular distance from the sun are
essential,” she added.

The research is published by the Geological Society of America.