Drifting apart: New study explains the driving force behind continental drift

The driving forces behind these continental plate movements have not been fully ascertained and continue to be a topic of debate. The team comprising Dr. Liang Guanghe from Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. Yang Weiran from China University of Geosciences have proposed a new dynamic model that suggests that while thermal energy can cause the continental plates to drift, the main driving force is supplied by a gravitational slip of the continental crust and hot mantle upwelling. This led to two important findings: the continental drift relies on its own gravity to drift via constant rising of the mantle, suggesting that the gravitational slip force is the main driver, and the slip only occurs on the Moho surface due to the greater thickness of the continental crust as compared to that of the oceanic crust, causing the drift to produce an even greater gravity slip. Based on these findings, the duo established their model of continental drift, according to which the driving force on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is a self-driving continental crustal movement under gravity. What are the implications of these findings? Dr. Liang Guanghe says, "While Wegener was right about continental drift, he was wrong about the driving force. The new explanation offered by our model will vastly change the way people understand the movement of plates on earth." More information: Liang Guanghe et al, Decipher the driving force in continental drift from new insights about the South Atlantic breakup process, Earth Science Frontiers. Citation: Drifting apart: New study explains the driving force behind continental drift retrieved 28 February 2022 from https://phys. org/news/2022-02-drifting-continental-drift.