蒙古-贝加尔地区上地幔小尺度对流及 地球动力学意义

上地幔小尺度对流是控制区域地球动力学过程的主要机制之一,蒙古-贝加尔地区的一些区域动力学过程被认为与上地幔小尺度对流相关.本文目的在于利用重力资料研究蒙古-贝加尔地区的上地幔小尺度对流,并探讨其与构造动力学的关系.基于区域均衡重力异常与上地幔小尺度对流的相关方程,本文利用区域均衡重力异常资料反演了蒙古-贝加尔地区上地幔小尺度对流流场及作用于岩石层底部的应力场.结果显示,蒙古-贝加尔地区地幔流场及对流应力场呈现非常复杂的图像,流场及应力场分布与地表构造具有很好的相关性.西伯利亚地台和蒙古褶皱带下地幔流场和对流应力场均较弱,这与这些地区现今较弱的构造活动性是一致的.贝加尔裂谷区下存在地幔上升流,对流应力场呈拉张状态,但应力场的幅值较小(约8 MPa),表明地幔对流不是贝加尔裂谷开裂的主要控制因素.Hangay高原、阿尔泰和戈壁-阿尔泰下存在地幔上升流,对流应力场为拉张状态,这一方面可能构成Hangay高原隆升的深部动力机制,另一方面,也为Amurian板块西边界划分提供了动力背景.     

Does the Southern Korean Peninsula belong to the Amurian plate? GPS observations

The Amurian plate (AM) in Northeast Asia plays a particularly important role in the estimation of surrounding crustal movements and interpretation of seismic activities, especially in southwest Japan. However, the existence of the Amurian plate and the location of the southern boundary remain controversial. Due to insufficient data, the southern boundary is not well known and often assumed to cross the Southern Korean Peninsula. Therefore, this area is critical to further accurately define the Amurian plate geometry. The existing permanent Korean GPS network (KGN) with more than 45 GPS sites plays a key role to discriminate the southern boundary of the Amurian plate near South Korea. Data for the period from March 2000 to August 2003 are analyzed together with data from IGS and some Chinese GPS stations. Estimated velocities show that South Korea is almost rigid and the southern boundary of the Amurian plate may not cross South Korea. Using the F-ratio statistical test, we determine whether South Korea belongs to the Amurian or South China plates. The test has shown that the Southern Korean Peninsula neither resides on the Amurian plate as hypothesized, nor is part of the South China block.     

基于统计检验法研究Amurian板块相对独立性

Amurian 板块是Zonenshain等提出的提出的东北亚地区内部一个构造亚板块.Amurian板块自提出以来就一直受到地学界的广泛重视.它到底是欧亚大陆的一部分,还是独立于欧亚大陆之外的一个独立次级构造块体?这个问题一直是是东亚,乃至欧亚大陆构造动力学研究的核心问题之一.许多学者从地质和地球物理学两个角度研究了Amurian板块存在的可能性.但是复杂的构造特征和稀少且弥散的地震分布使得Amurian问题充满了争议.全球卫星定位系统(GPS)技术的不断进步使得在短时间获得高精度、大范围、准实时的地壳运动观测数据,并确定地壳运动速度场成为可能.本文利用东北亚地区最新GPS资料,从大地测量学角度对东北亚地区的地壳运动特征进行分析,基于统计检验方法重点研究Amurian板块相对欧亚大陆的独立性及其边界等问题.     

Induced seismicity in large-scale mining in the kola peninsula and monitoring to reveal informative precursors

Large volumes of rock mass, mined-out and moved within these deposits, resulted in irreversible changes in the geodynamic regime in the upper earth's crust of the adjacent territory. These changes manifest themselves in a more frequent occurrence of such intensive dynamic phenomena as tectonic rock bursts due to fault movement adjacent to the area which is mined-out and man-made earthquakes which sharply decrease mining safety and result in great material losses.To develop the prediction techniques of such phenomena, a monitoring system is created, based on the program of the Kola Complex of geodynamic measuring stations. Most of this system is realized in the region of the Khibiny apatite mines. The system provides regional seismological monitoring, local prediction of seismicity in separate areas of a rock mass and, determination of stress and strain in rock masses, local geophysical monitoring over the state of rocks in a rock mass as well as physical and mathematical modelling of geodynamic processes in the upper earth's crust.The investigations have resulted in the distinguishing of some regularities in manifestations of induced seismicity and tectonic rock bursts and in the determination of strain precursors of intensive seismic events in the Khibiny mines.The mechanism is provided by the induced seismicity which resulted from the anthropogenic impact on the geological medium. A geodynamic monitoring complex is described, which is used to reveal the precursors of powerful seismic eventsin situ, and monitoring results are shown, obtained in the Kola Complex of geodynamic stations. Methods of preventing tectonic rock bursts and induced earthquakes are presented.     

On the Coupling of Geodynamic and Resistivity Models: A Progress Report and the Way Forward

Magnetotelluric (MT) studies represent the structure of crust and mantle in terms of conductivity anomalies, while geodynamic modelling predicts the deformation and evolution of crust and mantle subject to plate tectonic processes. Here, we review the first attempts to link MT models with geodynamic models. An integration of MT with geodynamic modelling requires the use of relationships between conductivity and rheological parameters such as viscosity and melt fraction, which are provided by laboratory measurements of rock properties. Owing to present limitations in our understanding of these relationships, and in interpreting the trade-off between scale and magnitude of conductivity anomalies from MT inversions, most studies linking MT and geodynamic models are qualitative rather than providing hard constraints. Some recent examples attempt a more quantitative comparison, such as a study from the Himalayan continental collision zone, where rheological parameters have been calculated from a resistivity model and compared to predictions from geodynamic modelling. We conclude by demonstrating the potential in combining MT results and geodynamic modelling with examples that directly use MT results as constraints within geodynamic models of ore bodies and studies of an active volcano-tectonic rift.     

The role of slab detachment processes in the opening of the western–central Mediterranean basins: some geological and geophysical evidence

A review of the geological and geophysical data from the central and western Mediterranean region and the present-day upper mantle structure derived from tomographic studies are utilized in order to define the Oligocene–Recent geodynamic evolution for the area. In line with previous work, we suggest that the Miocene–Quaternary opening of the western and central Mediterranean basins is the result of back-arc extension due to the roll back toward the southeast of a northwestward subducting African slab in a geodynamic setting pinned between the Alpine and Betic collisional zones. We find, however, that this general pattern is complicated by four different detachment events which occurred beneath the Alps (Early Oligocene), the Betic chain (Aquitanian), northern Africa (Langhian) and the Apennines (Late Miocene?–Pliocene). We show that each of these events determines a major tectonic reorganization within the European plate.     

Water-weakened lower crust and its role in the concentrated deformation in the Japanese Islands

The nature and origin of the concentrated deformation zone along the Japan Sea coast (NKTZ: Niigata-Kobe tectonic zone) was investigated by carefully analyzing the GPS data and qualitatively modeling the lower crust in NKTZ. It was concluded that this deformation zone is not a plate boundary between the Amurian plate (AMU) and the North America plate but is rather an internal deformation zone near the eastern margin of AMU. The data previously obtained on the conductivity anomalies in the lower crust and the ³He/⁴He ratios suggest that the concentrated deformation in NKTZ results from the lower crust in NKTZ being weakened by a high water content. The high water content is thought to result from the dehydration of subducting slabs. NKTZ has a higher water content in the lower crust than other regions do because there is no Philippine Sea plate (PHS) seismic slab beneath NKTZ. In other regions, it is estimated that the mantle wedge above the seismic Philippine Sea slab prevents the water dehydrated from the slab from rising to the lower crust, and that the lithosphere within PHS itself prevents the water dehydrated from the Pacific plate from rising up through it.     

大陆板内震源断层的特征

基于对大陆板内地震构造的分析,讨论了浅源地震与断层的关系。说明了震源断层概念,从构造环境和震源参数方面分析了大陆板内震源断层的特征。提出了A、B两种震源断层。它们各自具有不同的构造动力学背景,应采用不同的研究方法     

东秦岭造山带莫霍面展布与碰撞造山带深部过程的关系

根据P波走时反演重建的三维速度图像,研究东秦岭造山带莫霍面的展布性态结果表明,在华北板块南缘潼关-登封-阜阳-线、商丹主缝合带北侧卢氏-奕川-方城-信阳-线和扬子板块北缘佛坪-陨西-武当山-枣阳-线莫霍面沿着造山带走向呈带状隆起而介于这三条带间,莫霍面均不同程度地下陷因此,东秦岭造山带在岩石圈缩短方向上莫霍面的展布目前仍然存在着很大的非均一性结合造山带地质、岩石地球化学和同位素年代学综合分析,认为造成莫霍面这一展布格局,主要与该碰撞造山带在不同演化时期各岩石构造单元中发生不同性态的岩石圈-软流圈和壳-幔间物质与能量的相互作用方式不一所造成的大陆动力学过程不同有关加上碰撞期后造山带深部岩石圈均衡在不同岩石构造单元中的差异,形成了东秦岭造山带目前莫霍面的展布。     

What triggered the early-to-mid Pleistocene tectonic transition across the entire eastern Mediterranean?

Subduction plays a fundamental role in plate tectonics and when interrupted it may trigger a series of geodynamic and sedimentary responses. Synchronous structural modifications recorded across the entire eastern Mediterranean region are dated to a relatively short period — early-to-mid Pleistocene. These deformations are documented within plates (e.g., Arabian, Sinai and African plates), along plate boundaries (e.g., Dead Sea and North Anatolian faults and Cyprus Arc), and in the Mediterranean basin. During the same period the northward subduction of the Sinai plate was interrupted when the Eratosthenes Seamount–Cyprus Arc collision initiated. Subduction–collision processes of the eastern Mediterranean serve as a unique modern analogue for similar settings worldwide. Understanding their association with accompanying neo-tectonic processes is therefore predominantly important. By fostering a detailed and comprehensive approach this research provides a coherent tectonic picture for the eastern Mediterranean early-to-mid Pleistocene tectonic transition in order to explore its triggering mechanisms. Since the Neogene convergence across the eastern Mediterranean was accompanied by Eurasian indentation by Arabia northward motion, westwards Anatolia escape and southwards Aegean propagation. This semi counterclockwise plate motion was temporarily interrupted by the incipient Seamount–Arc collision which is suggested here as a trigger of the early-to-mid Pleistocene tectonic transition.     

东亚北部地区现代板块构造的运动学分析

从原欧亚板块划出阿穆利亚微板块,并建立一个包括太平洋、北美、欧亚、鄂霍次克及菲律宾海等板块在内的６板块系统,利用地震滑移矢量,转换断层走向,洋中脊扩展速率,以及最新的ＧＰＳ观测资料,采用Ｍｏｎｔｅ－Ｃａｒｌｏ盒子法,反演得到该６板块系统的欧拉运动矢量．本文得到的有关欧拉矢量为：ＡＭ-ＥＵ（６０．４２°Ｎ,１２３．２５°Ｅ,０．０２５°／Ｍａ）,ＡＭ-ＯＫ（５３．２０°Ｎ,１４１．９５°Ｅ,０．４７６°／Ｍａ）以及ＡＭ-ＰＨ（５０．８４°Ｎ,１５８.１３°Ｅ,１.２０４°／Ｍａ）,ＡＭ－ＥＵ的欧拉运动极点位于贝加尔隆起的东北及斯塔诺夫山脉的西北,并给出在贝加尔隆起有０．４－０．７ｍｍ／ａ的扩张,与从地质学证据得到的估计结果一致;由ＡＭ－ＯＫ及ＡＭ－ＰＨ欧拉运动矢量可以分别得到日本海东缘的６-１５ｍｍ／ａ及日本南海地槽带的５１－６６ｍｍ／ａ收敛速率,与最新的ＧＰＳ观测结果并不一致．因此,东亚北部地区存在独立的南中国微板块及其它亚尺度的微板块,可以更好地描述该地区现今板块构造的运动规律．     

西太平洋俯冲板块对中国东北构造演化的影响及其动力学意义

中国东北地区在古生代期间以众多微陆块的拼合以及古亚洲洋的闭合为特征,其后又经历了中-新生代太平洋构造域及中生代蒙古—鄂霍茨克构造域的叠加与改造,以致东北地区的构造行迹显得极为复杂,而大兴安岭重力梯级带及其西部地区构造演化是否与西太平洋俯冲有关仍然存在争议.本研究利用分布于中国东北、华北地区以及韩国、日本等部分台网所接收的近震与远震走时数据获得了中国东北地区壳幔精细的三维P波速度结构.成像结果显示,太平洋板块持续西向俯冲,俯冲板片的前缘停滞在大兴安岭—太行山重力梯度带以东区域的地幔转换带之中;长白山火山区上地幔存在着显著的低速异常体,推测西太平洋板块的深俯冲脱水导致了上地幔底部岩石的熔点降低,从而形成了大范围的部分熔融物质上涌.通过分析上地幔的速度结构,我们认为由于太平洋板块的大规模西向深俯冲,在大地幔楔中发生板片脱水、低速热物质上涌等复杂的地球动力学过程;俯冲板片前缘带动上地幔中不均匀分布的地幔流强烈作用于上部的岩石圈,这对东北地区深部壳幔结构乃至大兴安岭重力梯级带的形成、演化有着重要的影响.     

Heterogeneous destruction of the North China Craton: Coupled constraints from seismology and geodynamic numerical modeling

The prevailing academic view regards mantle flow and the metasomatism triggered by the subduction of the Pacific plate as the cause and mechanism for the destruction of the North China Craton (NCC). However, the geodynamic destruction process remains ambiguous, necessitating detailed information at this stage. Combining the structural images obtained by the exploration of dense seismic arrays and the geodynamic simulations inspired by numerical modeling, this paper arrives at the following conclusions: the spatial variation of the P- and S-wave velocities, as well as their velocity ratio in the mantle transition zone, are key evidences of the nonuniform dehydration of the Pacific plate, the subducted plate induces hot upwellings in the mantle transition zone (MTZ), resulting in the heterogeneous distribution of the melt/fluid beneath the craton, characterized by small scale anomalies in the seismic velocity field, and as revealed by dense seismic array observation, the heterogeneities in the upper mantle structure and deformation are the synthetic results of lithospheric strain localization and the heterogeneous distribution of the melt/fluid. It is known that the nonuniform dehydration of the Pacific slab and the heterogeneous distribution of the melt/fluid have occured in the Cenozoic. If these scenarios could have already occurred in the Early Cretaceous, their interaction with the NCC lithosphere would be the dynamic mechanism for the heterogeneous lithospheric destruction of the NCC. The inference in this study is significant for further reconciling the multidisciplinary evidences in the NCC.     

Far field deformation analysis after the Mw9.0 Tohoku earthquake constrained by cGPS data

This study estimates the far field coseismic deformation of China and its surrounding areas caused by the Mw9.0 Tohoku earthquake of Japan using continuous GPS (cGPS) data and final orbits released by International GNSS Service (IGS). Based on these data, we feature the coseismic offsets of several plates affected by the event. Static far field coseismic offsets greater than 2 mm are detected in a wide area of China, which extends as far as about 3,000 km off the epicenter, consisting of that of the 2010 Maule, Chile earthquake. In northeast China, displacements up to 32.7 mm toward southeast are observed; meanwhile, offsets in North China reach about 5–11 mm toward east. Coseismic jumps of about 2–5 mm are measured in South China toward southeast. The southwest extrusion of the Philippine Sea plate is verified by GPS slip vectors, showing that the Philippine Sea plate is decoupled from the Pacific plate by the earthquake. We also infer that the Amurian plate and the Okhotsk plate couple well according to relatively continuous GPS offsets in these plates. Furthermore, the dense far field cGPS offsets due to the Tohoku event hopefully provide opportunities to model the coseismic slip distribution.     

岩石圈流变强度与中国大陆构造运动关系的探讨

以GPS观测资料和地震学研究成果为约束，针对不同流变参数的中国大陆岩石圈模型，数值模拟了岩石粘度与中国大陆板块边界作用强度的关系，探讨了陆-陆碰撞对中国大陆分层岩石圈运动的驱动机制．给出了陆-陆碰撞驱动力、附加地形与山根浮力及热浮力对中国大陆构造运动的驱动特点．印度板块、太平洋板块和菲律宾板块对中国大陆驱动的边界作用强度之比约是4：1．25：1，所引起的水平主压应力主要集中在坚硬岩石层；而附加地形等垂直方向作用力在水平方向产生的最大主压应力则主要集中在软弱岩石层．这种垂直方向上的作用力在高原南部地区阻碍陆-陆碰撞向北的推挤运动，在高原东北部增加对其它块体的推挤作用。     

Jurassic and Early Cretaceous Radiolaria of the Lower Amurian Terrane: Khabarovsk region, far east of Russia

New data on biostratigraphy, sedimentology and tectonics of the Russian Far Eastern region (Lower Amurian terrane) are presented. This study shows that sedimentary sequence of the terrane consists of interbedded Radiolaria-bearing siliceous and volcaniclastic sediments spanning an interval of over 90 million years. It is shown that accumulation of radiolarian deposits on an oceanic plate was associated with alkaline (intraplate) volcanism in the Jurassic, while the plate was drifting, and with some arc volcanism during the Early Cretaceous. The younger siliceous rocks contain volcaniclastic material and indicate that the studied sequence approached the trench in the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian-Barremian) and became accreted in the late Albian–early Cenomanian. We describe and illustrate radiolarian species extracted from 21 samples. A taxonomic list of 194 taxa and nine plates of Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Radiolaria are presented.     

Synchronous uplift of the lower crust of the Ivrea Zone and of Southern Calabria and its possible consequences for the Hercynian orogeny in Southern Europe

Along the border of the Adriatic microplate, pre-Alpine granulite-facies rocks from the deepest crust are outcropping at only two places: in the Ivrea Zone of the Southern Alps and in Southern Calabria. In these two areas the main features of the present crustal structures, i.e. overlapping of large continental crustal and upper mantle segments, are interpreted as resulting from their Hercynian geodynamic evolutions.The tilted, nearly complete crustal sections in both areas display very similar lithological sequences and experienced a common geological evolution, as deduced from petrological and radiometric dates. At the end of Hercynian time (～295 m.y.), the Ivrea body and the lower crustal rocks of Southern Calabria were contemporaneously sheared off from the upper mantle and uplifted into intermediate crustal levels, where they slowly cooled during Mesozoic time. The tectonic uplift was accompanied by granitoid plutonism and andesitic to rhyolitic volcanism, which continued after the Hercynian uplift.Considering the presently similar crustal structures and the Upper Carboniferous and Permian geological evolutions along the whole Adriatic plate boundary, the Ivrea Zone and Southern Calabria are used to resolve the pre-Alpine history of the boundary zone between the Adriatic and the Central European block: the uplift of the lower crustal/upper mantle flakes of the Adriatic block was due to flat overthrusting of these flakes on the continental crust of “Central Europe”. The material of the Central European crust underthrust (subducted) thereby melted during the re-equilibration of the geotherms which had been disturbed by the subduction process; this led to an extensive calc-alkaline plutonism and volcanism of crustal origin along the Adria boundary. In this boundary region, the overlying uppermost crustal levels (“Schiefergebirgsstockwerk”) were synchronously folded (“Asturian phase”) in response to the overlapping of the deeper crustal levels. Subsequently to the orogeny, the mountain chain was eroded and molasse basins developed on the overthrust Adriatic crustal segment during the Lower Permian.In this model, the granulite-facies flakes of the Ivrea Zone and of Southern Calabria are interpreted as pre-Hercynian lower crustal segments which were thrust into the middle crust during the Hercynian orogeny, thus giving rise to wave velocity inversions in the crust. Further, it is proposed that similar geodynamic processes have played a role in the genesis of the Conrad discontinuity which is present in many parts of the Hercynian fold belt. But only in the Ivrea Zone and in Southern Calabria the crustal discontinuities formed in Hercynian time were uplifted to the surface as a result of Alpine reactivation of the Adriatic boundary zone and due to their special positions in the bends of the Alpine-Apennine-Maghrebide mountain system.According to the present knowledge of the Carboniferous paleogeography and of the orogenic evolution on both sides of the Adria sufure zone, this fault zone was located within the European continent. Its role during the Hercynian orogeny is discussed envisaging two possibilities: an A-subduction zone or a subfluence zone (in the sense of Behr and Weber).     

Geodynamics of oroclinal bending: Insights from the Mediterranean

The Alpine Orogen in the Mediterranean region exhibits a series of orogenic curvatures (oroclines). The evolution of these oroclines is relatively well constrained by a plethora of geophysical and geological data, and therefore, their origin can inform us on the fundamental processes controlling oroclinal bending. Here, a synthesis of the geometry of Mediterranean oroclines, followed by a discussion on their geodynamic origin is presented. The geometrical synthesis is based on a new classification of Mediterranean oroclines, which defines a first-order orocline (Adriatic Orocline) by the general northward-convex shape of the Alpine Orogen from Cyprus to Gibraltar. Superimposed on the limbs of this orocline, are second-, third- and fourth-order oroclines. The major process that led to the formation of the Adriatic Orocline is the indentation of Adria into Europe, whereas second- and third-order oroclines (e.g., Western Mediterranean and Gibraltar oroclines, respectively) were primarily controlled by a combination of trench retreat and slab tearing. It appears, therefore, that the geodynamics of Mediterranean oroclines has been entirely dependent on plate boundary migration and segmentation, as expressed in the interlinked processes of indentation, trench retreat and slab tearing. The relative contribution of specific geodynamic processes, and their maturity, could be inferred from geometrical characteristics, such as the amplitude-to-width ratio, the orientation of the curvature (convex or concave) relative to the convergence vector, and their geometrical relationship with backarc extensional basins (e.g., in the concave side of the orocline). Based on the information from the Mediterranean oroclines, it is concluded that oroclinal bending commonly involves lithospheric-scale processes, and is not restricted to thin-skinned deformation. However, contrary to previous suggestions that assume that the whole lithosphere can buckle, there is no clear evidence that such processes occur in modern tectonic environments.     

重力及重力梯度联合反演青藏高原及邻区岩石圈三维密度结构

本文利用GOCEL2观测重力梯度的五个独立分量(T_(xx),T_(zz),T_(xy),T_(xz),T_(yz)),联合EGM2008地球重力场模型计算垂直重力,反演计算了青藏高原及邻区0~120 km深度岩石圈三维密度结构.将经过低阶项改正、地形效应改正、沉积层界面起伏效应改正得到的剩余重力及重力梯度异常值作为观测值,以改正剩余量归一化权重作为观测权重,基于Tikhonov正则化理论建立反演目标函数.反演过程中,利用地震层析S波速度转换密度作为初始约束,通过非等权最小二乘迭代法计算得到最终反演密度.反演结果表明:(1)40 km深度,青藏高原内部为中地壳,表现为低密度,邻区为中下地壳,表现为高密度.青藏高原内部中地壳强低密度层主要分布在高原边界.其成因是印度板块俯冲和周围坚硬块体阻挡作用导致在高原边界形成的高应变积累闭锁区,为壳内低密度软弱物质的形成提供了条件.(2)80 km深度,青藏高原上地幔顶部显示出低密度的特征.高原内部东、中、西密度特征差异明显,低密度以95°E为中心线呈东西对称分布.以班公一怒江缝合带为中心,在拉萨块体和羌塘块体内从北向南出现了"低-高-低"的密度分布起伏特征.该特征与GRACE得到的莫霍面起伏特征一致,结合大地构造结果,这种起伏特征验证了印度、羌塘块体从南北两侧分别向喜马拉雅、拉萨地块挤入的双向俯冲模式.(3)四川盆地和鄂尔多斯盆地内,地壳高密度异常较地震波速异常明显偏低,表明古老的四川盆地和鄂尔多斯盆地比想象中更冷、更坚硬.塔里木盆地和柴达木盆地内壳、幔高密度的结构特征,对应地幔物质上涌.     

Geological,tomographic, kinematic and geodynamic constraints on the dynamics of sinking slabs

We use geodynamic models with imposed plate velocities to test the forward-modeled history of subduction based on a particular plate motion model against alternative seismic tomography models. We utilize three alternative published reference frames: a hybrid moving hotspot-palaeomagnetic, a hybrid moving hotspot-true polar wander corrected-palaeomagnetic, and a Subduction Reference Frame, a plate model including longitudinal shifts of subduction zones by matching subduction volumes imaged by P-wave tomography, to assess which model best predicts present day mantle structure compared with seismic tomography and volumetrically derived subduction history. Geodynamic modeling suggests paleo-longitudinal corrections applied to the Subduction Reference Frame result in lower mantle slab material beneath North America and East Asia accumulating up to 10–15° westward of that imaged by tomography, whereas the hybrid models develop material offset by 2–9°. However, the Subduction Reference Frame geodynamic model produces slab material beneath the Tethyan Domain coinciding with slab volumes imaged by tomography, whereas the hybrid reference frame models do not, suggesting regional paleo-longitudinal corrections are required to constrain slab locations. We use our models to test inferred slab sinking rates in the mantle focusing on well-constrained regions. We derive a globally averaged slab-sinking rate of 13 ± 3 mm/yr by combining the ages of onset and cessation of subduction from geological data and kinematic reconstructions with images of subducted slabs in the mantle. Our global average slab-sinking rate overlaps with the 15–20 mm/yr rate implied by mantle convection models using a lower mantle viscosity 100 times higher than the upper mantle.