Global plate tectonics and the secular motion of the Pole

Astronomical data compiled during the last 70 years by the international organizations (ILS/IPMS, BIH) providing the coordinates of the instantaneous pole, clearly shows a continuous drift of the “mean pole” (≡barycenter of the wobble cycle with respect to the Conventional International Origin (CIO). This study was undertaken to investigate the possibility of an actual secular motion of the barycenter (approximated by the earth's maximum principal moment of inertia axis or axis of figure) due to differential mass displacements from lithospheric plate rotations. The method assumes the earth's crust modeled as a mosaic of 1°×1° blocks, each one moving independently with their corresponding absolute plate velocities. The differential contributions to the earth's second-order tensor of inertia were computed, resulting in no significant displacement of the earth's axis of figure. In view of the above, the possibleapparent displacement of the “mean pole” as a consequence of station drifting due to absolute plate motions was also analyzed, again without great success. As a further step the old speculation of the whole crust possibly sliding over the upper mantle is revived and the usefulness of the CIO is questioned. Presented at the IAU Symposium No. 78, “Nutation and the Earth Rotation”, Kiev, 22–29, May, 1977.