Collaborative Research: A Test of the Existence of the Bering Plate

东北亚和白令海仍然是最大的地区之一，对于它们的构造板块配置还没有达成一致意见。俄罗斯远东是北美构造板块的一部分，但阿留申弧和至少部分白令海相对于北美正在向西移动。这导致了白令板块的提议，以及只有白令海地壳的一部分相对于北美运动的替代提议。一个由美国和俄罗斯科学家组成的团队正在结合白令海周围和内部的GPS测量以及来自地球望远镜PBO的数据来解决一个基本问题：白令板块是否存在？如果不是，那么白令海南部流动的地壳有多大呢？这些观测可以检验北美板块西北角一个重要区域的构造模型所依据的假设，而这些答案对于理解驱动小板块运动的力是重要的。该项目的结果将影响我们对阿留申弧形变以及从阿拉斯加中部到东西伯利亚的形变的理解。

Northeast Asia and the Bering Sea remain one of the largest regions for which there is not agreement about the tectonic plate configuration. Far eastern Russia is part of the North American tectonic plate, but the Aleutian arc and at least part of the Bering Sea are moving westward relative to North America. This has led to the proposal of a Bering Plate, and also alternative proposals in which only a part of the Bering Sea crust moves relative to North America. A team of US and Russian scientists is using a combination of GPS surveys around and within the Bering Sea and data from the EarthScope PBO to resolve a fundamental question: does the Bering Plate exist? If not, how large is the mobile sliver of crust in the southern Bering Sea? These observations can test hypotheses that underlie tectonic models for a significant area at the northwestern corner of the North American plate, and the answers are important for understanding the forces that drive motion of small plates. The results of the project will impact our understanding of deformation in the Aleutian Arc, and from central Alaska to eastern Siberia.