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

东北亚和白令海仍然是构造板块构造不一致的最大地区之一。俄罗斯远东地区是北美构造板块的一部分，但阿留申弧和白令海的至少一部分相对于北美正在向西移动。这导致了白令海板块的建议，以及其他一些建议，其中只有白令海地壳的一部分相对于北美移动。一个由美国和俄罗斯科学家组成的团队正在使用GPS在白令海周围和内部进行调查，并使用地球范围PBO的数据来解决一个基本问题：白令海板块存在吗？如果不是，那么白令海南部的地壳移动条状物有多大？这些观察结果可以检验北美板块西北角一个重要地区的构造模型的假设，其答案对于理解驱动小板块运动的力量非常重要。该项目的结果将影响我们对阿留申弧以及从阿拉斯加中部到西伯利亚东部的变形的理解。

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.