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Science 8 February 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5557, pp. 1054 - 1057
DOI: 10.1126/science.1066878
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Reports

The Mantle Flow Field Beneath Western North America

P. G. Silver,1* W. E. Holt2

Although motions at the surface of tectonic plates are well determined, the accompanying horizontal mantle flow is not. We have combined observations of surface deformation and upper mantle seismic anisotropy to estimate this flow field for western North America. We find that the mantle velocity is 5.5 ± 1.5 centimeters per year due east in a hot spot reference frame, nearly opposite to the direction of North American plate motion (west-southwest). The flow is only weakly coupled to the motion of the surface plate, producing a small drag force. This flow field is probably due to heterogeneity in mantle density associated with the former Farallon oceanic plate beneath North America.

1 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
2 State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: silver{at}dtm.ciw.edu

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