The Thermoconvective Three-Dimensional Spherical Model of Modern Earth Geodynamics: Application to Tectonics and Regional Geology

The article presents a thermoconvective three-dimensional spherical model of the modern geodynamics of the Earth, created by the authors, based on the global seismic tomography model SMEAN2 with plate rheology on the surface. The fundamental result is that the numerical three-dimensional model of flows in the spherical mantle layer leads to an image of horizontal movements of lithospheric plates on the Earth’s surface that agrees with the modern kinematic model of plate tectonics, as well as with satellite observations of horizontal displacements on the Earth’ surface. This agreement allows us to reasonably assert that the presented three-dimensional model of modern material flows for a spherical Earth is a generalization of the concept of plate tectonics, which has been developing for half a century within the framework of kinematic theory using mainly two-dimensional convective models of mantle flows, which can describe only regional processes. We consider the application of the model to explain some features of regional tectonics.