The broad spectrum of turbulent motions observed in the interstellar medium may be produced by the shearing action of differential galactic rotation. A steady state eddy distribution is maintained as energy cascades down the eddy hierarchy to smaller-scale motions. The characteristic decay time for interstellar turbulence is found to be 50-billion yr. Objections frequently raised against the presence of long-lived turbulent motions in the interstellar medium are therefore invalid, since these arguments usually presuppose that there is no source of fresh turbulent energy.
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Jr. Fleck R. C. (1981) studied this question.