Systematic discrepancies between the Global Positioning System (GPS) site velocities and those predicted by plate‐motion models across the Andes, the Himalayan‐Tibetan plateau, and the Taiwan orogen delineate diffuse plate‐boundary deformation and significant intraplate deformation, even in the presumably rigid oceanic plates. The relationship between the GPS velocities and the predictions of plate‐motion models is illustrated using a simple timescale‐dependent mechanical model of plate convergence. A simple stiffness number (ϕ), based on the difference between the predictions of plate‐motion models and the GPS velocity near plate boundaries, provides a convenient measure of the “plate‐like” behavior of convergent plates and strain partitioning between intraplate and interplate deformation.
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Yang et al. (2002) studied this question.