PLATE MOTIONS AND CRUSTAL DEFORMATION

Over the past 30 years, the plate tectonic paradigm has revolutionized the earth sciences through its powerful yet elegant quantitative treatment of large‐scale crustal deformation, and through its conceptually integrative role within the earth sciences. This review summarizes several important developments in plate tectonic research for the period 1991 to early 1994, with emphasis placed on publications that have either significantly improved our understanding of plate motions and their relation to crustal deformation or have raised significant new questions. Revisions to the geomagnetic reversal time scale, Cenozoic plate motions, microplate kinematics, oblique convergence and deformation of forearcs, and kinematic information derived from detailed bathymetric and side‐scan sonar studies are featured. Copyright 1995 by the American Geophysical Union.