The Earth's decelerated rotation and regularities in orientation of its surface lineaments and faults

摘要

The Earth's crust faults and lineaments group in clusters with predominant N-S and E-W (System Ⅰ) and NW-SE and NE-SW (System Ⅱ) directions. The earthquake epicenters of the Benioff seismofocal zones follow the same regularities. In other words, seismofocal zones (epicenters of earthquakes) constitute a part of the regular network of the Earth's crust and lithosphere faults and lineaments. Mathematical modeling of stress distribution in the lithosphere due to a change of the Earth's ellipsoid compression showed that the principal stresses σ_1 and σ_2 are oriented in N-S and E-W directions, while corresponding shear stresses t are oriented in NE-SW and NW-SE directions. It is shown that the secular deceleration of the Earth's rotation can be a reasonable mechanism for the change of Earth's ellipsoid compression and, consequently, for the origin of the regular system of faults and lineaments described above.