Abstract
The thickening of the cooling oceanic lithosphere results in a significant driving force that is distributed over the area of the plates. Simple flow models show that this force may be more important in driving oceanic plates than that force from sinking lithospheric slabs at subduction zones.
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Hager, B. Oceanic plate motions driven by lithospheric thickening and subducted slabs. Nature 276, 156–159 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/276156a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/276156a0
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