Determining plate motions and True Polar Wander (TPW) in the absence of hotspot tracks
In work with Trond Torsvik, we have identified episodes of true polar wander back to 320 Ma. Our method interprets coherent rotations of all continents in the paleomagnetic reference frame as true polar wander. Cumulative TPW since 320 Ma has been found to be small. A more recent update of this work with Pavel Doubrovine has been presented within a review article. We have also made an effort to position continents in longitude which is not constrained by paleomagnetism. Our proposed reference frame keeps Africa fixed in longitude before 100 Ma and allows to position LIP eruption sitesover LLSVP margins .

• TPW unplugged: Absolute plate motions and true polar wander in the absence of hotspot tracks [talk presented at Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.]
• Steinberger, B., and Torsvik, T. H. (2007). TPW unplugged: Absolute plate motions and true polar wander in the absence of hotspot tracks. Geodynamics, Geomagnetism and Paleogeography: A 50 Year Celebration, Trondheim, Norway. [poster]
• Steinberger, B., and T. H. Torsvik (2008). Absolute plate motions and true polar wander in the absence of hotspot tracks, Nature, 452, 620-623, doi:10.1038/nature06824 [pdf]
• Torsvik, T. H., B. Steinberger, B., L. R. M. Cocks and K. Burke (2008). Longitude: Linking Earth's ancient surface to its deep interior, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 276, 273-282, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.09.026 [pdf]
• Torsvik, T.H., Van der Voo, R., Preeden, U., Mac Niocaill, C., Steinberger, B., Doubrovine, P., van Hinsbergen, D.J.J., Domeier, M., Gaina, C., Tovher, E., Meert, J.G., McCausland, P.J. and Cocks, L.R.M. (2012), Phanerozoic polar wander, paleogeography and dynamics, Earth-Sci. Rev., 114, 325-368, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2012.06.007 [pdf]

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