Polar wander is the movement of the North and South Poles of the Earth with respect to the continents. This motion can be divided into two components: apparent polar wander, due to continental drift (the continents' movement over the mantle), and true polar wander, in which the mantle and the crust rotate together into new orientations.
Famous quotes containing the words polar and/or wander:
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)
“We do not rest satisfied with the present.... So imprudent we are that we wander in the times which are not ours and do not think of the only one which belongs to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those times which are no more and thoughtlessly overlook that which alone exists. For the present is generally painful to us.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)