Plate motions are governed by equilibrium between basal and edge forces. Great earthquakes may induce differential static stress changes across tectonic plates, enabling a new equilibrium state. Here we consider the torque balance for idealized circular plates and find a simple scalar relationship for changes in relative plate speed as a function of its size, upper mantle viscosity, and coseismic stress changes. Applied to Japan, the 2011 $mathrm{M}_{mathrm{W}}=9.0$ Tohoku earthquake generated coseismic stresses of $10^2-10^5$~Pa that could have induced changes in motion of small (radius $sim100$~km) crustal blocks within Honshu. Analysis of time-dependent GPS velocities, with corrections for earthquake cycle effects, reveals that plate speeds may have changed by up to $sim3$ mm/yr between $sim3.75$-year epochs bracketing this earthquake, consistent with an upper mantle viscosity of $sim 5times10^{18}$Pa$cdot$s, suggesting that great earthquakes may modulate motions of proximal crustal blocks at frequencies as high as $10^-8$~Hz.
Download