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- Title
Analysis of Pacific Hotspot Chains.
- Authors
Chase, A.; Wessel, P.
- Abstract
Seamount trails created by mantle plumes are often used to establish absolute reference frames for plate motion. When plume drift is considered, changes in seamount trail direction and age progression cannot be attributed to plate motion change alone. Here, improvements to age‐progressive models of eleven Pacific hotspot chains are made independently of plate motion models. Our approach involves bathymetry processing to robustly predict a smooth, continuous hotspot path by connecting maxima in filtered seamount bathymetry, with across‐track uncertainties from seamount trail width and amplitude. Published ages from seamount samples are projected orthogonally onto these paths. We determine best‐fit models of age as functions of along‐track distance, giving continuous age‐progression models for each seamount chain with uncertainties in age and geometry. Different sources of paleolatitudes are examined by incorporating data from the magnetization of seamount drill‐core samples, paleo‐poles from marine magnetic anomaly skewness inversions, and paleo‐spin‐axes inferred from shifts of equatorial sediments. Improved paleolatitude models for the Hawaiian‐Emperor and Louisville chains are determined by combining these different types of data. Paleolatitude models are predicted for other chains during periods when sufficient amounts of paleo‐pole or paleo‐spin‐axis data are available. Analysis of the eleven Pacific seamount chains provide constraints for future plate and plume motion models. We analyze the temporal change in distance between coeval seamounts, reflecting relative drifts between the hotspots at different times in the past. The observed changes imply systematic relative hotspot drifts compatible with paleolatitude trends. Plain Language Summary: The Pacific Ocean is home to many volcanic island chains, including the well known Hawaiian Islands. Looking beneath the ocean surface these islands continue as a chain of extinct underwater volcanoes, known as seamounts, found by mapping the seafloor. What creates chains of volcanoes is the movement of Earth's crust over a focused region of volcanic activity called a hotspot, which originates beneath the crust. With hotspots first thought to be fixed, these seamount chain geometries have been used to determine past motions of the moving plates. However, these hotspots are now believed to have movement of their own, complicating their use in determining past plate motions. For this study, we are compiling the most recent and available data from eleven seamount chains in the Pacific region and developing new methods to better analyze these data. This information will be used to improve predictions of past plate motions while accounting for the motion of the hotspots themselves, as well as making other inferences related to relative plume motions and along‐track variability due to plume deflection. Key Points: Self‐consistent and robust compilation of eleven Pacific hotspot trail geometries, age progressions, and paleolatitudesSignificant relative hotspot drift determined for both Late Cretaceous and Late NeogeneCombined paleolatitude analysis from three sources supports significant interhotspot drift trends
- Subjects
LOUISVILLE (Ky.); HAWAII; SUBMARINE volcanoes; OCEANOGRAPHIC maps; MANTLE plumes; ARCHIPELAGOES; EARTH movements; MAGNETIC anomalies; GLACIAL drift
- Publication
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: G3, 2022, Vol 23, Issue 5, p1
- ISSN
1525-2027
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2021GC010225