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- Title
Counter-rotating microplates at the Galapagos triple junction.
- Authors
Klein, Emily M.; Smith, Deborah K.; Williams, Clare M.; Schouten, Hans
- Abstract
An‘incipient’spreading centre east of (and orthogonal to) the East Pacific Rise at 2°?40'?N has been identified as forming a portion of the northern boundary of the Galapagos microplate. This spreading centre was described as a slowly diverging, westward propagating rift, tapering towards the East Pacific Rise. Here we present evidence that the‘incipient rift’has also rifted towards the east and opens anticlockwise about a pivot at its eastern end. The‘incipient rift’then bounds a second microplate, north of the clockwise-rotating Galapagos microplate. The Galapagos triple junction region, in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, thus consists of two counter-rotating microplates partly separated by the Hess Deep rift. Our kinematic solution for microplate motion relative to the major plates indicates that the two counter-rotating microplates may be treated as rigid blocks driven by drag on the microplates'edges3.
- Subjects
EAST Pacific Rise; GALAPAGOS Rift; PACIFIC Ocean; MID-ocean ridges; GEOLOGY; RIFTS (Geology)
- Publication
Nature, 2005, Vol 433, Issue 7028, p855
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nature03262