Australian Antarctic Southern Ocean Profiling Project

• Other Authors: AADC (originator), AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia (resourceProvider)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Ocean Data Network
• Subjects: elevation; oceans; BATHYMETRY/SEAFLOOR TOPOGRAPHY; EARTH SCIENCE; Plates; AMD/AU; CEOS; AMD; OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN; GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; Antarctic; Emperor Seamount Chain; Pacific; Southern Ocean; Tonga; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://researchdata.ands.org.au/australian-antarctic-southern-profiling-project/686077; https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/ASAC_1119; https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/projects/report_project_public.cfm?project_no=1119; http://www.sciencemag.org/content/318/5847/83.full; http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=ASAC_1119

Values provided in temporal and spatial coverage are approximate only. Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 1119 See the link below for public details on this project. A marked bend in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain supposedly resulted from a recent major reorganization of the plate-mantle system there 50 million years ago. Although alternative mantle-driven and plate-shifting hypotheses have been proposed, no contemporaneous circum-Pacific plate events have been identified. We report reconstructions for Australia and Antarctica that reveal a major plate reorganization between 50 and 53 million years ago. Revised Pacific Ocean sea-floor reconstructions suggest that subduction of the Pacific-Izanagi spreading ridge and subsequent Marianas/Tonga-Kermadec subduction initiation may have been the ultimate causes of these events. Thus, these plate reconstructions solve long-standing continental fit problems and improve constraints on the motion between East and West Antarctica and global plate circuit closure.