Relative motions of hotspots in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans since late Cretaceous time

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Molnar, Peter, Stock, Joann
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 1987
• Subjects: Indian; Kerguelen; Pacific; Tristan; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/327587a0

Combinations of global plate reconstructions reveal average velocities for the last 50 to 65 million years of 10 to 20 mm yr^(−1) between the Hawaiian hotspot and those beneath Iceland, Tristan da Cunha, Réunion, St. Paul's Island, and Kerguelen. Therefore hotspots do not define a fixed reference frame. Uncertainties in these reconstructions are less than the errors incurred by assuming fixed hotspots and less than the differences among various proposed frames of reference of fixed hotspots. © 1987 Nature Publishing Group. Received 16 December 1986; accepted 21 April 1987. W. W. Sager offered helpful comments on the manuscript. This research was supported primarily by the NSF. J.M.S. also received support from a Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship.