Current plate velocities relative to hotspots: implications for hotspot motion, mantle viscosity and global reference frame

The HS2-NUVEL1 model being used for current plate velocities relative to hotspots is shown to be generally inconsistent with the observed hotspot data sampled from non-Pacific regions. Instead, we determine the T22A model, which provides a good and consistent fit to the trends of globally distribute...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Main Authors: Wang, SM, Wang, R
Other Authors: Wang, SM (reprint author), Peking Univ, Dept Geophys, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Peking Univ, Dept Geophys, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China.
Format: Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: earth and planetary science letters 2001
Subjects:
hot spots
plate tectonics
mantle
convection
viscosity
models
SEISMIC EVIDENCE
ATLANTIC HOTSPOTS
CONVECTION PLUMES
HAWAIIAN HOTSPOT
POLAR WANDER
PACIFIC
SCALE
ANTARCTICA
KINEMATICS
TECTONICS
Pacific
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/155462
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(01)00351-X
Description
Summary:The HS2-NUVEL1 model being used for current plate velocities relative to hotspots is shown to be generally inconsistent with the observed hotspot data sampled from non-Pacific regions. Instead, we determine the T22A model, which provides a good and consistent fit to the trends of globally distributed hotspot traces, but predicts plate velocities at hotspots systematically lower than the observed rates of hotspot volcanic migrations. As a result, it implies that the return flow in the lower mantle has a velocity about 1/4 of the plate velocity, and that the lower mantle is about 20 times more viscous than the upper mantle. Although hotspots are not relatively fixed, they do define a global reference frame for plate motion and mantle convection. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Geochemistry & Geophysics SCI(E) 22 ARTICLE 3-4 133-140 189

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