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

• 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

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