Major Australian-Antarctic Plate Reorganization at Hawaiian-Emperor Bend Time

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 mantledriven and plate-shifting hypotheses have been proposed, no contemporaneous circum-Pacific plate events have b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Joanne Whittaker, Muller, RD, Leitchenkov, G, Stagg, H, Sdrolias, M, Gaina, C, Goncharov, A
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Major_Australian-Antarctic_Plate_Reorganization_at_Hawaiian-Emperor_Bend_Time/22900796
Description
Summary: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 mantledriven 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.