Reconstructions of the South Pacific (Paleoceanographic Mapping Project Progress Report No. 15-1186)

• Main Author: Mayes, Catherine L.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Institute for Geophysics 1986
• Subjects: plate tectonics; plate reconstruction; South Pacific; magnetic anomaly; Antarctic; Falconer; Molnar; Pacific; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2152/67605; https://doi.org/10.15781/T2416TH8F

We present reconstructions of the Pacific region south of the equator for the following times: Anom. 5 (10.6 Ma), Anom. 7 (26.0 Ma), Anom. 21 (50.3 Ma ), Anom. 25 (59.2 Ma), and 100 Ma (CQZ). The reconstructions with interpreted isochrons are based upon magnetic picks, magnetic anomaly trends, and fracture zone trends from the following sources: Christoffel and Falconer (1972), Herron (1972), Molnar, et al. (1975), Handschumacher (1976), Weissel, et al., (1977), Mammerickx, et al. (1980), Handschumacher, et al. (1981), Cande, et al. (1982), Klitgord and Mammerickx (1983), Cande and Leslie (1986), and Molnar (1986, pers. comm.). For all of our reconstructions, we hold the Pacific plate fixed in present-day coordinates. Using interactive graphics, we determined new poles of rotation for the Pacific-Antarctic, Pacific-Cocos, Pacific-Nazca and Nazca-Antarctic spreading systems. UT Institute for Geophysics Paleoceanographic Mapping Project (POMP) Institute for Geophysics