Sutton Hotspot:Resolving Ediacaran-Cambrian Tectonics and True Polar Wander for Laurentia

Hotspot tracks represent plate motions relative to mantle sources, and paleomagnetic data from magmatic units along those tracks can quantify motions of those mantle anomalies relative to the Earth's magnetic field and rotational axis. The Ediacaran Period is notable for rapid and large paleoma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American Journal of Science
Main Authors: Mitchell, Ross N., Kilian, Taylor M., Raub, Timothy D., Evans, David A. D., Bleeker, Wouter, Maloof, Adam C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
PLATE MOTIONS
Laurentia
Ediacaran
QUEBEC APPALACHIANS
LIVED MANTLE PLUME
SKINNER COVE VOLCANICS
WESTERN NEWFOUNDLAND
plate tectonics
U-PB ZIRCON
true polar wander (TPW)
apparent polar wander (APW)
LAYERED MAFIC INTRUSION
LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCE
NORTH-AMERICA
hotspot
SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS
Skinner Cove
Newfoundland
Online Access:https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/sutton-hotspot(281d6519-3ce2-4ba9-b113-e34ee11ba821).html
https://doi.org/10.2475/08.2011.01
Description
Summary:Hotspot tracks represent plate motions relative to mantle sources, and paleomagnetic data from magmatic units along those tracks can quantify motions of those mantle anomalies relative to the Earth's magnetic field and rotational axis. The Ediacaran Period is notable for rapid and large paleomagnetic apparent polar wander (APW) for many continents. Whereas magmatic units attributed to the "Sutton" mantle plume suggest a practically stationary hotspot track, paleolatitudes of Laurentia for that interval vary dramatically; geologic and paleomagnetic data are at odds unless true polar wander (TPW) is invoked to explain a majority of APW. Here we test the plume-TPW hypothesis by generating the predicted Sutton hotspot track for a stationary plume under a moving plate along the Laurentian margin during the interval from 615 to 530 Ma. Our model is the first to provide a kinematic framework for the extensive large igneous province associated with opening the Iapetus Ocean.

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