Motion of Pacific basin hotspots: Paleomagnetic investigation of the
Late Cretaceous Southern Volcanics (Chatham Islands, New Zealand)
The Hawaiian-Emperor hotspot track has typically been considered to represent
plate motion traced by a plume fixed in the deep mantle. However,
paleomagnetic and radiometric age data from samples recovered by Ocean
Drilling Program Leg 197 define an age-progressive paleolatitude
history indicating that the Emperor Seamount trend was principally
formed by the rapid (> 40 mm/ yr ) motion of the Hawaiian hotspot
during Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary times (81-47 Ma). This motion
requires that we now view this classic age-progressive volcanic
lineament as a record of mantle convection rather than solely plate
motion.
We are investigating the Late Cretaceous Southern Volcanics of the
Chatham Islands (New Zealand) to gain further insight into Pacific
hotspot motion. Importantly, data from the Chatham Islands, when
combined with results available from the northern Emperor Seamounts,
nearly span the latitudinal limits of the Pacific plate. Therefore,
new paleomagnetic results could be used to test the internal coherency
of the Pacific plate and some non-plume models that relate hotspot
magmatism to extension and processes confined to the upper mantle.
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