Reconstructing Ontong Java Nui: Implications for Pacific absolute plate motion, hotspot drift and true polar wander SCIE SCOPUS

Cited 72 time in WEB OF SCIENCE Cited 81 time in Scopus
Title
Reconstructing Ontong Java Nui: Implications for Pacific absolute plate motion, hotspot drift and true polar wander
Author(s)
Chandler, Michael T.; Wessel, Paul; Taylor, Brian; Seton, Maria; Kim, Seung-Sep; Hyeong, Kiseong
KIOST Author(s)
Hyeong, Ki Seong(형기성)
Alternative Author(s)
형기성
Publication Year
2012-05-15
Abstract
The Taylor (2006) hypothesis suggesting a common origin for the Ontong Java, Manihiki, and Hikurangi large igneous provinces provides an opportunity for a quantitative reconstruction and reassessment of the Ontong Java-Louisville hotspot connection. Our plate tectonic reconstructions of the three plateaus into Ontong Java Nui, or greater Ontong Java, combined with models for Pacific absolute plate motion (APM), allow an analysis of this connection. A new survey of the central Ellice Basin confirms easterly fracture zones, northerly abyssal hill fabric, as well as an area of sigmoidally-southeast-trending fracture zones associated with a late-stage spreading reorientation. From the fracture zone trends we derive new rotation poles for a two-stage model of Ellice Basin opening between the Ontong Java and Manihiki Plateaus. We use these and a single stage pole for separation of the Manihiki and Hikurangi Plateaus, together with three different Pacific APMs, to reconstruct the Ontong Java Nui super plateau back to 123 Ma and compare its predicted location with paleolatitude data obtained from the Ontong Java and Manihiki plateaus. Discrepancies between our Ontong Java Nui reconstructions and Ontong Java and Manihiki paleolatitudes are largest for the fixed Pacific hotspot APM. Assuming a Louisville hotspot source for Ontong Java Nui, remaining disparity between Ontong Java Nui's paleo-location at 123 Ma and published paleomagnetic latitudes for Ontong Java plateau imply that 8 degrees-19 degrees of Louisville hotspot drift or true polar wander may have occurred since the formation of Ontong Java Nui. However, the older portions of the Pacific APMs could easily be biased by a similar amount, making a firm identification of the dominant source of misfit difficult. Prior studies required a combined 26 degrees of hotspot drift, octupole bias effects, and true polar wander just to link the Ontong Java Plateau to Louisville. Consequently, we suggest the super plateau hypothesis and our new reconstructions have considerably strengthened the case for a Louisville plume origin for Ontong Java Nui. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0012-821X
URI
https://sciwatch.kiost.ac.kr/handle/2020.kiost/3560
DOI
10.1016/j.epsl.2012.03.017
Bibliographic Citation
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS, v.331, pp.140 - 151, 2012
Publisher
ELSEVIER
Subject
HIKURANGI PLATEAU; CRUSTAL STRUCTURE; OCEANIC PLATEAU; SOLOMON-ISLANDS; HOT-SPOT; ORIGIN; EVOLUTION; BASALTS; PLUME; PALEOMAGNETISM
Keywords
Ontong Java; Manihiki; Hikurangi; Louisville hotspot; plume drift; true polar wander
Type
Article
Language
English
Document Type
Article
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