Linear chains of seamounts, sourced from mantle plume processes, have the potential to refine plate motion models because the hotspot remains fixed relative to the moving lithospheric plate. However, to define plate motion, consistent seamount age progression and geometry are required. Some seamount chains, such as the Musician Seamount Province (MSP), have complex geometries and age distributions, which complicates calibrating plate motion. The MSP resides northwest of the Hawaiian Islands and is composed of seamounts and volcanic elongated ridges (VERs) that cover ∼420,000 km2 of Pacific seafloor. Here we provide new 40Ar/39Ar age determinations for a series of lava flows recovered from the MSP during expedition EX1708 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Exploration program. The MSP was built by four distinct volcanic processes: (1) age-progressive hotspot volcanism associated with the Euterpe Plume (ca. 98–79 Ma). (2) VER formation from plume-ridge channelization (ca. 97–94 Ma; 86–79 Ma) where the VERs only form when the hotspot is within ∼600 km of the ridge. (3) Eocene volcanism driven by extension during the ca. 50 Ma change in Pacific rotation poles (ca. 54–47 Ma). (4) Some near-ridge shear-driven upwelling or diffuse extensional volcanism that preceded the southern MSP lithosphere overriding the plume (ca. 86–84 Ma). By filtering lava flows with only robust statistically concordant 40Ar/39Ar age determinations as well as geologic setting, we develop a dataset of samples valuable for constraining Pacific plate motion. A local plate velocity of 42 ± 9 km/Ma for the 98–81 Ma time frame is calculated. Furthermore, the seamount track indicates that large shifts in Pacific rotation pole locations are required prior to 98 Ma and at ca. 81 Ma.
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Challenger Deep basalts reveal Indian-type Early Cretaceous oceanic crust subducting in the southernmost Mariana Trench
Why the Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth’s solid surface, is so deep is unclear, but part of the reason must be the age and density of the downgoing plate. Northwest Pacific oceanic crust subducting in the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Trench is Cretaceous and Jurassic, but the age and nature of Pacific oceanic crust subducting in the southernmost Mariana Trench remains unknown. Here we present the first study of seafloor basalts recovered by the full-ocean-depth crewed submersible Fendouzhe from the deepest seafloor around the Challenger Deep, from both the overriding and downgoing plates. 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate that downgo¬ing basalts are Early Cretaceous (ca. 125 Ma), indicating they are part of the Pacific plate rather than the nearby Oligocene Caroline microplate. Downgoing-plate basalts are slightly enriched in incompatible elements but have similar trace element and Hf isotope compositions to other northwest Pacific mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs). They also have slightly enriched Sr-Nd-Pb isotope compositions like those of the Indian mantle domain. These features may have formed with contributions from plume-derived components via plume-ridge interac¬tions. One sample from the overriding plate gives an 40Ar/39Ar age of ca. 55 Ma, about the same age as subduction initiation, to form the Izu-Bonin-Mariana convergent margin. Our results suggest that 50%–90% of the Pb budget of Mariana arc magmas is derived from the subducted MORBs with Indian-type isotope affinity.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2054555
- PAR ID:
- 10530515
- Publisher / Repository:
- Geology
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geology
- ISSN:
- 0091-7613
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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