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Deformation-related volcanism in the Pacific Ocean linked to the Hawaiian–Emperor bend

Nature Geoscience volume 8, pages 393–397 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Ocean islands, seamounts and volcanic ridges are thought to form above mantle plumes. Yet, this mechanism cannot explain many volcanic features on the Pacific Ocean floor1 and some might instead be caused by cracks in the oceanic crust linked to the reorganization of plate motions1,2,3. A distinctive bend in the Hawaiian–Emperor volcanic chain has been linked to changes in the direction of motion of the Pacific Plate4,5, movement of the Hawaiian plume6,7,8, or a combination of both9. However, these links are uncertain because there is no independent record that precisely dates tectonic events that affected the Pacific Plate. Here we analyse the geochemical characteristics of lava samples collected from the Musicians Ridges, lines of volcanic seamounts formed close to the Hawaiian–Emperor bend. We find that the geochemical signature of these lavas is unlike typical ocean island basalts and instead resembles mid-ocean ridge basalts. We infer that the seamounts are unrelated to mantle plume activity and instead formed in an extensional setting, due to deformation of the Pacific Plate. 40Ar/39Ar dating reveals that the Musicians Ridges formed during two time windows that bracket the time of formation of the Hawaiian–Emperor bend, 53–52 and 48–47 million years ago. We conclude that the Hawaiian–Emperor bend was formed by plate–mantle reorganization, potentially triggered by a series of subduction events at the Pacific Plate margins.

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Figure 1: Locations of sample sites on the Musicians volcanic ridges.
Figure 2: Examples of high-resolution incremental heating 40Ar/39Ar age spectra for the Musicians volcanic ridges.
Figure 3: Evidence that deformation volcanism is related to a depleted upper mantle source.
Figure 4: Reconstruction of plates and plate boundaries around the Pacific Ocean Basin.

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Acknowledgements

F. Jourdan is thanked for very useful comments and suggestions. We thank the captain, crew and members of the scientific party for a successful RV Sonne SO 142 (HULA II) Expedition. W. Lustenhouwer and S. Matveev performed the electron microprobe analyses. Financial support was provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and Australian Research Council grant DP0987713.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Alten Hafen 26, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany

    John M. O’Connor & Wilfried Jokat

  2. GeoZentrum Nordbayern, University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany

    John M. O’Connor

  3. Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands,

    John M. O’Connor & Jan R. Wijbrans

  4. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, 24148 Kiel, Germany

    Kaj Hoernle & Folkmar Hauff

  5. EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia

    R. Dietmar Müller & Nathaniel P. Butterworth

  6. Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK

    Jason P. Morgan

  7. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0225, USA

    David T. Sandwell

  8. University of Bremen, Fachbereich 5, 330440 Bremen, Germany

    Wilfried Jokat

  9. Institute for Geosciences, Christian-Albrechts-University, Ludewig-Meyn-Str. 10, 24118 Kiel, Germany

    Peter Stoffers

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Contributions

J.M.O’C., P.S. and J.P.M. conceived the project. J.P.M. and J.M.O’C. wrote the proposal that funded the original seagoing work. J.M.O’C., K.H., F.H. and J.R.W. designed and performed the experiments and data analysis. R.D.M., N.P.B. and D.T.S. provided supporting materials. J.M.O’C., K.H., R.D.M. and J.P.M. wrote the paper. W.J., P.S. and K.H. provided funding essential for carrying out the project.

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Correspondence to John M. O’Connor.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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O’Connor, J., Hoernle, K., Müller, R. et al. Deformation-related volcanism in the Pacific Ocean linked to the Hawaiian–Emperor bend. Nature Geosci 8, 393–397 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2416

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