Abstract
Alignments of volcanoes such as the Hawaiian seamount chain record the passage of oceanic plates over mantle plumes or hot-spots, and changes in the orientation of a seamount chain may indicate changes in the direction of motion of the plate within the hotspot frame of reference1. This hypothesis can be tested for the Pacific plate by comparing data from the Hawaiian volcanoes with tectonic movements inferred from the geology of adjacent plates. We have now found that the motion of the Pacific plate changed to a more northerly direction 5 Myr ago, probably as a result of the detachment of a piece of Pacific sea floor which had been subducted beneath the Fiji plateau during the Tertiary.
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Cox, A., Engebretson, D. Change in motion of Pacific plate at 5 Myr BP. Nature 313, 472–474 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/313472a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/313472a0
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