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| Titel |
Cenozoic plate motion history |
| VerfasserIn |
S. Quere, D. B. Rowley, A. M. Forte, R. Moucha |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2009
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 11 (2009) |
| Datensatznummer |
250022264
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The present-day difference of plate motions between the assumed fixed hotspot and
no-net-rotation reference frames presents a westward rotation in the direction of the Pacific
plate. Here, we computed plate motions employing a new set of reconstructions based on the
Indo-Atlantic hotspots and the lithosphere is now characterized by a northward drift in the
Pacific region. This new plate motion reconstruction provides a new vision of Earth’s history
during the last 60 Myr. Three new aspects distinguish this history from the one
previously established by Gordon & Jurdy in 1986. First, this history does not predict the
Hawaiian-Emperor bend as supposed by a fixed Hawaiian hotspot. Second, the new
Cenozoic plate history does not yield any global reorganisation or abrupt change
in plate motions in the time interval from 60 to 40 Ma before present. Third, the
difference between plate motions in the Indo-Atlantic reference frame and one in
which there is no net rotation of the lithosphere is minimal and the latter therefore
constitutes an appropriate reference for mantle dynamic models of thermal convection. |
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