1. The Bent Hawaiian-Emperor Hotspot Track: Inheriting the Mantle Wind.
- Author
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Tarduno, John, Bunge, Hans-Peter, Sleep, Norm, and Hansen, Ulrich
- Subjects
- *
VOLCANIC activity prediction , *VOLCANIC eruptions , *GEOPHYSICS research , *EARTH'S mantle , *EARTH (Planet) - Abstract
Bends in volcanic hotspot lineaments, best represented by the large elbow in the Hawaiian- Emperor chain, were thought to directly record changes in plate motion. Several lines of geophysical inquiry now suggest that a change in the locus of upwelling in the mantle induced by mantle dynamics causes bends in hotspot tracks. Inverse modeling suggests that although deep flow near the core-mantle boundary may have played a role in the Hawaiian-Emperor bend, capture of a plume by a ridge, followed by changes in sub-Pacific mantle flow, can better explain the observations. Thus, hotspot tracks can reveal patterns of past mantle circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
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