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Plate tectonics
Gr
NA
Eu
Ku
In
SA
Fa
Af
Pa
Au
WAn
EAn
Figure 1 Global plate-motion circuits for much of the past 80 million years. The double-headed
arrows point to pairs of plates separated by a mid-ocean ridge from which the relative plate motion of
the plate pair can be determined. For example, the motion of the Kula plate relative to the North
American plate is determined by the plate-motion circuit Kula (Ku) to Pacific (Pa) to West Antarctic
(WAn) to East Antarctic (EAn) to Africa (Af) to North America (NA). Au, Australia; Eu, Eurasia; Fa,
Farallon; Gr, Greenland; In, India; SA, South America. (Redrawn from refs 6, 12.)
2000 Macmillan Magazines Ltd
139
Figure 2 Topography of the north Pacific sea floor, showing the elbow where the Hawaiian island and
seamount chain meets the Emperor seamount chain. (Map reproduced from ref. 13, courtesy of
Walter H. F. Smith.)
Hawaiian segment with ages less than 43 million years. These two straight segments meet
at an angle of about 120 in an elbow, which
is widely, but not universally, interpreted as
recording a 60 change at 43 million years
ago in the direction of Pacific plate motion
relative to the Hawaiian and other Pacific
plumes.
Reconstructions10 of the Pacific plate relative to Atlantic and Indian Ocean hotspots
that use Cande and colleagues estimates
indicate no sharp change in motion of the
Pacific plate relative to the Atlantic and Indian Ocean hotspots at about 43 million years
ago. If so, it implies that there was a sharp and
sudden change in the motion of Pacific
hotspots relative to those in other ocean
basins, which is difficult to understand in
view of what is known about convection in
Earths mantle11.
In any event, the new work of Cande et al.
constitutes great progress. It will have a
pivotal influence on the future course of
research on global tectonics.