The Bent Hawaiian-Emperor Hotspot Track: Inheriting the Mantle Wind

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.

Further Information
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5923/50
BibTeX
@article{id2044,
  author = {Tarduno, John;  and Bunge, Hans-Peter;  and Sleep, Norm;  and Hansen, Ulrich},
  doi = {10.1126/science.1161256},
  journal = {SCIENCE},
  language = {en},
  number = {5923},
  pages = {50-53},
  title = {The Bent Hawaiian-Emperor Hotspot Track: Inheriting the Mantle Wind},
  url = {http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5923/50},
  volume = {324},
  year = {2009},
}
EndNote
%O Journal Article
%A Tarduno, John; 
%A Bunge, Hans-Peter; 
%A Sleep, Norm; 
%A Hansen, Ulrich
%R 10.1126/science.1161256
%J SCIENCE
%G en
%N 5923
%P 50-53
%T The Bent Hawaiian-Emperor Hotspot Track: Inheriting the Mantle Wind
%U http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5923/50
%V 324
%D 2009