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Science 5 October 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5847, pp. 83 - 86
DOI: 10.1126/science.1143769
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Reports

Major Australian-Antarctic Plate Reorganization at Hawaiian-Emperor Bend Time

J. M. Whittaker,1* R. D. Müller,1 G. Leitchenkov,2 H. Stagg,3 M. Sdrolias,1 C. Gaina,4 A. Goncharov3

A marked bend in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain supposedly resulted from a recent major reorganization of the plate-mantle system there 50 million years ago. Although alternative mantle-driven and plate-shifting hypotheses have been proposed, no contemporaneous circum-Pacific plate events have been identified. We report reconstructions for Australia and Antarctica that reveal a major plate reorganization between 50 and 53 million years ago. Revised Pacific Ocean sea-floor reconstructions suggest that subduction of the Pacific-Izanagi spreading ridge and subsequent Marianas/Tonga-Kermadec subduction initiation may have been the ultimate causes of these events. Thus, these plate reconstructions solve long-standing continental fit problems and improve constraints on the motion between East and West Antarctica and global plate circuit closure.

1 EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia.
2 VNII Okeangeologia (Antarctic Branch), St. Petersburg 190121, Russia.
3 Geoscience Australia, Canberra 2601, Australia.
4 Center for Geodynamics, Norwegian Geological Survey, Trondheim 7491, Norway.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: j.whittaker{at}geosci.usyd.edu.au

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Bent Hawaiian-Emperor Hotspot Track: Inheriting the Mantle Wind.
J. Tarduno, H.-P. Bunge, N. Sleep, and U. Hansen (2009)
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Circum-Pacific arc flare-ups and global cooling near the Eocene-Oligocene boundary.
B. R. Jicha, D. W. Scholl, and D. K. Rea (2009)
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Naturaliste Plateau, offshore Western Australia: A submarine window into Gondwana assembly and breakup.
J. A. Halpin, A. J. Crawford, N. G. Direen, M. F. Coffin, C. J. Forbes, and I. Borissova (2008)
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Comment on "Major Australian-Antarctic Plate Reorganization at Hawaiian-Emperor Bend Time".
A. A. Tikku and N. G. Direen (2008)
Science 321, 490c
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Response to Comment on "Major Australian-Antarctic Plate Reorganization at Hawaiian-Emperor Bend Time".
J. M. Whittaker, R. D. Muller, G. Leitchenkov, H. Stagg, M. Sdrolias, C. Gaina, and A. Goncharov (2008)
Science 321, 490d
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Long-Term Sea-Level Fluctuations Driven by Ocean Basin Dynamics.
R. D. Muller, M. Sdrolias, C. Gaina, B. Steinberger, and C. Heine (2008)
Science 319, 1357-1362
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)