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Magma production along the Lord Howe Seamount Chain, northern Zealandia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2019

Maria Seton Open the ORCID record for Maria Seton [Opens in a new window] ,
Simon Williams ,
Nick Mortimer ,
Sebastien Meffre ,
Steven Micklethwaite  and
Sabin Zahirovic
Maria Seton*
Affiliation:
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Madsen Building F09, New South Wales 2006, Australia
Simon Williams
Affiliation:
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Madsen Building F09, New South Wales 2006, Australia
Nick Mortimer
Affiliation:
GNS Science, Private Bag 1930, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Sebastien Meffre
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania, Private Bag 79, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
Steven Micklethwaite
Affiliation:
Monash University, 9 Rainforest Walk (Bldg 28), Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
Sabin Zahirovic
Affiliation:
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Madsen Building F09, New South Wales 2006, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Maria Seton, Email: maria.seton@sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

One of the world’s most notable intraplate volcanic regions lies on the eastern Australian plate and includes two age-progressive trails offshore (Tasmantid and Lord Howe seamount chains) and the world’s longest continental hotspot trail (Cosgrove Track). While most studies agree that these chains formed by the rapid northward motion of the Australian plate over a slowly moving mantle source, the volcanic output along these trails, their plate–mantle interactions and the source of the magmatism remain unconstrained. A geophysical mapping and dredging campaign on the RV Southern Surveyor (ss2012_v06) confirmed the prolongation of the Lord Howe Seamount Chain to the South Rennell Trough, ∼200 km further north than previously sampled. Radiometric dating of these new samples at 27–28 Ma, together with previously published results from the southern part of the chain, indicate straightforward northward motion of the Australian plate over a quasi-stationary hotspot as predicted by Indo-Atlantic and Pacific hotspot models. A peak in Lord Howe Seamount Chain magmatism in late Oligocene time, also seen in the Tasmantid and Cosgrove trails, matches a 27–23 Ma slowdown of Australian plate motion. The average magma flux of the Lord Howe hotspot is estimated at 0.4 m3 s−1, similar to rates of crustal production at the South Rennell Trough prior to cessation of spreading in middle Oligocene time, supporting a potential genetic relationship to this spreading system. In addition, plate tectonic modelling suggests that the seamounts and plateaus in the Coral Sea may host the earliest evidence of plume activity in the area.

Keywords

hotspotintraplate volcanismLord Howe Seamount ChainplumeTasmantidsvolume fluxZealandia
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 156 , Issue 9 , September 2019 , pp. 1605 - 1617
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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