Collaborative Research: Assessing Hotspot Fixity in the Pacific Basin

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This study will conduct a survey along the Easter/Salas-y-Gomex/ Nazca (ESN) trail tobetter characterize and constrain movement of the hotspot over the last 25 to 30 Ma. The survey will involve geochronologic, geochemical, and geophysical study of seamounts and volcanic ridges. Multibeam bathymetric data and backscatter imagery will be used to define topography and structural features at selected localities and identify targets for dredging. Dredged samples will be dated using 40Ar-39Ar technique and their petrological, chemical and Nd-Pb-Sr isotopic chracteristics will be determined. The new data will be combined with re-analyses of existing samples to test Nazca-hotspot motion and mantle flow models and compare them to Pacific-hotspot models.