The Bend in the Louisville Hotspot Chain: Comparison with the Hawaiian-Emperor Elbow

路易斯维尔海山链是检验与主要热点链的喷发历史和热点羽流运动有关的假设的最佳地点之一。 该项目将从路易斯维尔链获取地球物理数据和地质样本，以回答有关太平洋板块和路易斯维尔热点羽流在过去8000万年的相对运动的基本问题。 所获得的数据还将用于确定未来可能的IODP计划的钻井目标。 研究人员计划在沿着路易斯维尔链2900公里的海洋学巡航期间挖掘海底岩石，进行广泛的总场和三分量磁力调查，使用多波束和Chirp技术绘制海底地图，并应用高分辨率地震方法对海底进行成像，并且，沿着与合作者一起，他们将对来自25个地点的岩石进行化学和地质年代学分析。 他们还将把他们的结果与更好地研究夏威夷链的数据进行比较。

The Louisville seamount chain is one of the best places to test hypotheses related to the eruptive history of a major hotspot chain and motion of a hotspot plume. The project will acquire geophysical data and geologic samples from the Louisville chain to answer fundamental questions about the relative motion of the Pacific plate and Louisville hotspot plume over the past 80 M.y. The acquired data will also serve to define drilling targets for a possible IODP program in the future. The researchers plan to dredge seafloor rocks, conduct extensive total-field and three-component magnetic surveys, use multibeam and Chirp techniques to map the seafloor, and apply high-resolution seismic methods to image the subseafloor during an oceanographic cruise along 2900 km of the Louisville chain, and, along with collaborators, they will conduct chemical and geochronologic analyses on rocks from 25 sites. They will also compare their results with data from the better-studied Hawaiian chain.