The Absolute Motion of the Africa Plate

地球表面由岩石（岩石圈）板块镶嵌而成。这些板块的运动产生了喜马拉雅山、阿尔卑斯山和大西洋等主要地质特征。因此，解开板块运动的地质历史对于理解地球的地质历史非常重要。几十年来，一些人一直认为海山痕迹是在“热点”处形成的。例如夏威夷记录了板块运动，板块运动的重大变化可以通过诸如夏威夷-皇帝海山链中5000万年前的大弯曲等特征来表明。然而，其他人则认为海山链没有记录“绝对”。板运动（APM）是因为热点源以及镀层移动。这场争论中的一个重要问题是，不同板块上的热点轨迹是否可以与公共绝对运动模型中板块之间已知的相对运动相一致。一个关键问题是非洲板块的运动。该项目将重新分析使用热点轨迹记录的非洲绝对板块运动，以约束板块运动和年代。更广泛的影响包括这项研究对于理解地球最基本的运作、通过包括播客、动画等在内的网站公开传播结果以及培训研究生的高度相关性。

Earth?s surface is comprised of a mosaic of rocky (lithospheric) plates. Motions of these plates give rise to major geologic features such as the Himalayas, the Alps, and the Atlantic Ocean. Unraveling the geologic history of plate motions is thus a matter of great importance to understanding the geologic history of our planet. For several decades, some have argued that trails of seamounts created at ?hot spots? such as Hawaii record the motions plates, and major changes of plate motion are indicated by features such as the great 50 million year old bend in the Hawaii-Emperor seamount chain. Others, however, have argued that seamount chains do not record ?absolute? plate motions (APM) because the hot spot sources as well as the plated move. An important question in this debate is whether hot spot trails on different plates can be reconciled with the known relative motions between plates in a common absolute motion model. A key problem is the motion of the Africa Plate. This project will reanalyze the absolute plate motion of Africa recorded using hot spot tracks to constrain plate motion and chronology. Broader impacts include the very high relevance of this study for understanding the most fundamental working of the planet, public dissemination of the results through a web site that includes podcasts, animations, etc, and training a graduate student.