Pacific plate apparent polar wander from skewness: Implications for motion between hotspots and for true polar wander.

太平洋板块偏度造成的明显极地漂移：对热点之间运动和真正的极地漂移的影响。

• 批准号: 1061222
• 负责人: Richard Gordon
• 金额: $ 22.42万
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-03-15 至 2014-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1061222&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Pacific; plate; apparent; polar; wander

The most dramatic events in the geologic history of Earth derive from the motions of the rocky (lithospheric) plate that cover the surface; among them are the construction of mountain such as the Alps, the Himalaya, and the Appalachians, changes of climate, and the circulation in the oceans. Hence, establishing the history of plate motions is fundamentally important to understanding the history of Earth. For decades it has been argued that chains of volcanoes produces over time by persistent, localized sources such as Hawaii record ?absolute? plate motions, but others have argued that the hotspots themselves move as well. The subject remains controversial. One way to address this question is by using paleomagnetic methods to track the motions of plates relative to the magnetic pole ? to establish the locations of past magnetic poles. Paleomagnetic pole positions can be estimated by analyzing the skewness (asymmetry) of the magnetic anomalies that produced by sea floor spreading. A reliable set of paleopoles for the Pacific plate for ages older than million years would do much to resolve the motion of the Pacific Plate. This project seeks to use the skewness of 13 magnetic anomalies to establish 13 well-constrained paleomagnetic poles for the period from 43 to 81 million years ago. Among the broader impacts of this work are its contribution to resolving a problem of interest and importance to a wide variety of sub disciplines within the earth science community, providing a research experience for undergraduate and graduate students (including one member of a underrepresented group).

地球地质史上最引人注目的事件来自覆盖在地表的岩石（岩石圈）板块的运动;其中包括阿尔卑斯山，喜马拉雅山和阿巴拉契亚山脉等山脉的建造，气候变化和海洋环流。因此，建立板块运动的历史对于理解地球的历史至关重要。几十年来，人们一直认为，随着时间的推移，火山链产生的持久性，本地化的来源，如夏威夷记录？绝对？板块运动，但其他人认为热点本身也在移动。这个问题仍有争议。解决这个问题的一种方法是使用古地磁方法来跟踪板块相对于磁极的运动。来确定过去磁极的位置古地磁极位置可以通过分析海底扩张产生的磁异常的偏度（不对称性）来估计。如果能找到一组可靠的、年龄超过100万年的太平洋板块古磁极，将有助于解决太平洋板块的运动问题。该项目试图利用13个磁异常的偏斜度来建立4300万至8100万年前的13个约束良好的古磁极。在这项工作的更广泛的影响是它的贡献，以解决地球科学界的各种子学科的兴趣和重要性的问题，为本科生和研究生（包括一个代表性不足的群体的成员）提供了研究经验。