Refining Pacific Plate Absolute Motion

本研究将验证以下假设：(1)太平洋热点轨迹反映了板块绝对运动的若干次二阶变化，这些变化可以在长寿命的热点链之间相互关联；(2)板块绝对运动变化的时间与板块相对运动的变化相关，这似乎是由环太平洋构造事件促成的，因此板块相对运动的时间变化可以约束板块绝对运动模型；(3)绝对板块运动变化可能引发非点状板内火山活动，从而污染年龄递进的热点轨迹数据集。一个详细的太平洋绝对板块运动模型可追溯到65ma。

This work will test the following hypotheses: (1) Pacific hotspot trails reflect several second-order changes in absolute plate motion that can be correlated among the long-lived hotspot chains, (2) the times of absolute plate motion changes correlate with changes in relative plate motion, which seem to have been precipitated by circum-Pacific tectonic events, so times of relative plate motion changes can constrain absolute plate motion models; and (3) absolute plate motion changes may trigger not-spot intraplate volcanism that will contaminate the age-progressive hotspot trail data set. A detailed model for the Pacific absolute plate motion back to 65 Ma will be developed.