Early Emperor seamount evolution and geotectonics of the northwestern Pacific plate

Abstract

Our knowledge of the Cretaceous history of the northwestern Pacific plate relies on tectonic reconstructions that lack geochronologic and geochemical constraints due to the paucity of sampling in this area. We present new age and compositional data for samples from four Emperor seamounts: Meiji, Hanzei, Suizei, and Tenji. Tholeiites from Tenji (66 Ma) and Suizei (70 Ma) yield ages consistent with the expected age progression, whereas a trachytic sample from Hanzei (66 Ma, expected age of ca. 73 Ma) represents an alkalic post-shield event. The ridge-like morphology and depleted geochemistry of Meiji to Suizei seamounts and the age (78−75 Ma) and depleted composition of the volcanic elongated ridges (VERs) southeast of Detroit seamount (ca. 76 Ma) are consistent with plume-ridge interaction. The VERs account for the missing volume of volcanism expected from plume-ridge interaction for the oldest Emperor seamounts. A small seamount with mid-ocean ridge basalt−like geochemistry located east of northern Detroit seamount yielded an age of 100 Ma, representing a minimum age for the oceanic crustal sliver between the Emperor Trough and the Stalemate Fracture Zone. We propose ∼300 km of dextral offset along the Emperor Trough to explain the location of this older crustal sliver. Our new data provide important constraints on the poorly known early evolution of the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain and the Cretaceous Quiet Zone (Cretaceous Normal Superchron) geotectonic history of the northwestern Pacific plate.