Abstract
Seamounts and islands are quite common features of the deep-ocean basins, particularly the Pacific Basin. A conspicuous but relatively small number of these volcanoes are arranged in long linear chains (Figure 1). The vast majority, however, occur as isolated edifices. Recent work on a small number of these isolated volcanoes shows that many were formed at or very close to mid-ocean spreading axes (Clague and Dalrymple, 1975; Batiza, 1980) but that others are significantly younger than the underlying oceanic crust (G. B. Dalrymple, D. A. Clague, H. G. Greene, unpublished data). These isolated volcanoes require much additional study before their origin is understood. The volcanoes arranged in linear chains have been the focus of a great deal of work, and much has been learned about their origin and evolution. Most of the linear volcanic chains in the Pacific Basin are oriented roughly west-northwesterly and apparently formed sequentially above stationary hot spots during the past 42 m. y. as the Pacific plate rotated clockwise about a pole located near 69°N, 68°W (Clague and Jarrard, 1973a). Another group of linear chains exhibit roughly north-trending orientations and apparently were formed by the same mechanism between at least 80 and 42 m. y. ago as the Pacific plate rotated about a pole of rotation located near 17°N, 107°W (Clague and Jarrard, 1973b). Earlier age data available from linear island and seamount chains were summarized by Jackson (1976), Jarrard and Clague (1977), and McDougall and Duncan (1980); we will briefly review the information presented there and update it with more recent data.
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Duncan, R.A., Clague, D.A. (1985). Pacific Plate Motion Recorded by Linear Volcanic Chains. In: Nairn, A.E.M., Stehli, F.G., Uyeda, S. (eds) The Ocean Basins and Margins. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2351-8_3
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