Publication Date:
2021-03-29
Description:
The eastern boundary of the Caroline plate, in the western equatorial Pacific, is composed of three structural provinces distinguished primarily on the basis of morphology. Each province shows evidence for convergence between the Caroline and Pacific plates though the structural style varies considerably between each province. Most notably, the sense of underthrusting appears to change along the boundary at about 3°N. To the south, at the Mussau System, Caroline lithosphere underthrusts beneath the Mussau Ridge (which is part of the Pacific plate), while to the north the Caroline plate appears to overthrust the Pacific plate. Recently collected seismic reflection profiles across each province documents the structural changes along and across strike of the Caroline-Pacific plate boundary. With this information, we estimate that a minimum of approximately 4 km of crustal shortening has occurred at about 5°N due to convergence of the two plates. Further to the south (about 2°N), simple gravity models suggest that about 10 km of Caroline lithosphere lies beneath the present-day Pacific plate. Using a previously determined pole of rotation describing Caroline-Pacific relative motion (Weissel and Anderson, 1978), we grossly estimate the duration of the convergence between these two plates at about one million years. It is suggested that variation in the convergence rate along the plate boundary provides the primary control on the variation of structural deformation observed between provinces; however, favorable thermal conditions are factors that are considered. If the eastern boundary of the Caroline plate is a region of incipient though perhaps transient subduction, as we postulate, then the geophysical and geological evidence presented can constrain models on the initiation of subduction.
Type:
Book chapter
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
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