The age and origin of the Pacific islands: a geological overview

被引:244
作者
Neall, Vincent E. [1 ]
Trewick, Steven A. [1 ]
机构
[1] Massey Univ, Inst Nat Resources, Palmerston North, New Zealand
关键词
Pacific; islands; plate tectonics;
D O I
10.1098/rstb.2008.0119
中图分类号
Q [生物科学];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The Pacific Ocean evolved from the Panthalassic Ocean that was first formed ca 750 Ma with the rifting apart of Rodinia. By 160 Ma, the first ocean floor ascribed to the current Pacific plate was produced to the west of a spreading centre in the central Pacific, ultimately growing to become the largest oceanic plate on the Earth. The current Nazca, Cocos and Juan de Fuca ( Gorda) plates were initially one plate, produced to the east of the original spreading centre before becoming split into three. The islands of the Pacific have originated as: linear chains of volcanic islands on the above plates either by mantle plume or propagating fracture origin, atolls, uplifted coralline reefs, fragments of continental crust, obducted portions of adjoining lithospheric plates and islands resulting from subduction along convergent plate margins. Out of the 11 linear volcanic chains identified, each is briefly described and its history summarized. The geology of 10 exemplar archipelagos ( Japan, Izu-Bonin, Palau, Solomons, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Society, Galapagos and Hawaii) is then discussed in detail.
引用
收藏
页码:3293 / 3308
页数:16
相关论文
共 113 条
[41]  
Hall R, 1997, GEOL SOC SPEC PUBL, V126, P11, DOI 10.1144/GSL.SP.1997.126.01.03
[42]   Genesis of the Western Samoa seamount province: age, geochemical fingerprint and tectonics [J].
Hart, SR ;
Coetzee, M ;
Workman, RK ;
Blusztajn, J ;
Johnson, KTM ;
Sinton, JM ;
Steinberger, B ;
Hawkins, JW .
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS, 2004, 227 (1-2) :37-56
[43]   NEPHELINITES AND BASANITES OF SAMOAN LINEAR VOLCANIC CHAIN - THEIR POSSIBLE TECTONIC SIGNIFICANCE [J].
HAWKINS, JW ;
NATLAND, JH .
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS, 1975, 24 (03) :427-439
[44]   The Pitcairn hotspot in the South Pacific:: distribution and composition of submarine volcanic sequences [J].
Hekinian, R ;
Cheminée, JL ;
Dubois, J ;
Stoffers, P ;
Scott, S ;
Guivel, C ;
Garbe-Schönberg, D ;
Devey, C ;
Bourdon, B ;
Lackschewitz, K ;
McMmurtry, G ;
Le Drezen, E .
JOURNAL OF VOLCANOLOGY AND GEOTHERMAL RESEARCH, 2003, 121 (3-4) :219-245
[45]   Discrete alternating hotspot islands formed by interaction of magma transport and lithospheric flexure [J].
Hieronymus, CF ;
Bercovici, D .
NATURE, 1999, 397 (6720) :604-607
[46]  
Hoernle K, 2002, GEOLOGY, V30, P795, DOI 10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0795:MHMOTG>2.0.CO
[47]  
2
[48]  
JAFFRE T, 1987, Bulletin du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle Section B Adansonia Botanique Phytochimie, V9, P365
[49]   LATE CRETACEOUS CENOZOIC TECTONIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC REGION [J].
KAMP, PJJ .
TECTONOPHYSICS, 1986, 121 (2-4) :225-251
[50]   FISSION-TRACK ANALYSIS REVEALS CHARACTER OF COLLISIONAL TECTONICS IN NEW-ZEALAND [J].
KAMP, PJJ ;
GREEN, PF ;
WHITE, SH .
TECTONICS, 1989, 8 (02) :169-195