Geochronology and origin of the Pratt‐Welker Seamount Chain, Gulf of Alaska: A new pole of rotation for the Pacific Plate

Abstract

40K‐40Ar and fission‐track dating of four seamounts near the southeast end of the Pratt‐Welker seamount chain in the Gulf of Alaska, in conjunction with previously published K‐Ar and fission‐track ages near the northwest end of the chain, documents the complex origin of this seamount chain. Transitional basalts from the adjacent guyots Hodgkins, Davidson, and Denson are dated as 14.3 to 18.2 m.y. These ages, only slightly younger than the ages of the underlying crust, indicate formation of these three seamounts at or very near a spreading center. In contrast, alkalic series lavas (alkali olivine basalts and trachytes) from Kodiak, Giacomini, Dickins, and Hodgkins fit a systematic linear age progression: 23.9±0.6 m.y., 20.9±0.4 m.y., 4.0±0.2 m.y., and 2.8±0.2 m.y., respectively. Hodgkins has apparently experienced two generically different episodes of volcanism, separated by about 12 m.y. The age progression among dated alkali basalts is consistent with the hot spot hypothesis and suggests that for the last 24 m.y. the Pacific plate has moved northwest at 4.4±0.4 cm/yr with respect to the Pratt‐Welker hot spot. This volcanic propagation rate, together with the rates from other parallel Neogene Pacific chains, allows an improved estimate of the pole and rate of rotation of the Pacific plate relative to hot spots: 70°N, 95°W, and 0.88°±0.10°/m.y. We conclude that no significant motion of the Pratt‐Welker hot spot with respect to other Pacific hot spots has yet been detected. However, the Pratt‐Welker age data may alternatively be explained by either the longitudinal roll or propagating crack hypothesis. New K‐Ar ages from Horton guyot, in the Cobb seamount chain, indicate alkalic volcanism 20.7± .0 m.y. ago, consistent with a predicted age of 20 m.y. based on the hot spot hypothesis. Guyot depths from Horton and the dated Pratt‐Welker seamounts are consistent with the K‐Ar ages and normal subsidence of oceanic crust.