Plate-tectonic reconstructions predict part of the Hawaiian hotspot track to be preserved in the Bering Sea

Abstract

We use plate reconstructions to show that parts of the Hawaiian hotspot track of ca. 80– 90 Ma age could be preserved in the Bering Sea. Based on these reconstructions, the Hawaiian hotspot was beneath the Izanagi plate before ca. 83 Ma. Around that time, the part of the plate carrying the hotspot track was transferred to the Kula plate. After 75–80 Ma the Hawaiian hotspot underlay the Pacifi c plate. Circa 40–55 Ma, subduction initiated in the Aleutian Trench. Part of the Kula plate was attached to the North American plate and is preserved as the oceanic part of the Bering Sea. We show that for a number of different plate reconstructions and a variety of assumptions covering hotspot motion, part of the hotspot track should be preserved in the Bering Sea. The predicted age of the track depends on the age of Aleutian subduction initiation. We speculate that Bowers and Shirshov Ridges were formed by paleoHawaiian hotspot magmatism.