Tectonic constraints on formation and evolution of microplates in the Indian and Pacific Oceans: reviews and statistical inferences

Abstract

Oceanic plates are growing through narrow boundaries, such as mid-ocean ridges and transform faults. However, the discovery of diffuse plate boundary suggests another type of plate boundary that accommodates difference in plate motion via internal deformation. Along the Central and Southeast Indian ridges, for example, the Capricorn and Macquarie microplates exhibit widespread diffuse boundaries and hence divide the Indo-Australian Plate further into the Indian, Australian, Capricorn, and Macquarie plates. As for microplates distributed along the East Pacific Rise and Pacific-Antarctic Ridge in the Pacific Ocean, however, the typical plate boundaries surrounding the given microplate are distinctly established. Global plate reorganization involving the changes in plate motion or in spreading direction can be accommodated by forming a microplate through ridge extinction, ridge propagation, and pseudofault formation. However, relations between these tectonic processes have not been quantitatively assessed. In particular, we aim to examine tectonic constrains on the formation processes of microplates with diffuse plate boundary. In this study, we compare plate size, plate age, full-spreading rates, thermal structures, total rotation, and rotation rate for the 9 microplates including extinct plates (i.e., Capricorn, Macquarie, and Mammerickx* microplates in the Indian and Southern Oceans; Galapagos, Easter, Juan Fernandez, Bauer*, Friday*, and Selkirk* microplates in the Pacific Ocean; extinct plates are denoted with asterisks). From this comparison, we find that the microplate formation would require certain tectonic conditions (e.g., full-spreading rates faster than 70–80 mm/yr and rotation rates faster than 5–6°/m.y.) to evolve into an independent and rigid plate with respect to the neighboring plates. If the conditions are not met, the same tectonic reorganization would result in a microplate with diffuse plate boundaries.