VOLCANISM AND VERTICAL TECTONICS IN THE PACIFIC BASIN RELATED TO GLOBAL CRETACEOUS TRANSGRESSIONS
The dominance of volcanic processes and the importance of vertical tectonics in the geological evolution of the Pacific Basin has been recognised since the time of Charles Darwin. Data gathered on several legs of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and numerous marine expeditions in the past decade...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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1981
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| _version_ | 1797071764936720384 |
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| author | Schlanger, S Jenkyns, H Premolisilva, I |
| author_facet | Schlanger, S Jenkyns, H Premolisilva, I |
| author_sort | Schlanger, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The dominance of volcanic processes and the importance of vertical tectonics in the geological evolution of the Pacific Basin has been recognised since the time of Charles Darwin. Data gathered on several legs of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and numerous marine expeditions in the past decade have confirmed Menard's postulate that the Pacific Basin was the scene of volcanism on an enormous scale in Mesozoic time. Widespread mid-plate volcanism between ∼110 and 70 m.y. B.P. characterised the area bounded by the Line Islands, the Mid-Pacific Mountains and the Nauru Basin-Marshall Islands. Heating of the Pacific lithospheric plate during this period of volcanism resulted in regional uplift and the bathymetric evolution of the area diverged significantly from a "normal" Parsons-Sclater subsidence curve. The Farallon plate, now almost entirely subducted, was also the scene of mid-plate volcanism that produced such features as the Nicoya Plateau now found as an allochthonous ophiolitic terrain landward of the middle America trench. Large, benthonic, reef-associated foraminifera comprising a pseudorbitoid fauna, hitherto considered to be largely restricted to Central America, have now been additionally recorded from DSDP Sites 165, 315 and 316 in the Line Islands, Site 462 in the Nauru Basin, and in New Guinea. The distribution of this fauna, of Campanian/Maastrichtian age, is interpreted as indicating "stepping stone" connections (aseismic ridges, plateaus and seamounts) between the Caribbean, Farallon, and Pacific plates 70-80 m.y. B.P. Similarities between the geology of the Nauru Basin and the Caribbean Ocean crust reinforce the interpretation of the latter as a former part of the Farallon plate. Estimates of the sea-level and continental freeboard change caused by the thermally induced uplift of the Pacific and Farallon plates, as well as substantial areas in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean Basins, indicate that such shallowing of the sea floor could have been the major factor in causing global Cretaceous transgressions. © 1981. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:57:54Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:610f1e33-d703-4fe0-a94a-420e385e45c5 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:57:54Z |
| publishDate | 1981 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:610f1e33-d703-4fe0-a94a-420e385e45c52022-03-26T17:57:15ZVOLCANISM AND VERTICAL TECTONICS IN THE PACIFIC BASIN RELATED TO GLOBAL CRETACEOUS TRANSGRESSIONSJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:610f1e33-d703-4fe0-a94a-420e385e45c5EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford1981Schlanger, SJenkyns, HPremolisilva, IThe dominance of volcanic processes and the importance of vertical tectonics in the geological evolution of the Pacific Basin has been recognised since the time of Charles Darwin. Data gathered on several legs of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and numerous marine expeditions in the past decade have confirmed Menard's postulate that the Pacific Basin was the scene of volcanism on an enormous scale in Mesozoic time. Widespread mid-plate volcanism between ∼110 and 70 m.y. B.P. characterised the area bounded by the Line Islands, the Mid-Pacific Mountains and the Nauru Basin-Marshall Islands. Heating of the Pacific lithospheric plate during this period of volcanism resulted in regional uplift and the bathymetric evolution of the area diverged significantly from a "normal" Parsons-Sclater subsidence curve. The Farallon plate, now almost entirely subducted, was also the scene of mid-plate volcanism that produced such features as the Nicoya Plateau now found as an allochthonous ophiolitic terrain landward of the middle America trench. Large, benthonic, reef-associated foraminifera comprising a pseudorbitoid fauna, hitherto considered to be largely restricted to Central America, have now been additionally recorded from DSDP Sites 165, 315 and 316 in the Line Islands, Site 462 in the Nauru Basin, and in New Guinea. The distribution of this fauna, of Campanian/Maastrichtian age, is interpreted as indicating "stepping stone" connections (aseismic ridges, plateaus and seamounts) between the Caribbean, Farallon, and Pacific plates 70-80 m.y. B.P. Similarities between the geology of the Nauru Basin and the Caribbean Ocean crust reinforce the interpretation of the latter as a former part of the Farallon plate. Estimates of the sea-level and continental freeboard change caused by the thermally induced uplift of the Pacific and Farallon plates, as well as substantial areas in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean Basins, indicate that such shallowing of the sea floor could have been the major factor in causing global Cretaceous transgressions. © 1981. |
| spellingShingle | Schlanger, S Jenkyns, H Premolisilva, I VOLCANISM AND VERTICAL TECTONICS IN THE PACIFIC BASIN RELATED TO GLOBAL CRETACEOUS TRANSGRESSIONS |
| title | VOLCANISM AND VERTICAL TECTONICS IN THE PACIFIC BASIN RELATED TO GLOBAL CRETACEOUS TRANSGRESSIONS |
| title_full | VOLCANISM AND VERTICAL TECTONICS IN THE PACIFIC BASIN RELATED TO GLOBAL CRETACEOUS TRANSGRESSIONS |
| title_fullStr | VOLCANISM AND VERTICAL TECTONICS IN THE PACIFIC BASIN RELATED TO GLOBAL CRETACEOUS TRANSGRESSIONS |
| title_full_unstemmed | VOLCANISM AND VERTICAL TECTONICS IN THE PACIFIC BASIN RELATED TO GLOBAL CRETACEOUS TRANSGRESSIONS |
| title_short | VOLCANISM AND VERTICAL TECTONICS IN THE PACIFIC BASIN RELATED TO GLOBAL CRETACEOUS TRANSGRESSIONS |
| title_sort | volcanism and vertical tectonics in the pacific basin related to global cretaceous transgressions |
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