Counter-rotating microplates at the Galapagos triple junction

Emily M. Klein (), Deborah K. Smith, Clare M. Williams and Hans Schouten
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Emily M. Klein: Duke University
Deborah K. Smith: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Clare M. Williams: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Hans Schouten: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Nature, 2005, vol. 433, issue 7028, 855-858

Abstract: Abstract An ‘incipient’ spreading centre east of (and orthogonal to) the East Pacific Rise at 2° 40′ N has been identified as forming a portion of the northern boundary of the Galapagos microplate1,2. This spreading centre was described as a slowly diverging, westward propagating rift, tapering towards the East Pacific Rise. Here we present evidence that the ‘incipient rift’ has also rifted towards the east and opens anticlockwise about a pivot at its eastern end. The ‘incipient rift’ then bounds a second microplate, north of the clockwise-rotating Galapagos microplate. The Galapagos triple junction region, in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, thus consists of two counter-rotating microplates partly separated by the Hess Deep rift. Our kinematic solution for microplate motion relative to the major plates indicates that the two counter-rotating microplates may be treated as rigid blocks driven by drag on the microplates' edges3.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature03262

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