P. van den Bogaard

First seamount age evidence for significantly slower African plate motion since 19 to 30 Ma

Resolving the time‐space (and compositional) evolution of volcanism along long-lived South Atlantic hotspot trails is important to understanding the connection between hotspot volcanism and mantle plumes. 40 Ar= 39 Ar ages are reported here for rocks dredged from a line of five individual seamounts along an290 km northeast to southwest line extending from the vicinity of Saint Helena Island, and also for Circe Seamount. These seamounts were created in a midplate setting and could have formed rapidly (1 Myr). The St. Helena Seamount ages reveal a remarkably linear migration rate of volcanism of 20 1m m=yr for at least the past 19 Myr, which is interpreted as the absolute motion of the African plate. Because this is much slower than estimated for earlier African plate migration it also represents the first evidence based on seamount ages for a significant deceleration (33%) of the African plate since at least 19 Ma. However, this change could have occurred as early as 30 Ma when the limited data for the Tristan=Gough hotspot chain are also considered. This deceleration supports a relationship between African plate speed and the upsurge of hotspot volcanism on the African continent at25 Ma. We suggest that the increased number of oceanic African hotspots between19 and 30 Ma points to a link also between major changes in plate motion and the onset and continuation of oceanic hotspot volcanism. Our study supports the assumption that chains of individual, rapidly (?) formed seamounts have considerably more potential of providing clear insights into how mantle plumes interact with overriding lithosphere than do those consisting of uninterrupted, more massive lines of hotspot volcanism.

Tectonic dissection and displacement of parts of Shona hotspot volcano 3500 km along the Agulhas-Falkland Fracture Zone

In contrast to the long narrow volcanic chains in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic hotspot tracks, in particular in the South Atlantic (e.g., Tristan-Gough, Discovery, Shona, and Bouvet), are irregular and, in some cases, diffuse and discontinuous. An important question is whether this irregularity results from tectonic dismemberment of the tracks or if it represents differences in the size, structure, and strength of the melting anomalies. Here we present new age and geochemical data from volcanic samples from Richardson Seamount, Agulhas Ridge along the Agulhas-Falkland Fracture Zone (AFFZ), and Meteor Rise. Six samples yielded ages of 83–72 Ma and are 10–30 m.y. younger than the underlying seafloor, indicating that they are not on-axis seamounts associated with seafloor spreading. The incompatible element and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic compositions range from compositions similar to those of the Gough domain of the nearby Tristan-Gough hotspot track to compositions similar to samples from the Shona bathymetric and geochemical anomaly along the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (49°–55°S), indicating the existence of a Shona hotspot as much as 84 m.y. ago and its derivation from a source region similar to that of the Tristan-Gough hotspot. Similar morphology, ages, and geochemistry indicate that the Richardson, Meteor, and Orcadas seamounts originally formed as a single volcano that was dissected and displaced 3500 km along the AFFZ, providing a dramatic example of how plate tectonics can dismantle and disseminate a hotspot track across an ocean basin.

Contrasting magmatic cannibalism forms evolved phonolitic magmas in the Canary Islands

Volcanic sequences on ocean islands record the temporal evolution of underlying magmatic systems and provide insights into how silicic crust is produced away from convergent margins. Assimilation has often been suspected to contribute, but the detection of such a process and its evolving maturity during migration across a mantle plume is less well documented. Here we present new major and trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb-U-Th-Ra-Pa isotope data that facilitate comparison of basanite to phonolite evolution on Tenerife (Canary Islands) with that shown by published data from La Palma. On both islands, (230Th/238U) ratios decrease with differentiation from parental magmas with 230Th excess toward different, silicic contaminants in secular equilibrium. On La Palma, this is inferred to reflect assimilation of small amounts of mafic wall rock. On Tenerife, both (230Th/238U) and (231Pa/235U) ratios decrease toward 1 with increasing differentiation, and this is accompanied by a subtle increase in Pb isotope ratios. At the same time, (226Ra/230Th) ratios change from 1 (a hitherto unreported magnitude). The Tenerife assimilant is thus constrained to be a partial melt of syenite formed in equilibrium with residual feldspar. The differences reflect a primarily deeper, more mafic magma system beneath La Palma during its late shield-building stage, whereas recent magmatic evolution at Tenerife occurs primarily at lower temperatures in small, shallower magma systems formed during its post–basaltic shield stage. Differentiation takes millennia or less.