Identification of the Caroline Plate boundary: constraints from magnetic anomaly

Yongtao Fu; Guoliang Zhang; Wanyin Wang; An Yang; Tao He; Zhangguo Zhou; Xiao Han

doi:10.1007/s13131-023-2272-9

Volume 43 Issue 8

Aug. 2024

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Yongtao Fu, Guoliang Zhang, Wanyin Wang, An Yang, Tao He, Zhangguo Zhou, Xiao Han. Identification of the Caroline Plate boundary: constraints from magnetic anomaly[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2024, 43(8): 1-12. doi: 10.1007/s13131-023-2272-9

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Yongtao Fu, Guoliang Zhang, Wanyin Wang, An Yang, Tao He, Zhangguo Zhou, Xiao Han. Identification of the Caroline Plate boundary: constraints from magnetic anomaly[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2024, 43(8): 1-12. doi: 10.1007/s13131-023-2272-9

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Identification of the Caroline Plate boundary: constraints from magnetic anomaly

doi: 10.1007/s13131-023-2272-9

Yongtao Fu^{1, 2, 3
,
,},
Guoliang Zhang^{1, 3, 4
,},
Wanyin Wang^{1, 2, 5
,
,},
An Yang^{1, 3},
Tao He^{2, 5},
Zhangguo Zhou^{1, 3},
Xiao Han^{1, 6}

1.
Key Laboratory of Ocean Observation and Forecasting/Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
2.
National Engineering Research Center for Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Beijing 100028, China
3.
Laboratory for Marine Geology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China
4.
Center of Deep Sea Research, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
5.
Institute of Gravity and Magnetic Technology, Key Laboratory of Western China’s Mineral Resources and Geological Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Geology Engineering and Geomatics, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China
6.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Funds: The Open Fund of the Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under contract No. MGE2022KG11.

More Information

Corresponding author: ytfu@qdio.ac.cn; wwy7902@iocas.ac.cn
Received Date: 2023-04-27
Accepted Date: 2023-09-22

Available Online: 2024-05-13

Publish Date: 2024-08-25

Abstract

Abstract

The Caroline Plate is located among the Pacific Plate, the Philippine Sea Plate, and the India Australia Plate, and plays a key role in controlling the spreading direction of the Philippine Sea Plate. The Caroline Submarine Plateau (or Caroline Ridge) and the Eauripik Rise on the south formed a remarkable T-shaped large igneous rock province, which covered the northern boundary between the Caroline Plate and the Pacific Plate. However, relationship between these tectonic units and magma evolution remains unclear. Based on magnetic data from the Earth Magnetic Anomaly Grid (2-arc-minute resolution) (V2), the normalized vertical derivative of the total horizontal derivative (NVDR-THDR) technique was used to study the boundary of the Caroline Plate. Results show that the northern boundary is a transform fault that runs 1400 km long in approximately 28 km wide along the N8° in E-W direction. The eastern boundary is an NNW-SSE trending fault zone and subduction zone with a width of tens to hundreds of kilometers; and the north of N4° is a fracture zone of dense faults. The southeastern boundary may be the Lyra Trough. The area between the southwestern part of the Caroline Plate and the Ayu Trough is occupied by a wide shear zone up to 100 km wide in nearly S-N trending in general. The Eauripik transform fault (ETF) in the center of the Caroline Plate and the fault zones in the east and west basins are mostly semi-parallel sinistral NNW-SSE–trending faults, which together with the eastern boundary Mussau Trench (MT) sinistral fault, the northern Caroline transform fault (CTF), and the southern shear zone of the western boundary, indicates the sinistral characteristics of the Caroline Plate. The Caroline hotspot erupted in the Pacific Plate near the CTF and formed the west Caroline Ridge, and then joined with the Caroline transform fault at the N8°. A large amount of magma erupted along the CTF, by which the east Caroline Ridge was formed. At the same time, a large amount of magma developed southward via the eastern branch of the ETF, forming the northern segment of the Eauripik Rise. Therefore, the magmatic activity of the T-shaped large igneous province is obviously related to the fault structure of the boundary faults between the Caroline Plate and Pacific Plate, and the active faults within the Caroline Plate.
- Caroline Plate,
- magnetic anomaly,
- normalized vertical derivative of the total horizontal derivative,
- plate boundary,
- Caroline Ridge,
- Eauripik Rise

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References(74)

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