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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2004; v. 229; p. 31-44;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2004.229.01.04
© 2004 Geological Society of London

Geological Evolution and Palaeomagnetism

Early Cretaceous Pacific palaeomagnetic pole from Ontong Java Plateau basement rocks

Peter Riisager1,2, Stuart Hall3, Maria Antretter4 & Xixi Zhao2

1 Danish Lithosphere Centre, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
2 Earth Sciences Department, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
3 Department of Geosciences, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5007, USA
4 Institut für Geophysik, University of München, Theresienstrasse 41, D-80333 München, Germany

We present new palaeomagnetic data from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1184 on the eastern salient of the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) where 337.7 m of Early Cretaceous (c. 120 Ma) volcaniclastic rocks were drilled. Alternating field and thermal demagnetizations were equally effective in removing secondary components, allowing the characteristic remanent magnetization directions from a total of 173 samples (out of 183) to be defined. All samples have negative inclinations (normal polarity), and by treating each sample as an independent reading of the palaeomagnetic field a site-mean inclination of –53.9° (N = 173; {alpha}95 = 1.0°, k = 109) was obtained. The corresponding palaeo-colatitude is in excellent accordance with previously published time-averaged palaeo-colatitudes from contemporaneous basalts drilled at OJP and the Nauru Basin. Based on the intersection of the seven palaeo-colatitudes a new Early Cretaceous (c. 120 Ma) Pacific palaeomagnetic pole was obtained with co-ordinates 63.0°N, 10.1°E (95% confidence ellipse with a minor semi-axis of 2.9° with an azimuth of 32° and a major semi-axis of 47.7° with an azimuth of 122°). This pole is far more easterly than previously published Early Cretaceous Pacific palaeomagnetic poles. Based on published Pacific palaeogeographic reconstructions in the fixed hot-spot reference frame we were able to calculate different Pacific true polar wander (TPW) poles. All Pacific TPW poles are found to be statistically different from contemporaneous TPW poles obtained in the Indo-Atlantic realm, illustrating motion between the two groups of hot spots.