On the role of slab pull in the Cenozoic motion of the Pacific plate

Abstract

We analyze the role of slab pull acting on the Pacific plate during its early Tertiary change in motion. Slab pull forces are estimated by integrating the negative buoyancy of a 700km long slab along a revised subduction boundary model adopting the Mller et al. (2008) seafloor age reconstructions. Our results indicate that torques predicted from a simple slab pull model match the Pacific plate Euler vectors during the Tertiary fairly well. The change of the Pacific motion at ∼50-40Ma appears to be driven by the onset of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana system and, soon afterwards, by the Tonga-Kermadec subduction zones. Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union.