Near-ridge-axis volcanism affected by hotspot: insights from effective elastic thickness and topography of the Ojin Rise Seamounts, east of Shatsky Rise in the northwest Pacific Ocean

Abstract

We used recently collected bathymetric data and published gravity data to examine the effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere and the crustal thickness beneath the Ojin Rise Seamounts, located east of Shatsky Rise in the northwest Pacific Ocean. An admittance analysis of the bathymetric and gravity data indicates that the effective elastic thickness of the Pacific plate under the Ojin Rise Seamounts is 2.7 ± 0.1 km, implying that the seamounts were formed on or near the spreading ridge between the Pacific and Farallon plates. The mean crustal thickness beneath the seamounts estimated from the mantle Bouguer anomaly is 10.1 ± 1.7 km, which is thicker than the surrounding crust. The thick crust was probably formed by the interaction between the Pacific–Farallon ridge and a hotspot forming Shatsky Rise. Our results indicate that late-stage volcanism after the formation of the main edifices of Shatsky Rise spread widely beyond the eastern side of the rise, forming the Ojin Rise Seamounts.[Figure not available: see fulltext.].