Recent movements of the Juan de Fuca Plate System

Abstract

Analysis of the magnetic anomalies of the Juan de Fuca plate system allows instantaneous poles of rotation relative to the Pacific plate to be calculated from 7 Ma to the present. By combining these with global solutions for Pacific/America and “absolute” (relative to hot spot) motions, a plate motion sequence can be constructed. This sequence shows that both absolute motions and motions relative to America are characterized by slower velocities where younger and more buoyant material enters the convergence zone: “pivoting subduction.” The resistance provided by the youngest portion of the Juan de Fuca plate apparently resulted in its detachment at 4 Ma as the independent Explorer plate. In relation to the hot spot framework, this plate almost immediately began to rotate clockwise around a pole close to itself such that its translational movement into the mantle virtually ceased. After 4 Ma the remainder of the Juan de Fuca plate adjusted its motion in response to the fact that the youngest material entering the subduction zone was now to the south. Differences in seismicity and recent uplift between northern and southern Vancouver Island may reflect a distinction in tectonic style between the “normal” subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate to the south and a complex “underplating” occurring as the Explorer plate is overridden by the continent. The history of the Explorer plate may exemplify the conditions under which the self‐driving forces of small subducting plates are overcome by the influence of larger, adjacent plates. The recent rapid migration of the absolute pole of rotation of the Juan de Fuca plate toward the plate suggests that it, too, may be nearing this condition.