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Hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands

Volcanic ocean islands generally form on swells—seafloor that is shallower than expected for its age over areas hundreds to more than a thousand kilometers wide—and ultimately subside to form atolls and guyots (flat-topped seamounts). The mechanisms of island drowning remain enigmatic, however, and...

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Autores principales: Huppert, Kimberly L., Perron, J. Taylor, Royden, Leigh H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6938699/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31911939
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw6906
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author Huppert, Kimberly L.
Perron, J. Taylor
Royden, Leigh H.
author_facet Huppert, Kimberly L.
Perron, J. Taylor
Royden, Leigh H.
author_sort Huppert, Kimberly L.
collection PubMed
description Volcanic ocean islands generally form on swells—seafloor that is shallower than expected for its age over areas hundreds to more than a thousand kilometers wide—and ultimately subside to form atolls and guyots (flat-topped seamounts). The mechanisms of island drowning remain enigmatic, however, and the subaerial lifespan of volcanic islands varies widely. We examine swell bathymetry and island drowning at 14 hotspots and find a correspondence between island lifespan and residence time atop swell bathymetry, implying that islands drown as tectonic plate motion transports them past mantle sources of swell uplift. This correspondence argues strongly for dynamic uplift of the lithosphere at ocean hotspots. Our results also explain global variations in island lifespan, which influence island topography, biodiversity, and climate.
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spelling pubmed-69386992020-01-07 Hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands Huppert, Kimberly L. Perron, J. Taylor Royden, Leigh H. Sci Adv Research Articles Volcanic ocean islands generally form on swells—seafloor that is shallower than expected for its age over areas hundreds to more than a thousand kilometers wide—and ultimately subside to form atolls and guyots (flat-topped seamounts). The mechanisms of island drowning remain enigmatic, however, and the subaerial lifespan of volcanic islands varies widely. We examine swell bathymetry and island drowning at 14 hotspots and find a correspondence between island lifespan and residence time atop swell bathymetry, implying that islands drown as tectonic plate motion transports them past mantle sources of swell uplift. This correspondence argues strongly for dynamic uplift of the lithosphere at ocean hotspots. Our results also explain global variations in island lifespan, which influence island topography, biodiversity, and climate. American Association for the Advancement of Science 2020-01-01 /pmc/articles/PMC6938699/ /pubmed/31911939 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw6906 Text en Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) , which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Huppert, Kimberly L.
Perron, J. Taylor
Royden, Leigh H.
Hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands
title Hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands
title_full Hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands
title_fullStr Hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands
title_full_unstemmed Hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands
title_short Hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands
title_sort hotspot swells and the lifespan of volcanic ocean islands
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6938699/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31911939
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw6906
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