Absolute motion and evolution of the Bouvet triple junction
Abstract
The absolute velocities of the ridge-ridge-ridge (RRR) and ridge-transform-transform (RTT) configurations of the Bouvet triple junction are analyzed. The motion of the RRR configuration with respect to a hotspot reference frame carries the junction to the northwest (343 deg) at 14.7 km/Myr, whereas the RTT form moves to the southeast (157 deg) at only 5.8 km/Myr. The RTT configuration is stable only when the relative velocity triangle is precisely isosceles. As the RTT junction migrates away from the isosceles line, it becomes increasingly unstable, until it is forced to switch to RRR. The RRR junction then drifts back to the isosceles line where it reverts to RTT.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- August 1985
- DOI:
- 10.1038/316623a0
- Bibcode:
- 1985Natur.316..623A
- Keywords:
-
- Continental Drift;
- Earth Movements;
- Geomorphology;
- Plates (Tectonics);
- Tectonics;
- Africa;
- Antarctic Regions;
- Geochronology;
- Geometry;
- South America;
- Triangles;
- Geophysics