Testing Absolute Plate Reference Frames and the Implications for the Generation of Geodynamic Mantle Heterogeneity Structure

Several absolute reference frames for Cretaceous-Tertiary plate tectonic reconstructions have been proposed over the last decade. They include reference frames based on hotspot tracks displaying age progression, and assuming either fixed or moving hotspots, as well as palaeomagnetically-based reference frames, a subduction reference frame and hybrid reference frames. All these alternative reference frames imply a particular history of the location of subduction zones through time, the associated subduction history, and the evolution of mantle heterogeneity via the mixing of subducted slab material with the mantle. Therefore it is possible to evaluate the observed distribution of subducted slab material in the mantle versus that predicted by a forward geodynamic model in which the plate kinematic history given by a particular absolute plate is coupled with a mantle convection model. We present a comparison of five alternative absolute plate motion models in terms of their consequences for global deep mantle structure by utilizing the 3-D spherical finite element mantle convection code TERRA, coupled with the global plate tectonic reconstruction software GPlates. We impose global palaeo-plate boundaries and plate velocities back to 140 Ma as surface boundary conditions for each absolute rotation model and forward model the associated subduction history. The correlation of seismic tomography with the predicted present-day mantle structure from each of plate models is then assessed using well-imaged slabs. We will present and discuss a comparison of geodynamically predicted mantle heterogeneity and seismic tomography to infer the robustness of each absolute reference frame through time, thus providing additional constraints for the integration of plate tectonics and mantle dynamics.