POLAR STANDSTILL OF THE MIDCRETACEOUS PACIFIC PLATE AND ITS GEODYNAMIC IMPLICATIONS

Paleomagnetic data from the Mid-Cretaceous Mountains suggest that Paci fic plate motion during the Early to mid-Cretaceous was slow, less tha n 0.3 degree per year, resembling the polar standstill observed in coe val rocks of Eurasia and North America. There is little evidence for a change in plate motion that could have precipitated the major volcani c episode of the early Aptian that is marked by the formation of the O ntong Java Plateau, During the volcanism, oceanic plates bordering the Pacific plate moved rapidly, Large-scale northward motion of the Paci fic plate began after volcanism ceased. This pattern suggests that man tle plume volcanism exerted control on plate tectonics in the Cretaceo us Pacific basin.