Total Field Magnetic Analysis of Nine Seamounts Northwest of the Marshall Islands, Western Pacific

Abstract

Total magnetic field and high-resolution bathymetric data were collected over nine seamounts to the northwest of the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific. Magnetic parameters including inclination and declination were calculated from the magnetic anomalies using inversion algorithm of Plouff (1976), and a corresponding paleomagnetic pole was determined with the magnetic parameters. The paleomagnetic poles determined in this study were compared with the previous apparent polar wander path (APWP) of Pacific plate. Most seamounts of the study area have normal polarity. The study reveals that all nine seamounts in the study area formed in the southern hemisphere during the Cretaceous based on their comparison with the APWP of Pacific plate. The ages estimated from paleomagnetic poles can be divided by age into three groups: the oldest (OSM1 and OSM3), middle age (OSM2, OSM4, and 6-2), and the youngest (OSM5-1, 5-2, 5-3, and 6-1). The former two groups and the latter seem to be coincident with two distinct pulses of Cretaceous volcanic activity (115-90 Ma and 83-65 Ma). As a whole the seamounts at southwest of the study area are older than at those northeast.