Circum-Pacific Late Cenozoic Structural Rejuvenation: Implications for Sea Floor Spreading

Abstract

The hypothesis of sea floor spreading and lithosphere plates seems to unify the origins of both oceanic ridges and volcanic arc-trench systems; therefore knowledge of well-known land areas should shed light upon sea floor tectonics. Impressive evidence of a major mid-Cenozoic discontinuity in the tectonic history of circum-Pacific land areas suggests a roughly synchronous change in sea floor development, more evidence for which may be anticipated in the future.