Constraints on past plate and mantle motion from new ages for the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount

[1] Estimates of the relative motion between the Hawaiian and Louisville hot spots have consequences for understanding the role and character of deep Pacific-mantle return flow. The relative motion between these primary hot spots can be inferred by comparing the age records for their seamount trails. We report 40Ar/39Ar ages for 18 lavas from 10 seamounts along the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain (HESC), showing that volcanism started in the sharp portion of the Hawaiian-Emperor Bend (HEB) at 47.5 Ma and continued for 5 Myr. The slope of the along-track distance from the currently active Hawaiian hot spot plotted versus age is constant (576 2 km/Myr) between 57 and 25 Ma in the central 1900 km o