Lithospheric strength of the Caroline Islands and its tectonic implications

Abstract

The Caroline Islands are located in a broad zone near plate boundaries in southwestern Pacific. Accumulating evidence suggests that the hotspot origin alone cannot completely explain the formation of the Caroline Islands. To investigate the tectonic setting of their formation, we calculated the effective elastic thickness (T_e) of the lithosphere beneath the Caroline Islands from an analysis of bathymetry and free-air gravity anomaly data by the admittance method. A synthetic model based on the actual bathymetry data of the Caroline Islands was developed for the finite window size biasing correction. The results show that the T_e values of the Caroline Islands (4.5–11.5 km) are significantly lower than the T_e expected for a normal oceanic lithosphere (23–50 km), and that the T_e values can be approximated by the depth to the 150 ± 100°C isotherm. The low T_e values indicate that the strength of the lithosphere beneath the Caroline Islands has been weakened by geological process. The thermal anomalies related to the Ontong Java Plateau and the South Pacific Isotopic and Thermal Anomaly, and the lithospheric fractures induced by interaction of plates are probable causes of the lithospheric strength reduction of the Caroline Islands.