Morphology and multifractal features of a guyot in specific topographic vicinity in the Caroline Ridge,West Pacific

Massive seamounts have been surveyed and documented in the last decades.However,the morphologies of seamounts are usually described in qualitative manners,yet few quantitative detections have been carried out.Here,based on the high-re solution multi-beam bathymetric data,we report a recentlysurveyed guy ot on the Caroline Ridge in the West Pacific,and the large-scale volcanic structures and smallscale erosive-depositional landforms in the guyot area have been identified.The multifractal features of the guyot are characterized for the first time by applying multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis on the surveyed bathymetric data.The results indicate that the multifractal spectrum parameters of the seafloor have strong spatial dependency on the fluctuations of local landforms.Both small-and large-scale components contribute to the degree of asymmetry of the multifractal spectrum(B),while the fluctuations of B are mostly attributed to the changes in small-scale roughness.The maximum singularity strength(α0)correlates well with the roughness of large-scale landforms and likely reflects the large-scale topographic irregularity.Comparing to traditional roughness parameters or monofractal exponents,multifractal spectra are able to depict not only the multiscale characteristics of submarine landforms,but also the spatial variations of scaling behaviors.Although more comparative works are required for various seamounts,we hope this study,as a case of quantifying geomorphological characters and multiscale behaviors of seamounts,can encourage further studies on seamounts concerning geomorphological processes,ocean bottom circulations,and seamount ecosystems.

Identification of the Caroline Plate boundary:constraints from magnetic anomaly

The Caroline Plate is located among the Pacific Plate,the Philippine Sea Plate,and the India Australia Plate,and plays a key role in controlling the spreading direction of the Philippine Sea Plate.The Caroline Submarine Plateau(or Caroline Ridge)and the Eauripik Rise on the south formed a remarkable T-shaped large igneous rock province,which covered the northern boundary between the Caroline Plate and the Pacific Plate.However,relationship between these tectonic units and magma evolution remains unclear.Based on magnetic data from the Earth Magnetic Anomaly Grid(2-arc-minute resolution)(V2),the normalized vertical derivative of the total horizontal derivative(NVDR-THDR)technique was used to study the boundary of the Caroline Plate.Results show that the northern boundary is a transform fault that runs 1400 km long in approximately 28 km wide along the N8°in E-W direction.The eastern boundary is an NNW-SSE trending fault zone and subduction zone with a width of tens to hundreds of kilometers;and the north of N4°is a fracture zone of dense faults.The southeastern boundary may be the Lyra Trough.The area between the southwestern part of the Caroline Plate and the Ayu Trough is occupied by a wide shear zone up to 100 km wide in nearly S-N trending in general.The Eauripik transform fault(ETF)in the center of the Caroline Plate and the fault zones in the east and west basins are mostly semi-parallel sinistral NNW-SSE–trending faults,which together with the eastern boundary Mussau Trench(MT)sinistral fault,the northern Caroline transform fault(CTF),and the southern shear zone of the western boundary,indicates the sinistral characteristics of the Caroline Plate.The Caroline hotspot erupted in the Pacific Plate near the CTF and formed the west Caroline Ridge,and then joined with the Caroline transform fault at the N8°.A large amount of magma erupted along the CTF,by which the east Caroline Ridge was formed.At the same time,a large amount of magma developed southward via the eastern branch of the ETF,forming the northern segment of the Eauripik Rise.Therefore,the magmatic activity of the T-shaped large igneous province is obviously related to the fault structure of the boundary faults between the Caroline Plate and Pacific Plate,and the active faults within the Caroline Plate.