Domeier, MathewShephard, Grace E.Jakob, JohannesGaina, CarmenDoubrovine, Pavel V.Torsvik, Trond H.2025-12-162025-12-16PubMed:29134200ORCID:/0000-0002-3459-4500/work/172978315https://hdl.handle.net/1885/733795523The notorious ~60° bend separating the Hawaiian and Emperor chains marked a prominent change in the motion of the Pacific plate at ~47 Ma (million years ago), but the origin of that change remains an outstanding controversy that bears on the nature of major plate reorganizations. Lesser known but equally significant is a conundrum posed by the pre-bend (~80 to 47 Ma) motion of the Pacific plate, which, according to conventional plate models, was directed toward a fast-spreading ridge, in contradiction to tectonic forcing expectations. Using constraints provided by seismic tomography, paleomagnetism, and continental margin geology, we demonstrate that two intraoceanic subduction zones spanned the width of the North Pacific Ocean in Late Cretaceous through Paleocene time, and we present a simple plate tectonic model that explains how those intraoceanic subduction zones shaped the ~80 to 47 Ma kinematic history of the Pacific realm and drove a major plate reorganization.We thank D. Gürer for discussions and S. T. Johnston and an anonymous reviewer for comments that improved the manuscript. Funding: This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway (RCN) through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme, project 223272 (Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics), and through RCN project 250111. Author contributions: M.D. and T.H.T. conceived the study. G.E.S. provided the tomographic vote maps. M.D. constructed the plate model. J.J. and C.G. checked the magnetic anomaly interpretation in the North Pacific and constructed new Cenozoic isochrons. All authors contributed to discussions and the writing of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. Additional data related to this paper may be requested from M.D. (mathew.domeier@geo.uio.no).enPublisher Copyright: Copyright © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science.201710.1126/sciadv.aao230385041911092