Sr-Pb-Nd-Hf isotopes and 40Ar/39Ar ages reveal a Hawaii-Emperor-style bend in the Rurutu hotspot

Paleomagnetic data for Hawaii indicate that changes in southern hotspot motion may explain its bend, while negligible latitudinal motion in Louisville and an unchanging distance to Rurutu (Tarduno et al., 2003, Koppers et al., 2012, Konrad et al., 2018) are consistent with subduction-driven plume motion explaining the Hawaii-Emperor bend. The presence of a defined ∼135° bend in the Rurutu hotspot track, coupled with minimal inferred latitudinal motion at that time (Konrad et al., 2018), leaves room for a small change in Pacific plate motion at ∼50 Ma.