Easter Microplate

Approximately 5.25 million years ago, the boundary between the Pacific and Nazca plates was not connected and did not completely separate the two plates. The Easter microplate began to grow to the north-south throughout this period. The eastern rift, having not yet connected to the western rift, began to propagate northward by pseudofaults that appear to the west and east of the rift and continued until approximately 2.25 million years ago when the tip reached 23° S. While this was occurring, the west rift was propagating southward, north of the east rift, breaking into segments connected by transform faults that trend towards the southwest. The entire microplate continued a counter-clockwise rotation rate of 15° every million years throughout the entire history of the Easter microplate.[2]

The Easter microplate grew at a slower rate in the east-west dimension during this period, as it stopped growing north-south due to the cessation of east rift propagation. The east rift did continue angular spreading while keeping the same growth rate, but did not propagate any further northward. The west rift continued adjusting with more segmenting until the southwest rift began to open and propagate to the east. The southwest rift continued propagation until the present day southern triple junction was created.[2]

Though other evolution models have argued that the microplate was created approximately 4.5 million years ago,[1] there is currently only one hypothesis for future evolution of the Easter microplate. It is believed that due to the slowing spreading rates at the southwest rift and the northern end of the east rift, the southwest and west rift will cease spreading activity and completely transfer the microplate from the Nazca to the Pacific Plate. This has been the case for other areas where extensive rift propagation studies have been conducted.[7]

Divergence of the Nazca and Pacific plates generate a pulling force acting on the Easter microplate, causing its rotation. Two types of driving forces are believed to act on the Nazca-Pacific plate divergence: shear and tension. Shear driving forces occur along the north and south boundaries, which explain failures due to compression in the northern end of the plate. Tension driving forces occur at the east and west rifts. Because of the fast spreading rates along these boundaries, the Easter microplate has a thin lithosphere. The normal tensional forces applied across the east and west rifts is enough to drive the microplate's rotation. Due to the slowing trend of these spread rates along these rifts to the north, it is believed the lithosphere gets thicker near the north and the shear forces are believed to contribute to the overall driving force.[8]

Mantle basal drag accounts for 20% of the forces applied to the Easter microplate. Mantle basal drag force is calculated using the equation: ${\displaystyle {\vec {F}}_{D}=D{\vec {V}}}$ , where ${\displaystyle {\vec {F}}_{D}}$ is the mantle drag force per unit area, ${\displaystyle D}$ is the proportionality constant, and ${\displaystyle {\vec {V}}}$ is absolute velocity of microplate using a fixed hotspot as the reference frame. The value for ${\displaystyle {\vec {F}}_{D}}$ represents a quantification of the total resisting force that the ductile asthenosphere applies to the brittle lithosphere floating on top.

The other 80% of the resisting forces come from the rotation of the Easter microplate. As the microplate is rotating, normal resistances are applied to the microplate at the north and south ends where there are no rifts to help microplate adjustment. Both tension and compression contribute to the resistance, but compressional forces along the ends of the rifts have more of an impact. These compressional forces are what create the elevated regions that surround the "Pito Deep".[8]