Elastic Layer Thickening With Age of the Oceanic Lithosphere: A Tool For Prediction of the Age of Volcanoes Or Oceanic Crust

SUMMARY To first order, the estimated thickness Te of the elastic part of the oceanic lithosphere increases linearly with the square root of the age of the lithosphere at the time of loading, Δt. In order to quantify this relationship in the particular case of volcanic loading, a synthesis of Te estimates reported both in this paper and in previous studies is conducted. Excluding the anomalously low estimates from the south-central Pacific, the values are very consistent for the three main oceans and follow the empirical relationship: Te (km) = (2.7 ± 0.15)½Δt (Ma). the relationship is used to predict the age of volcanoes when the age of the crust is known (for the Trindade chain in the south Atlantic Ocean) and to predict the age of the crust when the age of the volcanoes is known (for the Pacific plate east of the Tonga trench). the age estimates are in good agreement with the structural setting.