“Missing links” for the long-lived Macdonald and Arago hotspots, South Pacific Ocean

The goal of this study is to characterize a suite of lavas from an atoll and several seamounts located between Samoa and the Cook Islands. These are volcanic features thought to result from the passage of the Pacific plate over two different hotspots, Macdonald hotspot and Arago-Rurutu hotspot. Ages from the atoll (Rose atoll) are consistent with an origin over the Arago-Rurutu hotspot, while ages from one of the seamounts (Moki seamount) are consistent with an origin over the Macdonald hotspot. The other seamounts do not have material appropriate for age-dating, but they have radiogenic isotopic signatures consistent with an origin over either the Arago-Rurutu or Moki seamounts.