Northern East Pacific Rise: Evolution from 25 m.y. B.P. to the present

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Abstract
The northeast Pacific topography and magnetic lineations (25 m.y. B.P. to the Present) record the traces of three major spreading reorganizations. Only one spreading center is observed today, but there is evidence for several ephemeral episodes of twin spreading accompanying the evolution from an extensive Pacific‐Guadalupe plate boundary to a much shortened Pacific‐Cocos and Pacific‐Rivera plate boundary. The 25 m.y. B.P. plate reorganization culminated with the formation of the Guadalupe plate, bound by the Murray fracture zone to the north and the Cocos‐Nazca spreading ridge to the south. Between 25 and 12.5 m.y. B.P. spreading continued while the plate retained the same general outline. The 12.5‐11 m.y. B.P. reorganization resulted in the creation of a much shortened Pacific‐Cocos plate boundary located in its early stages over the Mathematician seamounts and a much reduced Cocos‐plate. The last reorganizaton (6.5–3.5 m.y. B.P.) resulted in the abandonment of the Mathematician spreading ridge as a Pacific‐Cocos plate boundary in favor of the East Pacific Rise.