The term 6.., was typed y.., by mistake. Definitions of ¾nm and 6.m are given in equations (19a) and (19b) of the paper.

[1] Multiple-and single-beam bathymetric data are compiled over the Azores plateau to produce a 1 km  1 km grid between latitudes 32°N and 49°N and longitudes 22°W and 43°W. Mantle Bouguer anomalies are then calculated from this grid and the satellite-derived gravity. These grids provide new insights on the temporal and spatial variations of melt supply to the ridge axis. The elevated seafloor of the Azores plateau is interpreted as resulting from the interaction of a mantle plume with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). The presence of a large region of elevated seafloor associated with a thick crust between the Great Meteor Seamounts and the Azores platform on the Africa plate, and less developed conjugate structures on the North America plate, favors genetic relations between these hot spot-derived structures. This suggests that a ridge-hot spot interaction has occurred in this region since 85 Ma. This interaction migrated northward along the ridge axis as a result of the SSE absolute motion of the Africa plate, following a direction grossly parallel to the orientation of the MAR. Kinematic reconstructions from chron 13 ($35 Ma) to the present allow a proposal that the formation of the Azores plateau began around 20 Ma and ended around 7 Ma. A sharp bathymetric step is associated with the beginning of important melt supply around 20 Ma. The excess of melt production is controlled by the interaction of the ridge and hot spot melting zones. The geometry and distribution of the smaller-scale features on the plateau record episodic variations of the hot spot melt production. The periodicity of these variations is about 3-5 Myr. Following the rapid decrease of widespread volcanism, the plateau was subsequently rifted from north to south by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge since 7 Ma. This rifting begins when the MAR melting zone is progressively shifted away from the 200-km plume thermal anomaly. These results bear important consequences on the motion of the Africa plate relative to the Azores hot spot. They also provide an explanation to the asymmetric geochemical signature of the Azores hot spot along the MidAtlantic Ridge.Components: 12,255 words, 10 figures, 1 table.Keywords: mid-ocean ridges; plume; plume-ridge interaction; geodynamics; north Atlantic Ocean; Azores.

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International audienceWe used a three-plate best-fit algorithm to calculate four sets of Euler rotations for motion between the India (Capricorn), Africa (Somali) and Antarctic plates for 14 time intervals in the early Cenozoic. Each set of rotations had a different combination of data constraints. The first set of rotations used a basic set of magnetic anomaly picks on the Central Indian Ridge (CIR), Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR) and Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) and fracture zone constraints on the CIR and SEIR, but did not incorporate data from the Carlsberg Ridge and did not use fracture zones on the SWIR. The second set added fracture zone constraints from the region of the Bain fracture zone on the SWIR which were dated with synthetic flowlines based on the first data set. The third set of rotations used the basic constraints from the first rotation set and added data from the Carlsberg Ridge. The fourth set of rotations combined both the SWIR fracture zone constraints and the Carlsberg Ridge constraints. Data on the Indian Plate side of the Carlsberg Ridge (Arabian Basin) were rotated to the Capricorn Plate before being included in the constraints. Plate trajectories and spreading rate histories for the CIR and SWIR based on the new rotations document the major early Cenozoic changes in plate motion. On the CIR and SEIR there was a large but gradual slowdown starting around Chron 23o (51.9 Ma) and continuing until Chron 21y (45.3 Ma) followed 2 or 3 Myr later by an abrupt change in spreading azimuth which started around Chron 20o (42.8) Ma and which was completed by Chron 20y (41.5 Ma). No change in spreading rate accompanied the abrupt change in spreading direction. On the SWIR there was a continuous increase in spreading rates between Chrons 23o and 20o and large changes in azimuth around Chrons 24 and 23 and again at Chron 21. Unexpectedly, we found that the two sets of rotations constrained by the Carlsberg Ridge data diverged from the other two sets of rotations prior to anomaly 22o. When compared to rotations for the CIR that are simultaneously constrained by data from all three branches of the Indian Ocean Triple Junction, there is a progressively larger separation of anomalies on the Carlsberg Ridge, with a roughly 25 km misfit for anomaly 23o and increasing to over 100 km for anomaly 26y. These data require that there was previously unrecognized convergence somewhere in the plate circuit linking the Indian, Capricorn and Somali plates prior to Chron 22o. We quantify this motion by summing our new Capricorn–Somalia rotations with previously published rotations for Neogene India–Capricorn motion and for early Cenozoic Somali–India motion based solely on Carlsberg Ridge data. The most likely possibility is that there was motion within the Somalia Plate due to a distinct Seychelles microplate as young as Chron 22o. The sense of the misfit on the Carlsberg Ridge is consistent with roughly 100–150 km of convergence across a boundary passing through the Amirante Trench and extending north to the Carlsber...

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