Migration of a pattern of plate motion

A pattern of plate motion is documented to have migrated from the South Pacific into the Indian Ocean during the Cretaceous and Early Tertiary, and then across the Indian Ocean during the Tertiary. The opening of the Gulf of Aden may be a more recent extension of this migration. The migration takes place by the episodic formation of new segments of sea-floor spreading having the new direction of plate motion; or by development of the new direction of motion in segments where sea-floor spreading had previously been active. In this manner plate motions can extend beyond their previously limiting plate boundaries.