Paleomagnetic data from the Pacific plate show that the average azimuth of the Pacific plate decreased by ~12¿ between 90 Ma and 81 Ma, whereas trends of Late Cretaceous seamount chains suggest that the Pacific plate moved northwestward relative to the hotspots with little change in azimuth during the same time interval. This difference is used to infer a 13¿ ¿4¿ shift of the spin axis relative to the hotspots in the Pacific Ocean basin. This shift occurred within 5 m.y. of the occurrence of anomalous behavior of the paleomagnetic field recorded in anomalies 33 and 34. this coincidence in timing suggests there may be a causal link between these three phenomena.