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1.
The Japan Trench subduction zone, located east of NE Japan, has regional variation in seismicity. Many large earthquakes occurred in the northern part of Japan Trench, but few in the southern part. Off Miyagi region is in the middle of the Japan Trench, where the large earthquakes (M > 7) with thrust mechanisms have occurred at an interval of about 40 years in two parts: inner trench slope and near land. A seismic experiment using 36 ocean bottom seismographs (OBS) and a 12,000 cu. in. airgun array was conducted to determine a detailed, 2D velocity structure in the forearc region off Miyagi. The depth to the Moho is 21 km, at 115 km from the trench axis, and becomes progressively deeper landward. The P-wave velocity of the mantle wedge is 7.9–8.1 km/s, which is typical velocity for uppermost mantle without large serpentinization. The dip angle of oceanic crust is increased from 5–6° near the trench axis to 23° 150 km landward from the trench axis. The P-wave velocity of the oceanic uppermost mantle is as small as 7.7 km/s. This low-velocity oceanic mantle seems to be caused by not a lateral anisotropy but some subduction process. By comparison with the seismicity off Miyagi, the subduction zone can be divided into four parts: 1) Seaward of the trench axis, the seismicity is low and normal fault-type earthquakes occur associated with the destruction of oceanic lithosphere. 2) Beneath the deformed zone landward of the trench axis, the plate boundary is characterized as a stable sliding fault plain. In case of earthquakes, this zone may be tsunamigenic. 3) Below forearc crust where P-wave velocity is almost 6 km/s and larger: this zone is the seismogenic zone below inner trench slope, which is a plate boundary between the forearc and oceanic crusts. 4) Below mantle wedge: the rupture zones of thrust large earthquakes near land (e.g. 1978 off Miyagi earthquake) are located beneath the mantle wedge. The depth of the rupture zones is 30–50 km below sea level. From the comparison, the rupture zones of large earthquakes off Miyagi are limited in two parts: plate boundary between the forearc and oceanic crusts and below mantle wedge. This limitation is a rare case for subduction zone. Although the seismogenic process beneath the mantle wedge is not fully clarified, our observation suggests the two possibilities: earthquake generation at the plate boundary overridden by the mantle wedge without serpentinization or that in the subducting slab.  相似文献   

2.
The western Pacific hosts major subduction systems such as Izu–Bonin–Mariana and Tonga–Kermadec, but also less conspicuous systems such as Yap, Mussau and Hjort trenches which constitute the young, incomplete, or ultraslow-member in the evolutionary spectrum of subduction zones. We used satellite-derived gravity data to compare well-developed and immature subduction systems. It is shown that at spatial resolution > 10–20 km or so, the satellite data have accuracy comparable to ship-board gravity measurements over intra-oceanic subduction zones. In the isostatic residual gravity anomaly map, the width of non-isostatically-compensated region of the mature subduction zones is much wider than that of immature ones. More importantly, when the gravitational attraction due to seafloor is removed, a large difference exists between the mature and immature subduction zones in the overriding plate side. Mature subduction zones exhibit broad low gravity anomalies of ~ 200–250 mGal centered at distances of 150–200 km from the trench which are not found over immature subduction zones. The cause of the broad low gravity anomalies over mature subduction zones is debatable due to lack of information on the deep crust and upper mantle structure and property. We discuss the following four causes: (1) serpentinization of the upper mantle beneath the forearc; (2) presence of partial melt in the mantle wedge caused by release of volatiles from the slab, frictional heating and distributed by mantle circulation; (3) difference in density structure between the overriding and subducting plates caused by difference in age and thermal structures with and without compositional stratification between crust and mantle; and (4) anomalous thickness of the arc not explained by isostasy. Our analysis suggests that serpentinization cannot explain the observed gravity anomaly which appears ~ 150–200 km from the trench. Although the extent and distribution of partial melt within the mantle wedge remain in question, to our best estimate, partial melting contributes little (< 50 mGal) to the total negative gravity anomaly. The difference in density structure reflecting temperature difference can only explain less than half of the low gravity anomaly. The sinking of lighter crustal material produces a large negative anomaly in the forearc but its location does not match the observed gravity anomaly. It appears that one cannot explain the total difference in gravity anomaly without invoking anomalous thickness of the arc. Although we could not identify the sole or combination of factors that give rise to the low gravity anomaly in mature subduction zones, the comparison of gravity anomalies between mature and immature subduction zones is likely to provide an important constraint for understanding the evolution and structure of subduction zones as more complementary evidences become available.  相似文献   

3.
Seismic reflection profiles from three different surveys of the Cascadia forearc are interpreted using P wave velocities and relocated hypocentres, which were both derived from the first arrival travel time inversion of wide-angle seismic data and local earthquakes. The subduction decollement, which is characterized beneath the continental shelf by a reflection of 0.5 s duration, can be traced landward into a large duplex structure in the lower forearc crust near southern Vancouver Island. Beneath Vancouver Island, the roof thrust of the duplex is revealed by a 5–12 km thick zone, identified previously as the E reflectors, and the floor thrust is defined by a short duration reflection from a < 2-km-thick interface at the top of the subducting plate. We show that another zone of reflectors exists east of Vancouver Island that is approximately 8 km thick, and identified as the D reflectors. These overlie the E reflectors; together the two zones define the landward part of the duplex. The combined zones reach depths as great as 50 km. The duplex structure extends for more than 120 km perpendicular to the margin, has an along-strike extent of 80 km, and at depths between 30 km and 50 km the duplex structure correlates with a region of anomalously deep seismicity, where velocities are less than 7000 m s− 1. We suggest that these relatively low velocities indicate the presence of either crustal rocks from the oceanic plate that have been underplated to the continent or crustal rocks from the forearc that have been transported downward by subduction erosion. The absence of seismicity from within the E reflectors implies that they are significantly weaker than the overlying crust, and the reflectors may be a zone of active ductile shear. In contrast, seismicity in parts of the D reflectors can be interpreted to mean that ductile shearing no longer occurs in the landward part of the duplex. Merging of the D and E reflectors at 42–46 km depth creates reflectivity in the uppermost mantle with a vertical thickness of at least 15 km. We suggest that pervasive reflectivity in the upper mantle elsewhere beneath Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia arises from similar shear zones.  相似文献   

4.
Dapeng Zhao  Eiji Ohtani   《Gondwana Research》2009,16(3-4):401-413
We present new pieces of evidence from seismology and mineral physics for the existence of low-velocity zones in the deep part of the upper mantle wedge and the mantle transition zone that are caused by fluids from the deep subduction and deep dehydration of the Pacific and Philippine Sea slabs under western Pacific and East Asia. The Pacific slab is subducting beneath the Japan Islands and Japan Sea with intermediate-depth and deep earthquakes down to 600 km depth under the East Asia margin, and the slab becomes stagnant in the mantle transition zone under East China. The western edge of the stagnant Pacific slab is roughly coincident with the NE–SW Daxing'Anling-Taihangshan gravity lineament located west of Beijing, approximately 2000 km away from the Japan Trench. The upper mantle above the stagnant slab under East Asia forms a big mantle wedge (BMW). Corner flow in the BMW and deep slab dehydration may have caused asthenospheric upwelling, lithospheric thinning, continental rift systems, and intraplate volcanism in Northeast Asia. The Philippine Sea slab has subducted down to the mantle transition zone depth under Western Japan and Ryukyu back-arc, though the seismicity within the slab occurs only down to 200–300 km depths. Combining with the corner flow in the mantle wedge, deep dehydration of the subducting Pacific slab has affected the morphology of the subducting Philippine Sea slab and its seismicity under Southwest Japan. Slow anomalies are also found in the mantle under the subducting Pacific slab, which may represent small mantle plumes, or hot upwelling associated with the deep slab subduction. Slab dehydration may also take place after a continental plate subducts into the mantle.  相似文献   

5.
It is being accepted that earthquakes in subducting slab are caused by dehydration reactions of hydrous minerals. In the context of this “dehydration embrittlement” hypothesis, we propose a new model to explain key features of subduction zone magmatism on the basis of hydrous phase relations in peridotite and basaltic systems determined by thermodynamic calculations and seismic structures of Northeast Japan arc revealed by latest seismic studies. The model predicts that partial melting of basaltic crust in the subducting slab is an inevitable consequence of subduction of hydrated oceanic lithosphere. Aqueous fluids released from the subducting slab also cause partial melting widely in mantle wedge from just above the subducting slab to just below overlying crust at volcanic front. Hydrous minerals in the mantle wedge are stable only in shallow (< 120 km) areas, and are absent in the layer that is dragged into deep mantle by the subducting slab. The position of volcanic front is not restricted by dehydration reactions in the subducting slab but is controlled by dynamics of mantle wedge flow, which governs the thermal structure and partial melting regime in the mantle wedge.  相似文献   

6.
Numerical models on thermal structure, convective flow of solid, generation and transportation of H2O-rich fluid in subduction zones are consolidated to have a comprehensive view of the subduction zone processes: heat balance, circulation of H2O magmatism–metamorphism, growth of arcs and continental margins. A large scale convection model with steady subduction of a cold old slab (130 Myr old) predicts rapid ( 100 Myr) cooling of subduction zones, resulting in cessation of magmatism. The model also predicts that the mantle temperature beneath arcs and continental margins is greatly affected by the effective temperature of the subducting slab, i.e., the age of the subducting slab. If subduction of a young hot slab, including ridge subduction, occurs every 60 to 120 Myr as is suggested for eastern Asia, the average temperature beneath arcs is increased by about 300 °C, which may explain the long-lasting magmatism in eastern Asia. Associated with subduction of young slabs and ridges, thermal structure and circulation of H2O are greatly modified to cause a transition from (1) normal arc magmatism, (2) forearc mantle melting, to (3) slab melting to produce a significant amount (100 km3) of granitic melts, associated with both high-P/T and low-P/T type metamorphism. The last stage of (3) can result in formation of a granitic batholith belt and a paired metamorphic belts. Synthesis of the numerical models and observations suggest that episodic subduction of young slabs and ridges can explain heat source for generating a large amount of granitic magmas of batholiths, synchronous formation of batholith and regional metamorphic belts, and P–T conditions of the paired metamorphism. Even the high-P/T metamorphism requires an elevated geothermal structure in the forearc region, associated with ridge subduction. Although the emplacement of the batholiths and the regional metamorphic belts, and the mass balance in subduction zones are not well constrained at present, the episodic event associated with ridge subduction is thought to be essential for net growth of arcs and continental margins, as well as for the long-term heat balance in subduction zones.  相似文献   

7.
Using a recently developed petrogenetic grid for MORB + H2O, we propose a new model for the transportation of water from the subducting slab into the mantle transition zone. Depending on the geothermal gradient, two contrasting water-transportation mechanisms operate at depth in a subduction zone. If the geothermal gradient is low, lawsonite carries H2O into mantle depths of 300 km; with further subduction down to the mantle transition depth (approximately 400 km) lawsonite is no longer stable and thereafter H2O is once migrated upward to the mantle wedge then again carried down to the transition zone due to the induced convection. At this depth, hydrous β-phase olivine is stable and plays a role as a huge water reservoir. In contrast, if the geothermal gradient is high, the subducted slab may melt at 700–900 °C at depths shallower than 80 km to form felsic melt, into which water is dissolved. In this case, H2O cannot be transported into the mantle below 80 km. Between these two end-member mechanisms, two intermediate types are present. In the high-pressure intermediate type, the hydrous phase A plays an important role to carry water into the mantle transition zone. Water liberated by the lawsonite-consuming continuous reaction moves upward to form hydrous phase A in the hanging wall, which transports water into deeper mantle. This is due to a unique character of the reaction, because Phase A can become stable through the hydration reaction of olivine. In the case of low-pressure intermediate type, the presence of a dry mantle wedge below 100 km acts as a barrier to prevent H2O from entering into deeper mantle.  相似文献   

8.
The East Asian continental margin is underlain by stagnant slabs resulting from subduction of the Pacific plate from the east and the Philippine Sea plate from the south. We classify the upper mantle in this region into three major domains: (a) metasomatic–metamorphic factory (MMF), subduction zone magma factory (SZMF), and the ‘big mantle wedge’ (BMW). Whereas the convection pattern is anticlockwise in the MMF domain, it is predominantly clockwise in the SZMF and BMW, along a cross section from the south. Here we define the MMF as a small wedge corner which is driven by the subducting Pacific plate and dominated by H2O-rich fluids derived by dehydration reactions, and enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE) which cause the metasomatism. The SZMF is a zone intermediate between MMF and BMW domains and constitutes the main region of continental crust production by partial melting through wedge counter-corner flow. Large hydrous plume generated at about 200 km depth causes extensive reduction in viscosity and the smaller scale hydrous plumes between 60 km and 200 km also bring about an overall reduction in the viscosity of SZMF. More fertile and high temperature peridotites are supplied from the entrance to this domain. The domain extends obliquely to the volcanic front and then swings back to the deep mantle together with the subducting slab. The BMW occupies the major portion of upper mantle in the western Pacific and convects largely with a clockwise sense removing the eastern trench oceanward. Sporadic formation of hydrous plume at the depth of around 410 km and the curtain flow adjacent to the trench cause back arc spreading. We envisage that the heat source in BMW could be the accumulated TTG (tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite) crust on the bottom of the mantle transition zone. The ongoing process of transportation of granitic crust into the mantle transition zone is evident from the deep subduction of five intra-oceanic arcs on the subducting Philippine Sea plate from the south, in addition to the sediment trapped subduction by the Pacific plate and Philippine Sea plate. The dynamics of MMF, SZMF and BMW domains are controlled by the angle of subduction; a wide zone of MMF in SW Japan is caused by shallow angle subduction of the Philippine Sea plate and the markedly small MMF domain in the Mariana trench is due to the high angle subduction of Pacific plate. The domains in NE Japan and Kyushu region are intermediate between these two. During the Tertiary, a series of marginal basins were formed because of the nearly 2000 km northward shift of the subduction zone along the southern margin of Tethyan Asia, which may be related to the collision of India with Asia and the indentation. The volume of upper mantle under Asia was reduced extensively on the southern margin with a resultant oceanward trench retreat along the eastern margin of Asia, leading to the formation of a series of marginal basins. The western Pacific domain in general is characterized by double-sided subduction; from the east by the oldest Pacific plate and from the south by the oldest Indo-Australian plate. The old plates are hence hydrated extensively even in their central domains and therefore of low temperature. The cracks have allowed the transport of water into the deeper portions of the slab and these domains supply hydrous fluids even to the bottom of the upper mantle. Thus, a fluid dominated upper mantle in the western Pacific drives a number of microplates and promote the plate boundary processes.  相似文献   

9.
Qunshu Tang  Ling Chen   《Tectonophysics》2008,455(1-4):43-52
We have used Rayleigh wave dispersion analysis and inversion to produce a high resolution S-wave velocity imaging profile of the crust and uppermost mantle structure beneath the northeastern boundary regions of the North China Craton (NCC). Using waveform data from 45 broadband NCISP stations, Rayleigh wave phase velocities were measured at periods from 10 to 48 s and utilized in subsequent inversions to solve for the S-wave velocity structure from 15 km down to 120 km depth. The inverted lower crust and uppermost mantle velocities, about 3.75 km/s and 4.3 km/s on average, are low compared with the global average. The Moho was constrained in the depth range of 30–40 km, indicating a typical crustal thickness along the profile. However, a thin lithosphere of no more than 100 km was imaged under a large part of the profile, decreasing to only ~ 60 km under the Inner Mongolian Axis (IMA) where an abnormally slow anomaly was observed below 60 km depth. The overall structural features of the study region resemble those of typical continental rift zones and are probably associated with the lithospheric reactivation and tectonic extension widespread in the eastern NCC during Mesozoic–Cenozoic time. Distinctly high velocities, up to ~ 4.6 km/s, were found immediately to the south of the IMA beneath the northern Yanshan Belt (YSB), extending down to > 100-km depth. The anomalous velocities are interpreted as the cratonic lithospheric lid of the region, which may have not been affected by the Mesozoic–Cenozoic deformation process as strongly as other regions in the eastern NCC. Based on our S-wave velocity structural image and other geophysical observations, we propose a possible lithosphere–asthenosphere interaction scenario at the northeastern boundary of the NCC. We speculate that significant undulations of the base of the lithosphere, which might have resulted from the uneven Mesozoic–Cenozoic lithospheric thinning, may induce mantle flows concentrating beneath the weak IMA zone. The relatively thick lithospheric lid in the northern YSB may serve as a tectonic barrier separating the on-craton and off-craton regions into different upper mantle convection systems at the present time.  相似文献   

10.
Oceanic plateaus, aseismic ridges or seamount chains all have a thickened crust and their subduction has been proposed as a possible mechanism to explain the occurrence of flat subduction and related absence of arc magmatism below Peru, Central Chile and at the Nankai Trough (Japan). Their extra compositional buoyancy could prohibit the slab from sinking into the mantle. With a numerical thermochemical convection model, we simulated the subduction of an oceanic lithosphere that contains an oceanic crustal plateau of 18-km thickness. With a systematic variation, we examined the required physical parameters to obtain shallow flat subduction. Metastability of the basaltic crust in the eclogite stability field is of crucial importance for the slab to remain buoyant throughout the subduction process. In a 44-Ma-old subducting plate, basalt must be able to survive a temperature of 600–700 °C to keep the plate buoyant sufficiently long to cause a flat-slab segment. We found that the maximum yield stress in the slab must be limited to about 600 MPa to allow for the necessary bending to the horizontal. Young slabs show flat subduction for larger parameter ranges than old slabs, since they are less gravitationally unstable and show less resistance against bending. Hydrous weakening of the mantle wedge area and lowermost continent are required to allow for the necessary deformation of a change in subduction style from steep to flat. The maximum flat slab extent is about 300 km, which is sufficient to explain the observed shallow flat subduction near the Nankai Trough (Japan). However, additional mechanisms, such as active overthrusting by an overriding continental plate, need to be invoked to explain the flat-slab segments up to 500 km long below Peru and Central Chile.  相似文献   

11.
W.P. Schellart  D.R. Stegman  J. Freeman   《Earth》2008,88(1-2):118-144
Since the advent of plate tectonics different global reference frames have been used to describe the motion of plates and trenches. The difference in plate motion and trench migration between different reference frames can be substantial (up to 4 cm/yr). This study presents an overview of trench migration velocities for all the mature and incipient subduction zones on Earth as calculated in eight different global reference frames. Calculations show that, irrespective of the reference frame: (1) trench retreat always dominates over trench advance, with 62–78% of the 244 trench segments retreating; (2) the mean and median trench velocity are always positive (retreating) and within the range 1.3–1.5 cm/yr and 0.9–1.3 cm/yr, respectively; (3) rapid trench retreat is only observed close to lateral slab edges (< 1500 km); and (4) trench retreat is always slow far from slab edges (> 2000 km). These calculations are predicted by geodynamic models with a varying slab width, in which plate motion, trench motion and mantle flow result from subduction of dense slabs, suggesting that trench motion is indeed primarily driven by slab buoyancy forces and that proximity to a lateral slab edge exerts a dominant control on the trench migration velocity. Despite these four general conclusions, significant differences in velocities between such reference frames remain. It is therefore important to determine which reference frame most likely describes the true absolute velocities to get an understanding of the forces driving plate tectonics and mantle convection. It is here proposed that, based on fluid dynamic considerations and predictions from geodynamic modelling, the best candidate is the one, which optimises the number of trench segments that retreat, minimizes the trench–perpendicular trench migration velocity (vT) in the centre of wide (> 4000 km) subduction zones, maximizes the number of retreating trench segments located within 2000 km of the closest lateral slab edge, minimizes the average of the absolute of the trench–perpendicular trench migration velocity (|vT|) for all subduction zones on Earth, and minimizes the global upper mantle toroidal volume flux (To) that results from trench migration and associated lateral slab migration (i.e. slab rollback or slab roll-forward). Calculations show that these conditions are best met in one particular Indo-Atlantic hotspot reference frame, where 75% of the subduction zones retreat, vT in the centre of wide subduction zones ranges between − 3.5 and 1.8 cm/yr, 83% of the trench segments located within 2000 km of the closest lateral slab edge retreat, the average of |vT| is 2.1 cm/yr, and To = 456 km3/yr (lower limit) and 539 km3/yr (upper limit). Inclusion of all the incipient subduction zones on Earth results in slightly greater fluxes of 465 km3/yr (lower limit) and 569 km3/yr (upper limit). It is also found that this reference frame is close to minimizing the total sub-lithospheric upper mantle volume flux (K) associated with motion of continental keels located below the major cratons. It is stressed, however, that K is an order of magnitude smaller than To, and thus of subordinate importance. In conclusion, the Indo-Atlantic hotspot reference frame appears preferable for calculating plate velocities and plate boundary velocities.  相似文献   

12.
Recent results of high-resolution seismic tomography and mineral physics experiments are used to study mantle dynamics of Western Pacific and East Asia. The most important processes in subduction zones are the shallow and deep slab dehydration and the convective circulation (corner flow) processes in the mantle wedge. The combination of the two processes may have caused the back-arc spreading in the Lau basin, affected the morphology of the subducting Philippine Sea slab and its seismicity under southwest Japan, and contributed to the formation of the continental rift system and intraplate volcanism in Northeast Asia, which are clearly visible in our tomographic images. Slow anomalies are also found in the mantle under the subducting Pacific slab, which may represent (a) small mantle plumes, (b) upwellings associated with the slab collapsing down to the lower mantle, or (c) sub-slab dehydration associated with deep earthquakes caused by the reactivation of large faults preserved in the slab. Combining tomographic images and earthquake hypocenters with phase diagrams in the systems of peridotite + water, we proposed a petrologic model for arc volcanism. Arc magmas are caused by the dehydration reactions of hydrated slab peridotite that supply water-rich fluids to the mantle wedge and cause partial melting of the convecting mantle wedge. A large amount of fluids can be released from hydrated MORB at depths shallower than 55 km, which move upwards to hydrate the wedge corner under the fore-arc, and never drag down to the deeper mantle along the slab surface. Slab dehydration reactions at 120 km depth are the antigorite-related 5 reactions which supply water-rich fluids for forming the volcanic front. Phase A and Mg-surssasite breakdown reactions at 200 and 300 km depths below 700 °C cause the second and third arcs, respectively. Moreover, the dehydration reactions of super-hydrous phase B, phases D and E at 500–660 km depths cause the fluid transportation to the mantle boundary layer (MBL) (410–660 km depth). The stagnant slabs extend from Japan to Beijing, China for over 1000 km long, indicating that the arc–trench system covers the entire region from the Japan trench to East Asia. We propose a big mantle wedge (BMW) model herein, where hydrous plumes originating from 410 km depth cause a series of intra-continental hot regions. Fluids derived from MBL accumulated by the double-sided subduction zones, rather than the India–Asia collision and the subsequent indentation into Asia, are the major cause for the active tectonics and mantle dynamics in this broad region.  相似文献   

13.
W.P. Schellart   《Tectonophysics》2007,445(3-4):363-372
A geodynamic model exists, the westward lithospheric drift model, in which the variety of overriding plate deformation, trench migration and slab dip angles is explained by the polarity of subduction zones. The model predicts overriding plate extension, a fixed trench and a steep slab dip for westward-dipping subduction zones (e.g. Mariana) and predicts overriding plate shortening, oceanward trench retreat and a gentle slab dip for east to northeastward-dipping subduction zones (e.g. Chile). This paper investigates these predictions quantitatively with a global subduction zone analysis. The results show overriding plate extension for all dip directions (azimuth α = − 180° to 180°) and overriding plate shortening for dip directions with α = − 90° to 110°. The wide scatter in data negate any obvious trend and only local mean values in overriding plate deformation rate indicate that overriding plate extension is somewhat more prevalent for west-dipping slabs. West-dipping subduction zones are never fixed, irrespective of the choice of reference frame, while east to northeast-dipping subduction zones are both retreating and advancing in five out of seven global reference frames. In addition, westward-dipping subduction zones have a range in trench-migration velocities that is twice the magnitude of that for east to northeastward-dipping slabs. Finally, there is no recognizable correlation between slab dip direction and slab dip angle. East to northeast-dipping slabs (α = 30° to 120°) have shallow (0–125 km) slab dip angles in the range 10–60° and deep (125–670 km) slab dip angles in the range 40–82°, while west-dipping slabs (α = − 60° to − 120°) have shallow slab dip angles in the range 19–50° and deep slab dip angles in the range 25–86°. Local mean deep slab dip angles are nearly identical for east and west-dipping slabs, while local mean shallow slab dip angles are lower by only 4.7–8.1° for east to northeast-dipping slabs. It is thus concluded that overall, there is no observational basis to support the three predictions made by the westward drift model, and for some sub-predictions the observational basis is very weak at most. Alternative models, which incorporate and underline the importance of slab buoyancy-driven trench migration, slab width and overriding plate motion, are better candidates to explain the complexity of subduction zones, including the variety in trench-migration velocities, overriding plate deformation and slab dip angles.  相似文献   

14.
U-Pb isotopic analyses of zircon from the lowest structural units of the Acatlán Complex of southern Mexico indicate that Paleozoic tectonothermal events are overprinted by mid-Jurassic (175±3 to 171±1 Ma), low pressure migmatization (5–6 kb), polyphase deformation, and intrusion of felsic and mafic magmas. Ensuing rapid cooling recorded by 40Ar/39Ar muscovite, biotite and K-feldspar ages is estimated to have taken place at 21±3°C/my at exhumation rates of 0.6 mm/yr. Such rapid exhumation requires a combination of erosion and tectonic unroofing that is recorded by top-to-the-west kinematic data. Synchronous tectonic unroofing is also recorded 100 km to the east in the adjacent Oaxaca terrane, where top-to-the-north, extensional shear zones occur in Paleozoic strata.This pattern of extension suggests tectonic unroofing in response to domal uplift (radius >100 km) like that associated with core complexes, slab windows, and hotspots. Most tectonic analyses for the Jurassic place the Acatlán Complex in the forearc region of an arc in Colombia lying 600–800 km inboard of the subduction zone, presumably in response to flat-slab subduction. Modern analogues suggest that flat-slab subduction reflects subduction of young buoyant oceanic lithosphere adjacent to either a mid-oceanic ridge, or a plume. Since core complexes are typical of arc-backarc regions, and slab windows generally produce metamorphic belts, the forearc setting and associated domal uplift suggest a plume to be the most likely cause of this Jurassic tectonothermal pulse in southern Mexico. This plume activity is synchronous with the opening of the Gulf of Mexico during the breakup of Pangea, to which it may have contributed.  相似文献   

15.
The Cretaceous blueschist belt, Tavşanlı Zone, representing the subducted and exhumed northern continental margin of the Anatolide–Tauride platform is exposed in Western Anatolia. The Sivrihisar area east of Tavşanlı is made up of tectonic units consisting of i) metaclastics and conformably overlying massive marbles (coherent blueschist unit), ii) blueschist-eclogite unit, iii) marble–calcschist intercalation and iv) metaperidotite slab. The metaclastics are composed of jadeite–lawsonite–glaucophane and jadeite–glaucophane–chloritoid schists, phengite phyllites, and calcschists with glaucophane–lawsonite metabasite layers. The blueschist-eclogite unit representing strongly sheared, deeply buried and imbricated tectonic slices of accreted uppermost levels of the oceanic crust with minor metamorphosed serpentinite bodies consists of lawsonite-bearing eclogitic metabasites (approximately 90% of the field), lawsonite eclogites, metagabbros, serpentinites, pelagic marbles, omphacite–glaucophane–lawsonite metapelites and metacherts. The mineral assemblage of the lawsonite eclogite (garnet + omphacite > 70%) is omphacite, garnet, lawsonite, glaucophane, phengite and rutile. Lawsonite eclogite lenses are enclosed by garnet–lawsonite blueschist envelopes.Textural evidence from lawsonite eclogites and country rocks reveals that they did not leave the stability field of lawsonite during subduction and exhumation. The widespread preservation of lawsonite in eclogitic metabasites and eclogites can be attributed to rapid subduction and subsequent exhumation in a low geothermal gradient of the oceanic crust material without experiencing a thermal relaxation. Peak P–T conditions of lawsonite eclogites are estimated at 24 ± 1 kbar and 460 ± 25 °C. These P–T conditions indicate a remarkably low geotherm of 6.2 °C/km corresponding to a burial depth of 74 km.  相似文献   

16.
A new tomographic image of the Pyrenean lithosphere from teleseismic data   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
A new tomographic model of the Pyrenean lithosphere is determined down to 200 km depth from teleseismic P and PKP travel times, with a lateral resolution of 0.25°. Compared to previous models, two important improvements are 1) a larger number of stations with a more even distribution, in particular to the west of the range, and 2) the introduction, before inversion, of crustal corrections inferred from previous refraction and reflection experiments. This last point is crucial because a strong Moho jump (up to 20 km) is present at the North Pyrenean Fault, the former boundary between Eurasian and Iberian plates. The comparison of the models obtained with and without crustal corrections reveals the strong contamination of the models by the crust down to 100 km depth. In the uncorrected model, a large strip with negative P-velocity anomalies, previously interpreted as subduction of lower crust, is observed. It disappears in the corrected model. Moreover, the introduction of crustal corrections allows us to reveal short wavelength heterogeneities which were hidden by the crustal signal.An attempt is made to relate the heterogeneities revealed by the tomographic model with the tectonic history of the Pyrenees, in particular with the Alpine orogeny. The Alpine phase includes an extensive episode with generation of the thin continental crust and possibly the opening of an oceanic sea floor, and then a compressive stage. In our model, no signature of an oceanic subducted slab could be detected all along the range, a result which rules out the opening of a large oceanic floor before the compressive stage. A subduction of continental crust is possible but, due to the transformation of lower crust into eclogite at depth, it can not be detected by seismological methods, whereas it was observed from electrical and gravity data. To the East of the range, large heterogeneities with low velocities are ascribable to the Neogene extension related to the rotation of the Corso–Sardo block and the opening of the Gulf of Lion. A prominent high velocity anomaly extending down to 200 km in eastern-central Pyrenees could possibly be interpreted as a detached piece of the Tethys slab. In north of Iberia outside the range, deep (down to 200 km) low velocity structures oriented N130°E are probably related to Hercynian orogeny.  相似文献   

17.
As the fastest, lowest, flattest and amongst the most arid of continents, Australia preserves a unique geomorphic record of intraplate tectonic activity, evidencing at least three distinct modes of surface deformation since its rapid northward drift commenced around 43 million years ago. At long wavelengths (several 1000s km) systematic variations in the extent of Neogene marine inundation imply the continent has tilted north–down, southwest–up. At intermediate-wavelengths (several 100s km) several undulations of ~ 100–200 m amplitude have developed on the 1–10 myr timescale. At still shorter wavelengths (several 10s km), fault related motion has produced local relief at rates of up to ~ 100 m/myr over several million years. The long-wavelength, north–down tilting can be related to a dynamic topographic effect associated with Australia's northward drift from the geoid low, dynamic topography low now south of the continent to the geoid high, dynamic topography low centred above the south-east Asian and Melanesian subduction zones. The short wavelength, fault-related deformation is attributed in time to plate-wide increases in compressional stress levels as the result of distant plate boundary interactions and, in space, in part to variations in the thermal structure of the Australian lithosphere. At the intermediate wavelengths, transient, low amplitude undulations can be ascribed to either lithospheric buckling or the development of instabilities in the thermal boundary layer beneath the lithosphere. In the latter case, topographic asymmetries suggest the Australian lithosphere is moving north with respect to the mantle beneath, providing a unique attribution to the progressive alignment of seismic anisotropy and absolute plate motion observed near the base of the Australian lithosphere.  相似文献   

18.
This paper reports a new 1° × 1° global thermal model for the continental lithosphere (TC1). Geotherms for continental terranes of different ages (> 3.6 Ga to present) constrained by reliable data on borehole heat flow measurements (Artemieva, I.M., Mooney, W.D. 2001. Thermal structure and evolution of Precambrian lithosphere: a global study. J. Geophys. Res 106, 16387–16414.), are statistically analyzed as a function of age and are used to estimate lithospheric temperatures in continental regions with no or low-quality heat flow data (ca. 60% of the continents). These data are supplemented by cratonic geotherms based on electromagnetic and xenolith data; the latter indicate the existence of Archean cratons with two characteristic thicknesses, ca. 200 and > 250 km. A map of tectono-thermal ages of lithospheric terranes complied for the continents on a 1° × 1° grid and combined with the statistical age relationship of continental geotherms (z = 0.04  t + 93.6, where z is lithospheric thermal thickness in km and t is age in Ma) formed the basis for a new global thermal model of the continental lithosphere (TC1). The TC1 model is presented by a set of maps, which show significant thermal heterogeneity within continental upper mantle, with the strongest lateral temperature variations (as large as 800 °C) in the shallow mantle. A map of the depth to a 550 °C isotherm (Curie isotherm for magnetite) in continental upper mantle is presented as a proxy to the thickness of the magnetic crust; the same map provides a rough estimate of elastic thickness of old (> 200 Ma) continental lithosphere, in which flexural rigidity is dominated by olivine rheology of the mantle.Statistical analysis of continental geotherms reveals that thick (> 250 km) lithosphere is restricted solely to young Archean terranes (3.0–2.6 Ga), while in old Archean cratons (3.6–3.0 Ga) lithospheric roots do not extend deeper than 200–220 km. It is proposed that the former were formed by tectonic stacking and underplating during paleocollision of continental nuclei; it is likely that such exceptionally thick lithospheric roots have a limited lateral extent and are restricted to paleoterrane boundaries. This conclusion is supported by an analysis of the growth rate of the lithosphere since the Archean, which does not reveal a peak in lithospheric volume at 2.7–2.6 Ga as expected from growth curves for juvenile crust.A pronounced peak in the rate of lithospheric growth (10–18 km3/year) at 2.1–1.7 Ga (as compared to 5–8 km3/year in the Archean) well correlates with a peak in the growth of juvenile crust and with a consequent global extraction of massif-type anorthosites. It is proposed that large-scale variations in lithospheric thickness at cratonic margins and at paleoterrane boundaries controlled anorogenic magmatism. In particular, mid-Proterozoic anorogenic magmatism at the cratonic margins was caused by edge-driven convection triggered by a fast growth of the lithospheric mantle at 2.1–1.7 Ga. Belts of anorogenic magmatism within cratonic interiors can be caused by a deflection of mantle heat by a locally thickened lithosphere at paleosutures and, thus, can be surface manifestations of exceptionally thick lithospheric roots. The present volume of continental lithosphere as estimated from the new global map of lithospheric thermal thickness is 27.8 (± 7.0) × 109 km3 (excluding submerged terranes with continental crust); preserved continental crust comprises ca. 7.7 × 109 km3. About 50% of the present continental lithosphere existed by 1.8 Ga.  相似文献   

19.
The Urals are characterized by a depression of the Moho to a depth of 57 km. This structure is interpreted as a relic orogenic root, which has been conserved because no significant post-collisional processes occurred. However, there is evidence that voluminous post-collisional magmatism affected the lower crust. In this paper, we use thermal finite element models to quantify the influence of the post-collisional magmatism on the stabilization of the root. We show that at least 70% of the heat producing elements migrated in granitic melts from the lower crust to the upper crust. As a result the crustal heat flow reduced and the lithosphere could stabilize at a thickness of 180 km. Furthermore, we propose that a granulite metamorphic event during the thermal relaxation of the collision zone prevented the 57 km thick crust from delamination. These results strongly indicate that post-collisional processes were necessary for the stabilization of the Uralian crust and lithosphere.  相似文献   

20.
The Philippine Sea plate is subducting under the Eurasian plate beneath the Chugoku-Shikoku region, southwestern Japan. We have constructed depth contours for the continental and oceanic Mohos derived from the velocity structure based on receiver function inversion. Receiver functions were calculated using teleseismic waveforms recorded by the high-density seismograph network in southwestern Japan. In order to determine crustal velocity structure, we first improved the linearized time-domain receiver function inversion method. The continental Moho is relatively shallow ( 30 km) at the coastline of the Sea of Japan and at the Seto Inland Sea, and becomes deeper–greater than 40 km–around 35°N and 133.8°E. Near the Seto Inland Sea, a low-velocity layer of thickness 10 km lies under the continental Moho. This low-velocity layer corresponds to the subducting oceanic crust of the Philippine Sea plate. The oceanic Moho continues to descend from south to northwest and exhibits complicated ridge and valley features. The oceanic Moho runs around 25 km beneath the Pacific coast and 45 km beneath the Seto Inland Sea, and it extends to at least to 34.5°N. The depth variation of the Moho discontinuities is in good qualitative agreement with the concept of isostasy. From the configurations of both the continental and oceanic Mohos, we demonstrate that the continental lower crust and the subducting oceanic crust overlap beneath the southern and central part of Shikoku and that a mantle wedge may exist beneath the western and eastern part of Shikoku. The southern edge of the overlapping region coincides with the downdip limit of the slip area of a megathrust earthquake.  相似文献   

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