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1.
Garnet‐bearing peridotite lenses are minor but significant components of most metamorphic terranes characterized by high‐temperature eclogite facies assemblages. Most peridotite intrudes when slabs of continental crust are subducted deeply (60–120 km) into the mantle, usually by following oceanic lithosphere down an established subduction zone. Peridotite is transferred from the resulting mantle wedge into the crustal footwall through brittle and/or ductile mechanisms. These ‘mantle’ peridotites vary petrographically, chemically, isotopically, chronologically and thermobarometrically from orogen to orogen, within orogens and even within individual terranes. The variations reflect: (1) derivation from different mantle sources (oceanic or continental lithosphere, asthenosphere); (2) perturbations while the mantle wedges were above subducting oceanic lithosphere; and (3) changes within the host crustal slabs during intrusion, subduction and exhumation. Peridotite caught within mantle wedges above oceanic subduction zones will tend to recrystallize and be contaminated by fluids derived from the subducting oceanic crust. These ‘subduction zone peridotites’ intrude during the subsequent subduction of continental crust. Low‐pressure protoliths introduced at shallow (serpentinite, plagioclase peridotite) and intermediate (spinel peridotite) mantle depths (20–50 km) may be carried to deeper levels within the host slab and undergo high‐pressure metamorphism along with the enclosing rocks. If subducted deeply enough, the peridotites will develop garnet‐bearing assemblages that are isofacial with, and give the same recrystallization ages as, the eclogite facies country rocks. Peridotites introduced at deeper levels (50–120 km) may already contain garnet when they intrude and will not necessarily be isofacial or isochronous with the enclosing crustal rocks. Some garnet peridotites recrystallize from spinel peridotite precursors at very high temperatures (c. 1200 °C) and may derive ultimately from the asthenosphere. Other peridotites are from old (>1 Ga), cold (c. 850 °C), subcontinental mantle (‘relict peridotites’) and seem to require the development of major intra‐cratonic faults to effect their intrusion.  相似文献   

2.
Free conductive flows in the asthenosphere, layer C, and subduction zone are considered on the basis of experimental and theoretical simulation. The main forces acting on the oceanic lithospheric plate in the subduction zone are described. The horizontally directed forces arising due to free convection in the asthenosphere and transferring the oceanic lithospheric plate toward subduction zone have been estimated. These are friction force Fa and force of gravitational sliding F rd. Thermogravitational force F tg, which is created because the subducting lithospheric plate has a lower average temperature than the ambient mantle, is estimated. The force created owing to phase transitions in the subducted plate has been estimated as well. The tangential stress at the contact of the subducting plate with the continental lithosphere and underlying upper mantle has been determined. The horizontal force arising due to different lateral temperature gradients in the upper mantle on the left and on the right of the subducting plate has been estimated. The results of experimental modeling of the effect exerted upon subduction by counter free convective flows developing in the asthenosphere are considered. The experiments show that the position of the descending free convective flow and thus of the subduction zone depends on the ratio of the thermal power of astehnospheric countercurrents. The pressure arising near the 670 km boundary gives rise to spreading of the subducting plate over this boundary.  相似文献   

3.
In this paper, we present a compilation of modern seismic and seismological methods applied to image the subduction process in North Chile, South America. We use data from active and passive seismic experiments that were acquired within the framework of the German Collaborative Research Center SFB267 ‘Deformation Processes in the Andes’. The investigation area is located between 20° and 25°S and extends from the trench down to 100 km depth. In the depth range between the sea bottom and 15 km, we process an offshore seismic reflection profile using a recently developed velocity-model-independent stacking procedure. We find that the upper part of the subducting oceanic lithosphere in this depth range is characterized by a horst-and-graben structure. This structure supports an approximately 3 km thick coupling zone between the plates. In the depth range between 15 and 45 km, we analyse the spatial distribution of aftershocks of the Antofagasta earthquake (1995). The aftershock hypocenters are concentrated in an approximately 3 km thick layer. Finally, in the depth range between 45 and 100 km, we apply Kirchhoff prestack depth migration to the onshore ANCORP profile. A double reflection zone is observed between 45 and 60 km depth, which may represent the upper and lower boundary of the subducted oceanic crust. Over the whole range down to more than 80–90 km depth, we obtain an image of the subducting slab. At that depth, the hypocenters of local earthquakes deviate significantly in the direction perpendicular to the slab face from the reflective parts of the slab. Consequently, our results yield a complete seismic image of the downgoing plate and the associated seismic coupling zone.  相似文献   

4.
Numerical studies of subduction zone dynamics on a regional scale usually use a limited spatial extent for their models and therefore need to define boundary conditions on all model edges. These boundary conditions imply a choice for the mechanical and thermal state of the surrounding regions which may influence the evolution of the model system. We investigate the role of the surface and lateral boundary conditions for simple mechanical subduction models using a standard finite element method. We find that subduction is only possible if the slab can decouple from the surface. This decoupling can be achieved by a true free surface, a free-slip surface with a weak crust for the subducting plate, or a free-slip surface with a layer of low viscosity, low density material (‘sticky air’) between the model surface and the crust. Models of slab dynamics that employ a free-slip surface reproduce trench migration, slab sinking velocities and slab geometry of models with a free surface, as long as they use either a weak crust, which can be viscous, viscoelastic and/or brittle, or a ‘sticky air’ layer. The vertical topography will however not be reproduced for free-slip models without a ‘sticky air’ layer. For ocean–ocean convergent models we find that the application of inflow boundary conditions at the edges of the subducting or overriding lithosphere controls trench motion and the geometry of the subducting slab. Inflow on the overriding side causes trench retreat and a slab resting on the lower mantle, whereas inflow restricted to the subducting side can cause trench advance and a slab which folds on the lower mantle.  相似文献   

5.
One of the major processes in the formation and deformation of continental lithosphere is the process of arc volcanism. The plate-tectonic theory predicts that a continuous chain of arc volcanoes lies parallel to any continuous subduction zone. However, the map pattern of active volcanoes shows at least 24 areas where there are major spatial gaps in the volcanic chains (> 200 km). A significant proportion (~ 30%) of oceanic crust is subducted at these gaps. All but three of these gaps coincide with the collision or subduction of a large aseismic plateau or ridge.The idea that the collision of such features may have a major tectonic impact on the arc lithosphere, including cessation of volcanism, is not new. However, it is not clear how the collision or subduction of an oceanic plateau perturbs the system to the extent of inhibiting arc volcanism. Three main factors necessary for arc volcanism are (1) source materials for the volcanics—either volatiles or melt from the subducting slab and/or melt from the overlying asthenospheric wedge, (2) a heat source, either for the dehydration or the melting of the slab, or the melting within the asthenosphere and (3) a favorable state of stress in the overlying lithosphere. The absence of any one of these features may cause a volcanic gap to form.There are several ways in which the collision or subduction of an oceanic plateau may affect arc volcanism. The clearest and most common cases considered are those where the feature completely resists subduction, causing local plate boundaries to reorganize. This includes the formation of new plate-bounding transform faults or a flip in subduction polarity. In these cases, subduction has slowed down or stopped and the lack of source material has created a volcanic gap.There are a few cases, most notably in Peru, Chile, and the Nankai trough, where the dip of subduction is so shallow that effectively no asthenospheric wedge exists to produce source material for volcanism. The shallow dip of the slab may be a buoyant effect of the plateau imbedded in the oceanic lithosphere.The cases which are the most enigmatic are those where subduction is continuous, the oceanic plateau is subducted along with the slab, and the dip of the slab is clearly steep enough to allow arc volcanism; yet a volcanic gap exists. In these areas, the subducted plateau may have a fundamental effect on the physical process of arc volcanism itself. The presence of a large topographic feature on the subducting plate may affect the stress state in the are by increasing the amount of decoupling between the two plates. Alternatively, the subduction of the plateau may change the chemical processes at depth if either the water-rich top of the plateau with accompanying sediments are scraped off during subduction or if the ridge is compositionally different.  相似文献   

6.
Slow–ultraslow spreading oceans are mostly floored by mantle peridotites and are typified by rifted continental margins, where subcontinental lithospheric mantle is preserved. Structural and petrologic investigations of the high-pressure (HP) Alpine Voltri Massif ophiolites, which were derived from the Late Jurassic Ligurian Tethys fossil slow–ultraslow spreading ocean, reveal the fate of the oceanic peridotites/serpentinites during subduction to depths involving eclogite-facies conditions, followed by exhumation.

The Ligurian Tethys was formed by continental extension within the Europe–Adria lithosphere and consisted of sea-floor exposed mantle peridotites with an uppermost layer of oceanic serpentinites and of subcontinental lithospheric mantle at the rifted continental margins. Plate convergence caused eastward subduction of the oceanic lithosphere of the Europe plate and the uppermost serpentinite layer of the subducting slab formed an antigorite serpentinite-subduction channel. Sectors of the rather unaltered mantle lithosphere of the Adria extended margin underwent ablative subduction and were detached, embedded, and buried to eclogite-facies conditions within the serpentinite-subduction channel. At such P–T conditions, antigorite serpentinites from the oceanic slab underwent partial HP dehydration (antigorite dewatering and growth of new olivine). Water fluxing from partial dehydration of host serpentinites caused partial HP hydration (growth of Ti-clinohumite and antigorite) of the subducted Adria margin peridotites. The serpentinite-subduction channel (future Beigua serpentinites), acting as a low-viscosity carrier for high-density subducted rocks, allowed rapid exhumation of the almost unaltered Adria peridotites (future Erro–Tobbio peridotites) and their emplacement into the Voltri Massif orogenic edifice. Over in the past 35 years, this unique geologic architecture has allowed us to investigate the pristine structural and compositional mantle features of the subcontinental Erro–Tobbio peridotites and to clarify the main steps of the pre-oceanic extensional, tectonic–magmatic history of the Europe–Adria asthenosphere–lithosphere system, which led to the formation of the Ligurian Tethys.

Our present knowledge of the Voltri Massif provides fundamental information for enhanced understanding, from a mantle perspective, of formation, subduction, and exhumation of oceanic and marginal lithosphere of slow–ultraslow spreading oceans.  相似文献   

7.
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   

8.
The lithospheric sinking along subduction zones is part of the mantle convection. Therefore, computing the volume of lithosphere recycled within the mantle by subducting slabs quantifies the equivalent amount of mantle that should be displaced, for the mass conservation criterion. The rate of subduction is constrained by the convergence rate between upper and lower plates and the motion of the subduction hinge H that may either converge or diverge relative to the upper plate. Here, starting from the analysis of the slab hinge kinematics, we evaluate the subduction rate at 31 subduction zones worldwide, useful to compute volumes of sinking lithosphere into the mantle. Our results show that ∼190 km3/yr and ∼88 km3/yr of lithospheric slabs are currently subducting below H-divergent and H-convergent subduction zones, respectively. We also propose supporting numerical models providing asymmetric volumes of the subducted lithosphere, using the subduction rate instead of plate convergence, as boundary condition. Furthermore, H-divergent subduction zones appear to be coincident with subductions having “westward”-directed slabs, whereas H-convergent subduction zones are mostly compatible with those that have “eastward-to-northeastward”-directed slabs. On the basis of this geographical polarity, our lithospheric volume estimation gives ∼214 km3/yr and ∼88 km3/yr of subducting lithosphere, respectively. This entails that W-directed subduction zones contribute more than twice in lithospheric sinking into the mantle with respect to E-to-NE-directed ones. In accordance with the conservation of mass principle, this volumetric asymmetry in the mantle suggests a displacement of ∼120 km3/yr of mantle material from west to east, providing a constraint for global asymmetric mantle convection.  相似文献   

9.
D. Arcay  M.-P. Doin  E. Tric  R. Bousquet   《Tectonophysics》2007,441(1-4):27-45
At continental subduction initiation, the continental crust buoyancy may induce, first, a convergence slowdown, and second, a compressive stress increase that could lead to the forearc lithosphere rupture. Both processes could influence the slab surface PT conditions, favoring on one side crust partial melting or on the opposite the formation of ultra-high pressure/low temperature (UHP-LT) mineral. We quantify these two effects by performing numerical simulations of subduction. Water transfers are computed as a function of slab dehydration/overlying mantle hydration reactions, and a strength decrease is imposed for hydrated mantle rocks. The model starts with an old oceanic plate ( 100 Ma) subducting for 145.5 Myr with a 5 cm/yr convergence rate. The arc lithosphere is thermally thinned between 100 km and 310 km away from the trench, due to small-scale convection occuring in the water-saturated mantle wedge. We test the influence of convergence slowdown by carrying on subduction with a decreased convergence rate (≤ 2 cm/yr). Surprisingly, the subduction slowdown yields not only a strong slab warming at great depth (> 80 km), but also a significant cooling of the forearc lithosphere at shallower depth. The convergence slowdown increases the subducted crust temperature at 90 km depth to 705 ± 62 °C, depending on the convergence rate reduction, and might thus favor the oceanic crust partial melting in presence of water. For subduction velocities ≤ 1 cm/yr, slab breakoff is triggered 20–32 Myr after slowdown onset, due to a drastic slab thermal weakening in the vicinity of the interplate plane base. At last, the rupture of the weakened forearc is simulated by imposing in the thinnest part of the overlying lithosphere a dipping weakness plane. For convergence with rates ≥ 1 cm/yr, the thinned forearc first shortens, then starts subducting along the slab surface. The forearc lithosphere subduction stops the slab surface warming by hot asthenosphere corner flow, and decreases in a first stage the slab surface temperature to 630 ± 20 °C at 80 km depth, in agreement with PT range inferred from natural records of UHP-LT metamorphism. The subducted crust temperature is further reduced to 405 ± 10 °C for the crust directly buried below the subducting forearc. Such a cold thermal state at great depth has never been sampled in collision zones, suggesting that forearc subduction might not be always required to explain UHP-LT metamorphsim.  相似文献   

10.
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   

11.
For the purpose of investigating the influence of metastable olivine (MO) phase transformations on both deep seismicity and stagnation of slabs, we constructed a 2-dimensional finite element thermal model for a 120 Ma-old 50o dipping oceanic lithosphere descending at 10 cm/yr with velocity boundary layers, which would mitigate the interference of constant velocity field for the slab. The resulting temperatures show that most of intermediate and deep earthquakes occurring within the Tonga slab are occurring inside the 800oC and 1200oC isotherm, respectively. The elevation of olivine transformation near ~410 km and respective persistence of metastable olivine and spinel within the transition zone and beneath 660 km would thus result in bimodal positive, zonal, negative density anomalies, respectively. These results together with the resulting pressure anomalies may reflect the stress pattern of the Tonga slab: (i) slab pull force exerts above a depth of ~230 km; (ii) MO existence changes the buoyancy force within the transition zone and facilitates slab stagnation at a depth of 660 km; (iii) as the subducting materials accumulated over 660 km, deepest earthquakes occur due to MO transformation; (iv) a flattened ‘slab’ may penetrate into the lower mantle due to the density increment of Sp transformation.  相似文献   

12.
The reason for obduction, or tectonic transport of oceanic lithosphere onto continents, is investigated by two‐dimensional thermo‐mechanical numerical modelling based on the geology of the Anatolia–Lesser Caucasus ophiolites. Heating of the oceanic domain and extension induced by far‐field plate kinematics appear to be essential for the obduction of ~80‐Ma‐old oceanic crust over distances exceeding 200 km. Heating of the oceanic lithosphere by mantle upwelling is evidenced by a thick alkaline volcanic series emplaced on top of the oceanic crust 10–20 Ma before obduction, at the onset of Africa–Eurasia convergence. Regional heating reduced the negative buoyancy and strength of the magmatically old lithosphere. Extension facilitated the propagation of obduction by reducing the mantle lithosphere thickness, which led to the exhumation of eclogite‐free continental crust previously underthrusted beneath the ophiolites. This extensional event is ascribed to far‐field plate kinematics resulting from renewed Neotethys oceanic subduction beneath Eurasia.  相似文献   

13.
The presented scenario of free convection flows in a subduction zone is based on experimental and theoretical simulation. The experimental simulation of free convection flows is carried out under various conditions of heat transfer that occurs between the oceanic and continental limbs of the subduction zone. The experiments show that to provide insights into subduction zones, it is necessary to estimate the horizontal forces acting on the left and right sides of the plunging plate, as well as the resulting horizontal force and its direction. The vector sum of horizontal and gravity forces of the subducting plate determines the slope angle of this plate at different depths. Heat transfer in the subducting plate has been considered. The y min coordinate of the temperature minimum in a plate and the value of minimum temperature have been estimated. The forces that arise due to phase transition and owing to the horizontal temperature gradient along the thickness of the descending lithosphere in the transitional mantle layer C are estimated as well. These forces are directed in opposite direction from the y min coordinate and induce spreading of the subducting lithosphere along the boundary between the upper and lower mantle. Theoretical simulation of the hydrodynamics and heat transfer in combination with experimental simulation of convection flows in a subduction zone indicates that a significant part of the upper mantle material of the plunging plate circulates in the oceanic limb of the subduction zone owing to spreading from the region of minimum temperature along a 670 km boundary.  相似文献   

14.
Based on petrological and geochemical arguments, it is possible that arc magma is derived from subducted oceanic crust. In this paper, regional thermal models have been constructed to study the feasibility of melting cold subducted oceanic crusts at shallow depth (i.e. at depths of about 100 km) by a dynamic mantle. Calculated results suggest that plate subduction will generate an induced flow in the wedge above the subducting slab. This current continuously feeds hot mantle material into the corner and onto the slab surface. A high temperature thermal environment can be maintained in the vicinity of the wedge corner, immediately beneath the over-riding plate. Our regional models further demonstrate quantitatively that production of local melting is possible just about 30 km down dip from the asthenosphere wedge corner. Additional geological processes such as reasonable amounts of shear heating and minor dehydration (which will lower the local melting temperature) will further increase the probability of melting a cold subducted oceanic crust at shallow depth.  相似文献   

15.
How was Taiwan created?   总被引:4,自引:0,他引:4  
Since the beginning of formation of proto-Taiwan during late Miocene (9 Ma), the subducting Philippine (PH) Sea plate moved continuously through time in the N307° direction at a 5.6 cm/year velocity with respect to Eurasia (EU), tearing the Eurasian plate. Strain states within the EU crust are different on each side of the western PH Sea plate boundary (extensional in the Okinawa Trough and northeastern Taiwan versus contractional for the rest of Taiwan Island). The B feature corresponds to the boundary between the continental and oceanic parts of the subducting Eurasian plate and lies in the prolongation of the ocean–continent boundary of the northern South China Sea. Strain rates in the Philippines to northern Taiwan accretionary prism are similar on each side of B (contractional), though with different strain directions, perhaps in relation with the change of nature of the EU slab across B. Consequently, in the process of Taiwan mountain building, the deformation style was probably not changing continuously from the Manila to the Ryukyu subduction zones. The Luzon intra-oceanic arc only formed south of B, above the subducting Eurasian oceanic lithosphere. North of B, the Luzon arc collided with EU simultaneously with the eastward subduction of a portion of EU continental lithosphere beneath the Luzon arc. In its northern portion, the lower part of the Luzon arc was subducting beneath Eurasia while the upper part accreted against the Ryukyu forearc. Among the consequences of such a simple geodynamic model: (i) The notion of continuum from subduction to collision might be questioned. (ii) Traces of the Miocene volcanic arc were never found in the southwestern Ryukyu arc. We suggest that the portion of EU continental lithosphere, which has subducted beneath the Coastal Range, might include the Miocene Ryukyu arc volcanoes formed west of 126°E longitude and which are missing today. (iii) The 150-km-wide oceanic domain located south of B between the Luzon arc and the Manila trench, above the subducting oceanic EU plate (South China Sea) was progressively incorporated into the EU plate north of B.  相似文献   

16.
Progress in the Study of Deep Profiles of Tibet and the Himalayas (INDEPTH)   总被引:5,自引:0,他引:5  
This paper introduces 8 major discoveries and new understandings with regard to the deep structure and tectonics of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau obtained in Project INDEPTH, They are mainly as follows. (1) The upper crust, lower crust and mantle lithosphere beneath the blocks of the plateau form a "sandwich" structure with a relatively rigid-brittle upper crust, a visco-plastic lower crust and a relatively rigid-ductile mantle lithosphere. This structure is completely different from that of monotonous, cold and more rigid oceanic plates. (2) In the process of north-directed collision-compression of the Indian subcontinent, the upper crust was attached to the foreland in the form of a gigantic foreland accretionary wedge. The interior of the accretionary wedge thickened in such tectonic manners as large-scale thrusting, backthrusting and folding, and magmatic masses and partially molten masses participated in the crustal thickening. Between the upper crust and lower crust lies a large detachment (e.g  相似文献   

17.
Subduction and exhumation dynamics can be investigated through analysis of metamorphic and deformational evolution of associated high‐grade rocks. The Erzgebirge anticline, which forms at the boundary between the Saxothuringian and Teplá‐Barrandian domains of the Bohemian Massif, provides a useful study area for these processes owing to the occurrence of numerous meta‐basites preserving eclogite facies assemblages, and coesite and diamond bearing quartzofeldspathic lithologies indicating subduction to deep mantle depths. The prograde and retrograde evolution of meta‐basite from the Czech portion of the Erzgebirge anticline has been constrained through a combination of thermodynamic modelling and conventional thermobarometry. Garnet growth zoning indicates that the rocks underwent burial and heating to peak conditions of 2.6 GPa and at least 615 °C. Initial exhumation occurred with concurrent cooling and decompression resulting in the growth of amphibole and zoisite poikiloblasts overgrowing and including the eclogite facies assemblage. The development of clinopyroxene–plagioclase–amphibole symplectites after omphacite and Al‐rich rims on matrix amphibole indicate later heating at the base of the lower crust. Omphacite microstructures, in particular grain size analysis and lattice‐preferred orientations, indicate that the prograde evolution was characterized by a constrictional strain geometry transitioning into plane strain and oblate fabrics during exhumation. The initial constrictional strain pattern is interpreted as being controlled by competing slab pull and crustal buoyancy forces leading to necking of the subducting slab. The transition to plane strain and flattening geometries represents transfer of material from the subducting lithosphere into a subduction channel, break‐off of the dense slab and rebound of the buoyant crustal material.  相似文献   

18.
We present three 3D numerical models of deep subduction where buoyant material from an oceanic plateau and a plume interact with the overriding plate to assess the influence on subduction dynamics,trench geometry,and mechanisms for plateau accretion and continental growth.Transient instabilities of the convergent margin are produced,resulting in:contorted trench geometry;trench migration parallel with the plate margin;folding of the subducting slab and orocline development at the convergent margin;and transfer of the plateau to the overriding plate.The presence of plume material beneath the oceanic plateau causes flat subduction above the plume,resulting in a "bowed" shaped subducting slab.In plateau-only models,plateau accretion at the edge of the overriding plate results in trench migration around the edge of the plateau before subduction is re-established directly behind the trailing edge of the plateau.The plateau shortens and some plateau material subducts.The presence of buoyant plume material beneath the oceanic plateau has a profound influence on the behaviour of the convergent margin.In the plateau + plume model,plateau accretion causes rapid trench advance.Plate convergence is accommodated by shearing at the base of the plateau and shortening in the overriding plate.The trench migrates around the edge of the plateau and subduction is re-established well behind the trailing edge of the plateau,effectively embedding the plateau into the overriding plate.A slab window forms beneath the accreted plateau and plume material is transferred from the subducting plate to the overriding plate through the window.In all of the models,the subduction zone maintains a relatively stable configuration away from the buoyancy anomalies within the downgoing plate.The models provide a dynamic context for plateau and plume accretion in Phanerozoic accretionary orogenic systems such as the East China Orogen and the Central Asian Orogen(Altiads),which are characterised by accreted ophiolite complexes with diverse geochemical affinities,and a protracted evolution of accretion of exotic terranes including oceanic plateau and terranes with plume origins.  相似文献   

19.
The lithosphere is the cold conductive boundary layer formed by cooling of the oceanic crust and upper mantle as it is convected away from oceanic ridges. Although its rheological properties vary continuously with depth, the lithosphere is conveniently divided into an upper elastic layer and a lower plastic layer, the latter overlying a zone of viscous flow. Chemically the lithosphere is vertically zoned with its uppermost part formed by variously hydrated oceanic crust; at M this overlies highly depleted dunite or harzburgite passing downwards over 50 km or so into garnet lherzolite. The vertical variation in density, and thus the gravitational stability of the lithosphere, is controlled by interplay of compositional variation and temperature distribution.As it enters an oceanic trench the lithosphere flexures elastically and plunges downwards at an average inclination close to 45°. During its descent it undergoes dissipative heating at its upper surface. Initially this heating drives a series of prograde metamorphic reactions in the oceanic crust ; because these are largely endothermic, the descending lithosphere heats less rapidly than previously expected, an effect which may be enhanced by percolation of the water of dehydration.Although it is commonly assumed that dehydration water is released upwards, it is not clear that this is true in the presence of the strong negative temperature gradients at the top of the slab, and water may initially be driven downwards into the slab to be released later at much greater depth. The magmatic activity which is associated with the partial melting of the uppermost part of the slab and with partial fusion of diapiric masses in the mantle above it, is critically dependent on the behaviour of the water carried down by the subduction process.The slab itself undergoes a series of phase changes during its descent some of which make a major contribution to the body force during subduction. By the time it reaches 700 km the slab has undergone significant thermal erosion, but the major compositional inhomogeneities within it are retained by the mantle into which it merges.  相似文献   

20.
《Earth》2006,77(3-4):191-233
A Cenozoic tectonic reconstruction is presented for the Southwest Pacific region located east of Australia. The reconstruction is constrained by large geological and geophysical datasets and recalculated rotation parameters for Pacific–Australia and Lord Howe Rise–Pacific relative plate motion. The reconstruction is based on a conceptual tectonic model in which the large-scale structures of the region are manifestations of slab rollback and backarc extension processes. The current paradigm proclaims that the southwestern Pacific plate boundary was a west-dipping subduction boundary only since the Middle Eocene. The new reconstruction provides kinematic evidence that this configuration was already established in the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleogene. From ∼ 82 to ∼ 52 Ma, subduction was primarily accomplished by east and northeast-directed rollback of the Pacific slab, accommodating opening of the New Caledonia, South Loyalty, Coral Sea and Pocklington backarc basins and partly accommodating spreading in the Tasman Sea. The total amount of east-directed rollback of the Pacific slab that took place from ∼ 82 Ma to ∼ 52 Ma is estimated to be at least 1200 km. A large percentage of this rollback accommodated opening of the South Loyalty Basin, a north–south trending backarc basin. It is estimated from kinematic and geological constraints that the east–west width of the basin was at least ∼ 750 km. The South Loyalty and Pocklington backarc basins were subducted in the Eocene to earliest Miocene along the newly formed New Caledonia and Pocklington subduction zones. This culminated in southwestward and southward obduction of ophiolites in New Caledonia, Northland and New Guinea in the latest Eocene to earliest Miocene. It is suggested that the formation of these new subduction zones was triggered by a change in Pacific–Australia relative motion at ∼ 50 Ma. Two additional phases of eastward rollback of the Pacific slab followed, one during opening of the South Fiji Basin and Norfolk Basin in the Oligocene to Early Miocene (up to ∼ 650 km of rollback), and one during opening of the Lau Basin in the latest Miocene to Present (up to ∼ 400 km of rollback). Two new subduction zones formed in the Miocene, the south-dipping Trobriand subduction zone along which the Solomon Sea backarc Basin subducted and the north-dipping New Britain–San Cristobal–New Hebrides subduction zone, along which the Solomon Sea backarc Basin subducted in the west and the North Loyalty–South Fiji backarc Basin and remnants of the South Loyalty–Santa Cruz backarc Basin subducted in the east. Clockwise rollback of the New Hebrides section resulted in formation of the North Fiji Basin. The reconstruction provides explanations for the formation of new subduction zones and for the initiation and termination of opening of the marginal basins by either initiation of subduction of buoyant lithosphere, a change in plate kinematics or slab–mantle interaction.  相似文献   

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