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1.
为了研究海沟型巨大地震发生机制及其构造动力学特征，详细研究了地震活动与震源机制结果，根据地震俯冲带几何形状及其内应力场区域特征，南海海槽下的俯冲带可划分为两段: 东部的四国-纪伊半岛段和西部的九州段. 东部的菲律宾海板块地震俯冲带呈现出低角度俯冲(10°～22°)，且俯冲深度相当浅(60～85km)的特征;而西部九州段的俯冲带为高角度俯冲(40°)，且俯冲深度较深(160km). 东、西部俯冲带内部应力场也截然不同. 东部的四国大部分地区和纪伊半岛的俯冲带内表现为俯冲压缩型应力场， 而西部的九州段则为明显的俯冲拉张型应力场. 本文在综合分析了重力异常、GPS、热流量等地球物理观测结果后指出，南海海槽东部， 即四国-纪伊半岛以南的海槽区域， 具有与智利海沟极其相似的地震发生板块构造动力学背景和高应力积累等特征， 属于年轻活动俯冲带的高应力型俯冲. 而西部的九州段，虽然也是海沟型地震活动区， 但不具有大地震发生的构造动力学背景和高应力积累， 不属于年轻活动俯冲带的高应力型俯冲. 俯冲带年龄的不同很可能是造成南海海槽东、西段板块构造动力学以及应力场不同的根本原因之一.  相似文献   

2.
The first P-arrival-time data from 513 local earthquakes were analyzed to study lateral variation of the depth to the Conrad and Moho discontinuities beneath the Chugoku and Shikoku districts, southwest Japan, as well as to determine earthquake hypocenters and P-wave station corrections. The depth to the discontinuity was estimated by minimizing the travel-time residuals of more than 8700 first P arrivals observed at 55 seismic stations. The Conrad and Moho discontinuities are located within depth ranges of 15–25 km and 30–40 km, respectively. The Moho is deeper under the mountain area than under the Seto Inland Sea area, and especially deep under the Pacific Coast of the Shikoku district and the mountain area in the Chugoku district. The depth variation of the Moho is quite similar to the Bouguer gravity anomaly distribution and the lateral variations of the P-wave velocity. The deep Moho under the southern Shikoku is located at the portion in which the continental Moho under the island arc meets the oceanic Moho that is the boundary interface between the oceanic crust and the Philippine Sea (PHS) plate dipping toward the back arc. Although there are high mountains in the northern and middle Shikoku, the Moho is not so deep because subduction of the PHS plate prevents the Moho from getting deep, while the Moho is deep due to isostatic balance under the mountain area in the Chugoku district. In addition, we indicated the possibility that the upper boundary of the oceanic crust just above the high-velocity PHS plate is in contact with the deep Moho under the western Chugoku. The contact of the Moho with the oceanic crust can explain the markedly negative gravity anomaly observed in the western Chugoku and the later phase that appears just after the first P arrival from local earthquakes.  相似文献   

3.
The origin of El Chichón volcano is poorly understood, and we attempt in this study to demonstrate that the Tehuantepec Ridge (TR), a major tectonic discontinuity on the Cocos plate, plays a key role in determining the location of the volcano by enhancing the slab dehydration budget beneath it. Using marine magnetic anomalies we show that the upper mantle beneath TR undergoes strong serpentinization, carrying significant amounts of water into subduction. Another key aspect of the magnetic anomaly over southern Mexico is a long-wavelength (∼ 150 km) high amplitude (∼ 500 nT) magnetic anomaly located between the trench and the coast. Using a 2D joint magnetic-gravity forward model, constrained by the subduction P–T structure, slab geometry and seismicity, we find a highly magnetic and low-density source located at 40–80 km depth that we interpret as a partially serpentinized mantle wedge formed by fluids expelled from the subducting Cocos plate. Using phase diagrams for sediments, basalt and peridotite, and the thermal structure of the subduction zone beneath El Chichón we find that ∼ 40% of sediments and basalt dehydrate at depths corresponding with the location of the serpentinized mantle wedge, whereas the serpentinized root beneath TR strongly dehydrates (∼90%) at depths of 180-200 km comparable with the slab depths beneath El Chichón (200-220 km). We conclude that this strong deserpentinization pulse of mantle lithosphere beneath TR at great depths is responsible for the unusual location, singularity and, probably, the geochemically distinct signature (adakitic-like) of El Chichón volcano.  相似文献   

4.
The island of Crete is located in the forearc of the Hellenic subduction zone, where the African lithospheric plate is subducting beneath the Eurasian one. The depth of the plate contact as well as the internal structure of the Aegean plate in the area of Crete have been a matter of debate. In this study, seismic constrains obtained by wide-angle seismic, receiver function and surface wave studies are discussed and compared to a 3D density model of the region.The interface between the Aegean continental lithosphere and the African one is located at a depth of about 50 km below Crete. According to seismic studies, the Aegean lithosphere in the area of Crete is characterised by strong lateral, arc–parallel heterogeneity. An about 30 km thick Aegean crust is found in central Crete with a density of about 2850 kg/m3 for the lower Aegean continental crust and a density of about 3300 kg/m3 for the mantle wedge between the Aegean crust and the African lithosphere. For the deeper crust in the area of western Crete two alternative models have been proposed by seismic studies. One with an about 35 km thick crust and another one with crustal velocities down to the plate contact. A grid search is performed to test the consistency of these models with gravimetric constraints. For western Crete a model with a thick lower Aegean crust and a density of about 2950 kg/m3 is favoured. The inferred density of the lower Aegean crust in the area of Crete correlates well with S-wave velocities obtained by surface wave studies.Based on the 3D density model, the weight of the Aegean lithosphere is estimated along an E–W oriented profile in the area of Crete. Low weights are found for the region of western Crete.  相似文献   

5.
Along the Nankai trough, southwestern Japan, the Philippine Sea plate (PSP) is subducting beneath the Eurasian plate, and large interplate earthquakes have occurred repeatedly with a recurrence interval of about 100-200 years. The most recent large thrust event in the eastern Nankai trough off Kii Peninsula was the 1944 Tonankai earthquake. In this region, current seismicity is very low and hypocenters are not determined accurately by the land seismic network. We conducted microseismicity observations around the rupture area of the 1944 Tonankai earthquake using ocean bottom seismographs (OBSs). Hypocenters were determined using a 2-D seismic velocity structure model based on an airgun-OBS seismic survey. Results obtained show that the seismicity was relatively active near the trough axis. These earthquakes may relate to deformation of the subducting Philippine Sea plate. On the other hand, microseismicity in the rupture area of the 1944 Tonankai earthquake was very low. This low-level seismic activity in the co-seismic rupture area of the 1944 Tonankai earthquake likely relates to a single large asperity off Kii Peninsula.  相似文献   

6.
It has long been recognized that the Kii Peninsula in the southwest Japan arc is peculiar in a non-volcanic region, indicated by the presence of high temperature hot springs, high terrestrial heat flow and high 3He content in hot spring gases. Geophysical and geochemical studies were carried out to understand the geotectonic environment in the southern part of the Kii Peninsula. Most of the measured 3He / 4He ratios are similar or higher than air, indicating wide spread incorporation of mantle-derived helium into meteoric water. A region with rather high 3He / 4He ratios (> 4 RA) on the west side of the Omine Mountains coincides with the occurrence of high temperature hot springs. A deep crustal resistivity structure across the Omine Mountains was imaged by wide-band magnetotelluric soundings. A 2-D inversion with N–S strike using both TM and TE modes reveals two conductors, one in the upper (3–7 km depth) and the other in lower crust (25–35 km depth) to the west of the Omine Mountains. The distribution of microearthquakes and low-frequency tremors, and the existence of seismic reflectors indicate that the large conductor in the lower crust is related to aqueous fluids derived from the Philippine Sea plate. The upper-crustal conductive zone may also reflect the aqueous fluids trapped in the upper crust, which are presumably derived from the subducting slab. Considering the occurrence of seismic events in the subducting slab beneath the southern Kii Peninsula, the aqueous fluids generated by dehydration of the slab mantle could plausibly include MORB-type helium derived from the residual lithospheric mantle. Therefore, the high temperature hot springs and high 3He emanations in hot spring gases and other geotectonic events in the southern Kii Peninsula may be due to heat flux and mantle-derived helium discharged from aqueous fluid in the upper crust.  相似文献   

7.
利用国家测震台网固定台站和“中国地震科学台阵探测”项目在南北地震带北段布设的宽频带流动台阵记录到的极远震事件,通过SS前驱波震相研究,获得了阿留申—阿拉斯加俯冲带东段及邻区下方410 km和660 km间断面的埋深和起伏形态特征.为增强对SS前驱波震相的识别,我们采用了时差校正和共反射点叠加分析.叠加结果显示,毗邻阿留申俯冲带的白令海、阿拉斯加半岛、以及阿拉斯加中南部和东部地区下方,410 km和660 km间断面的埋深基本呈正相关关系,因而具有正常的过渡带厚度.这表明在阿留申—阿拉斯加俯冲带东段,北太平洋板块还没有俯冲到地幔过渡带深度范围内.其次,在阿拉斯加西部地区下方,660 km间断面出现明显下沉,而上覆的410 km间断面埋深接近于全球平均值,从而导致过渡带明显加厚.据此,我们推测在阿拉斯加西部地区下方地幔过渡带底部可能存在库拉残留板块.  相似文献   

8.
We present a combined method, using sP depth-phase data and double-difference arrival times, to determine the precise hypocenter locations of earthquakes that occur under the Pacific Ocean outside of the area covered by the land-based seismic network. We assess the effectiveness of the combined method using a data set of P- and S-wave arrival times and sP depth phase from suboceanic earthquakes recorded by both land-based seismic stations and offshore seismic stations (OFS). The hypocenters of the offshore earthquakes relocated using the combined method are consistent with those determined using the standard location method and OFS data. The differences in the hypocenters relocated by the two methods are less than 4 km. We applied the method to the subduction region that underlies the Kanto district, central Japan, and located a large number of earthquakes that occurred beneath the Pacific Ocean. We then determined the detailed 3D seismic velocity structure by inverting a large number of arrival times of P- and S-waves and sP depth phase from the relocated earthquakes in the study region. High-velocity anomalies related to the cold subducting Pacific slab and low-velocity anomalies related to the hot mantle wedge are clearly imaged. Beneath active volcanoes, low-velocity zones are visible from the surface to a depth of 100 km, reflecting fluids released by dehydration of the subducting Pacific slab. Strong lateral heterogeneities are revealed on the upper boundary of the Pacific slab beneath the forearc region. The low-velocity areas under the offshore region are associated with low seismicity and weak interplate coupling. A low-velocity layer is imaged along the upper boundary of the Philippine Sea slab in the northern part of Kanto district, which may reflect dehydration of the slab. Our tomographic images indicate that the overlaying Philippine Sea plate has effects on the spatial distribution of active volcanoes related to the subducting Pacific slab in the study region.  相似文献   

9.
Abstract   Sediments deposited off the Nicoya Peninsula advect large volumes of water as they enter the Costa Rica subduction zone. Seismic reflection data, together with results from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 170, show that hemipelagic mud comprises the upper ∼135 m of the sediment column (ranging from 0 to 210 m). The lower ∼215 m of the sediment column (ranging from 0 to 470 m) is pelagic carbonate ooze. We analyzed samples from 60 shallow (<7 m) cores to characterize the spatial variability of sediment composition on the incoming Cocos Plate. The bulk hemipelagic sediment is 10 wt% opal and 60 wt% smectite on average, with no significant variations along strike; the pelagic chalk contains approximately 2 wt% opal and <1 wt% smectite. Initially, most of the water (96%) in the subducting sediment is stored in pore spaces, but the pore water is expelled during the early stages of subduction by compaction and tectonic consolidation. Approximately 3.6% of the sediment's total water volume enters the subduction zone as interlayer water in smectite; only 0.4% of the water is bound in opal. Once subducting strata reach depths greater than 6 km (more than 30 km inboard of the subduction front), porosity drops to less than 15%, and temperature rises to greater than 60°C. Under those conditions, discrete pulses of opal and smectite dehydration should create local compartments of fluid overpressure, which probably influence fluid flow patterns and reduce effective stress along the plate boundary fault.  相似文献   

10.
The nature and origin of the concentrated deformation zone along the Japan Sea coast (NKTZ: Niigata-Kobe tectonic zone) was investigated by carefully analyzing the GPS data and qualitatively modeling the lower crust in NKTZ. It was concluded that this deformation zone is not a plate boundary between the Amurian plate (AMU) and the North America plate but is rather an internal deformation zone near the eastern margin of AMU. The data previously obtained on the conductivity anomalies in the lower crust and the 3He/4He ratios suggest that the concentrated deformation in NKTZ results from the lower crust in NKTZ being weakened by a high water content. The high water content is thought to result from the dehydration of subducting slabs. NKTZ has a higher water content in the lower crust than other regions do because there is no Philippine Sea plate (PHS) seismic slab beneath NKTZ. In other regions, it is estimated that the mantle wedge above the seismic Philippine Sea slab prevents the water dehydrated from the slab from rising to the lower crust, and that the lithosphere within PHS itself prevents the water dehydrated from the Pacific plate from rising up through it.  相似文献   

11.
The transport of water in subduction zones   总被引：9，自引：0，他引：9  
The transport of water from subducting crust into the mantle is mainly dictated by the stability of hydrous minerals in subduction zones. The thermal structure of subduction zones is a key to dehydration of the subducting crust at different depths. Oceanic subduction zones show a large variation in the geotherm, but seismicity and arc volcanism are only prominent in cold subduction zones where geothermal gradients are low. In contrast, continental subduction zones have low geothermal gradients, resulting in metamorphism in cold subduction zones and the absence of arc volcanism during subduction. In very cold subduction zone where the geothermal gradient is very low(?5?C/km), lawsonite may carry water into great depths of ?300 km. In the hot subduction zone where the geothermal gradient is high(25?C/km), the subducting crust dehydrates significantly at shallow depths and may partially melt at depths of 80 km to form felsic melts, into which water is highly dissolved. In this case, only a minor amount of water can be transported into great depths. A number of intermediate modes are present between these two end-member dehydration modes, making subduction-zone dehydration various. Low-T/low-P hydrous minerals are not stable in warm subduction zones with increasing subduction depths and thus break down at forearc depths of ?60–80 km to release large amounts of water. In contrast, the low-T/low-P hydrous minerals are replaced by low-T/high-P hydrous minerals in cold subduction zones with increasing subduction depths, allowing the water to be transported to subarc depths of 80–160 km. In either case, dehydration reactions not only trigger seismicity in the subducting crust but also cause hydration of the mantle wedge. Nevertheless, there are still minor amounts of water to be transported by ultrahigh-pressure hydrous minerals and nominally anhydrous minerals into the deeper mantle. The mantle wedge overlying the subducting slab does not partially melt upon water influx for volcanic arc magmatism, but it is hydrated at first with the lowest temperature at the slab-mantle interface, several hundreds of degree lower than the wet solidus of hydrated peridotites. The hydrated peridotites may undergo partial melting upon heating at a later time. Therefore, the water flux from the subducting crust into the overlying mantle wedge does not trigger the volcanic arc magmatism immediately.  相似文献   

12.
We apply a forward-modeling approach to high-quality arrival time data from 23 deep earthquakes greater than 400 km depth to investigate the detailed structure of the subducting Pacific slab beneath the Japan Sea. Our results show that a finger-like anomaly exists within the subducting Pacific slab below 400 km depth, which has a P-wave velocity 5% lower than the surrounding slab velocity (or 3% lower than that of the normal mantle), suggesting the existence of a metastable olivine wedge (MOW) in the slab. The MOW top and bottom depths are 400 and 560 km, respectively. The MOW is estimated to be about 50 km wide at 400 km depth and close to the slab upper boundary. At 560 km depth the MOW is located at about 25 km below the slab upper boundary. Most of the deep earthquakes are located in the MOW. Our results favor transformational faulting as the mechanism for deep earthquakes.  相似文献   

13.
—We have obtained constraints on the strength and orientation of anisotropy in the mantle beneath the Tonga, southern Kuril, Japan, and Izu-Bonin subduction zones using shear-wave splitting in S phases from local earthquakes and in teleseismic core phases such as SKS. The observed splitting in all four subduction zones is consistent with a model in which the lower transition zone (520–660 km) and lower mantle are isotropic, and in which significant anisotropy occurs in the back-arc upper mantle. The upper transition zone (410–520 km) beneath the southern Kurils appears to contain weak anisotropy. The observed fast directions indicate that the geometry of back-arc strain in the upper mantle varies systematically across the western Pacific rim. Beneath Izu-Bonin and Tonga, fast directions are aligned with the azimuth of subducting Pacific plate motion and are parallel or sub-parallel to overriding plate extension. However, fast directions beneath the Japan Sea, western Honshu, and Sakhalin Island are highly oblique to subducting plate motion and parallel to present or past overriding plate shearing. Models of back-arc mantle flow that are driven by viscous coupling to local plate motions can reproduce the splitting observed in Tonga and Izu-Bonin, but further three-dimensional flow modeling is required to ascertain whether viscous plate coupling can explain the splitting observed in the southern Kurils and Japan. The fast directions in the southern Kurils and Japan may require strain in the back-arc mantle that is driven by regional or global patterns of mantle flow.  相似文献   

14.
The centroid-moment tensor solutions of more than 300 earthquakes that occurred in the Himalayas and its vicinity regions during the period of 1977–1996 are examined. The resultant seismic moment tensor components of these earthquakes are estimated. The Burmese arc region shows prominent east–west compression and north–south extension with very little vertical extension. Northeast India and Pamir–Hindu Kush regions show prominent vertical extension and east–west compression. The Indian plate is subducting eastward beneath the northeast India and Burmese arc regions. The overriding Burmese arc has overthrust horizontally with the underthrusting Indian plate at a depth of 20–80 km and below 80 km depth, it has merged with the Indian plate making “Y” shape structure and as a result the aseismic zone has been formed in the region lying between 26°N–28°N and 91.5°E–94°E at a depth of 10–50 km. Similarly, the Indian plate is underthrusting in the western side beneath the Pamir–Hindu Kush region and the overriding Eurasian plate has overthrust it to form a “Y” shape structure at a depth of 10–40 km and below 60 km depth, it has merged with the Indian plate and both the plates are subducting below 60–260 km depth. Further south, the overriding Eurasian plate has come in contact with the Indian plate at a depth of 20–60 km beneath northwest India and Pakistan regions with left lateral strike slip motion.  相似文献   

15.
When combined with the Miocene-Recent volcanic record of Baja California, a parallel drawn between the Chile and Mexico triple junction areas substantiates slab window development beneath northwestern Mexico during the past 12-10 Myr. The slab-free zone manifestations challenge the notion that ridge subduction has not occurred beneath the southern Baja California peninsula. The geochemically distinctive rocks from the Santa Clara volcanic field of west-central Baja California, including coeval adakites and niobium-enriched basalt, are commonly inferred to signal partial melting of the subducting plate at shallow depths and relatively high temperatures, before slab dehydration occurs. Such PT conditions for slab melting have only been observed in association with spreading-ridge subduction. We propose that slab window development beneath southern Baja California and mainland Mexico (30° to 18°N) resulted from subduction of the East Pacific rise.  相似文献   

16.
Volcanism related to subduction of the Philippine Sea (PHS) plate began in Central Kyushu at 5 Ma, after a pause of igneous activity lasting about 10 m.y. It formed a large volcano-tectonic depression, the Hohi volcanic zone (HVZ), and has continued to the present at a decreasing eruption rate. The products are largely andesite and dacite, which became enriched in K with time. The proportion of tholeiitic to calc alkalic rocks also increases with time. Calc-alkalic high-Mg basaltic andesites (YbBs) were erupted in the early stage of the HVZ activity (5–3 Ma), and high-alumina basalts (KjBs) were erupted in the later stage (2–0 Ma). In contrast to the basalts in the HVZ, Northwest Kyushu basalts (NWKBs) have been erupted on the backarc side of the HVZ since 11 Ma, and hence are not related to the PHS plate subduction. They are mainly high-alkali tholeiitic to alkali basalt that shows no notable chemical change with time. NWKB, YbB, and KjB have MORB-normalized incompatible-element spectra that differ from each other, as is well expressed in both Nb and Sr anomalies. The patterns of KjB and NWKB are typical of those for island-arc basalt (IAB) and ocean-island basalt (OIB), respectively. YbB shows a pattern intermediate between the two. We suggest that the magma source beneath the HVZ changed in composition from an OIB-type mantle to an IAB-type mantle as the subduction of PHS plate advanced. However, the magma source remained fertile under Northwest Kyushu. In order to explain the temporal change of source mantle beneath the HVZ, we propose a model for progressive contamination of the mantle wedge, in which three processes (contamination by a slab-derived component, subtraction of magma from the mantle, and mixing of the mantle residue and slab-derived component) are repeated as subduction continues. As long as the progressive contamination of mantle wedge proceeds, its trace-element composition converges at a steady-state value for a short period. This value does not depend on the initial composition of the mantle wedge but instead on the composition of the slab-derived component. The trace-element composition of the magma produced in such a mantle wedge approaches that of the slab-derived component with time, but the major-element composition is determined by the phase relations of mantle peridotite. The slab-derived component may be basaltic liquid that is partially melted from rutile-bearing eclogite.  相似文献   

17.
马尼拉海沟俯冲带热结构的模拟研究   总被引：6，自引：3，他引：3       下载免费PDF全文
俯冲带热结构的数值模拟研究是对地表观测研究的重要补充,也是验证地球动力学模型的重要方法.本文沿马尼拉海沟俯冲带东火山链(EVC)和西火山链(WVC)各取一条剖面,依据地质、地球物理条件,进行了有限元热模拟计算.计算过程中,分析了摩擦和剪切热对俯冲带热结构的影响,模拟了EVC和WVC两条测线下俯冲带的热结构,并结合岩石学实验结果预测了俯冲板块发生脱水和部分熔融的位置.模拟结果表明,在100 km深度处,考虑摩擦和剪切热时,俯冲板块表面的温度约为865 ℃;而不考虑摩擦和剪切时,俯冲板块表面的温度仅为770 ℃,二者温差可达95 ℃.在相同深度处,考虑摩擦和剪切热时,在EVC和WVC测线下俯冲板块表面的温度分别为865 ℃和895 ℃,俯冲洋壳底部温度分别为560 ℃和605 ℃.俯冲板块表面少量矿物开始脱水的深度小于50 km,但大量脱水和部分熔融主要发生在深度100 km左右,这与地表观测的火山活动位置一致.  相似文献   

18.
Abstract Apatite and zircon fission track ages from Ryoke Belt basement in northeast Kyushu show late Cretaceous, middle to late Eocene, middle Miocene and Quaternary groupings. The basement cooled through 240 ± 25°C, the closure temperature for fission tracks in zircon, mainly during the interval 74-90 Ma as a result of uplift and denudation, the pattern being uniform across northeast Kyushu. In combination with published K-Ar ages and the Turonian-Santonian age of sedimentation in the Onogawa Basin, active suturing along the Median Tectonic Line from 100-80 Ma, at least, is inferred. Ryoke Belt rocks along the northern margin of Hohi volcanic zone (HVZ) cooled rapidly through ∼100°C to less than 50°C during the middle Eocene to Oligocene, associated with 2.5-3.5 km of denudation. The timing of this cooling follows peak heating in the Eocene-Oligocene part (Murotohanto subbelt) of the Shimanto Belt in Muroto Peninsula (Shikoku) inferred previously, and coincides with the 43 Ma change in convergence direction of the Pacific-Eurasian plate and the demise of the Kula-Pacific spreading centre. Ryoke Belt rocks along the southern margin of HVZ have weighted mean apatite fission track ages of 15.3 ± 3.1 Ma. These reset ages are attributed to an increase in geothermal gradient in the middle Miocene combined with rapid denudation and uplift of at least 1.4 km. These ages indicate that heating of the overriding plate associated with the middle Miocene start of subduction of hot Shikoku Basin lithosphere extended into the Ryoke Belt in northeast Kyushu. Pleistocene apatite fission track ages from Ryoke Belt granites at depth in the centre of HVZ are due to modern annealing in a geothermal environment.  相似文献   

19.
It has been suggested that much of the lithopheric mantle beneath the Colorado Plateau was hydrated by the dehydration of the Farallon plate when it was undergoing low angle subduction during the Laramide orogeny. If correct, low angle subduction could be a viable mechanism for weakening laterally extensive regions of continental lithosphere, allowing such lithosphere potentially to be recycled back into the Earth's interior and into the asthenospheric mantle wedge. To test this hypothesis, we model the release of water during prograde metamorphism of a flat-subducting Farallon plate by considering a thermal model for flat subduction and tracking open-system metamorphic phase equilibria. Our model indicates that significant amounts of water can be laterally transported ∼700 km inboard of the trench, close to the width of the North American Cordillera. The amount of water released is shown here to have been large enough to influence the rheology of the overriding North American lithosphere and the potential for melting at its base. Anomalously high S-velocities in the lithospheric mantle supports our modeled calculations of laterally extensive weakening at the base of the continental lithosphere.  相似文献   

20.
Although subducting slabs undergo a bending deformation that resists tectonic plate motions, the magnitude of this resistance is not known because of poor constraints on slab strength. However, because slab bending slows the relatively rapid motions of oceanic plates, observed plate motions constrain the importance of bending. We estimated the slab pull force and the bending resistance globally for 207 subduction zone transects using new measurements of the bending curvature determined from slab seismicity. Predicting plate motions using a global mantle flow model, we constrain the viscosity of the bending slab to be at most ~ 300 times more viscous than the upper mantle; stronger slabs are intolerably slowed by the bending deformation. Weaker slabs, however, cannot transmit a pull force sufficient to explain rapid trenchward plate motions unless slabs stretch faster than seismically observed rates of ~ 10− 15 s− 1. The constrained bending viscosity (~ 2 × 1023 Pa s) is larger than previous estimates that yielded similar or larger bending resistance (here ~ 25% of forces). This apparent discrepancy occurs because slabs bend more gently than previously thought, with an average radius of curvature of 390 km that permits subduction of strong slabs. This gentle bending may ultimately permit plate tectonics on Earth.  相似文献   

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