Magma genesis beneath Northeast Japan arc: A new perspective on subduction zone magmatism

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.     

蛇纹石脱水与大洋俯冲带中源地震(70~300km)的关系

蛇纹石脱水致裂作用是诱发大洋俯冲带中源地震(70~300km)的一种重要成因机制,它与中等深度双地震带的形成有很密切的关系。双地震带在冷俯冲带中是一种常见现象,它由上下相距20~40km的两个平行地震层组成。上地震层位于俯冲洋壳中,可能是洋壳蓝片岩脱水形成榴辉岩的系列脱水反应诱发了地震;下地震层位于大洋俯冲地幔中,可能是部分交代的地幔橄榄岩脱水控制着中源地震的分布。蛇纹岩在高温高压条件下的变形实验证实蛇纹石在脱水过程中引起岩石弱化和脆性破裂,这已经得到了对蛇纹石脱水过程中岩石物理性质和变形后样品的显微构造等理论研究上的支持。在蛇纹石脱水过程中,产生的流体与固体残留物分离,形成了大量的I型(张性)微裂隙,最终导致岩石破裂和形成断层。根据叶蛇纹石脱水反应相图,理论上在大洋俯冲带中蛇纹石脱水位置会出现双层结构,但只有平行于俯冲板块顶层等温线的一支才可能脱水诱发地震,并对应于双地震带的下地震层。下地震层所处的位置具有低的vp/vs值,暗示岩石圈大洋地幔顶层发生了部分交代。但它的交代机制尚不清楚,可能是海水通过洋底转换断层和/或沿着在外海沟隆起中形成的断层渗入大洋地幔顶层,并发生了洋壳和大洋地幔交代。双地震带在120~200km深度合一以后,冷俯冲带中所发生的中源地震可能与蛇纹石脱水有关,在热俯冲带中更可能与“湿”榴辉岩脱水有关。     

The physico-chemical behaviour of the descending lithosphere

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.     

Structural characteristics off Miyagi forearc region, the Japan Trench seismogenic zone, deduced from a wide-angle reflection and refraction study

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.     

Grain-size distribution and rheology of the upper mantle

The physical processes that govern the grain size of rocks in the upper mantle are examined. The analysis is based on the experimental data on creep, recrystallization, and grain growth in dunites and on a theoretical model for the thermomechanical structure of the cooling moving lithosphere. The grain size of rocks is shown to be determined by the in situ stress only at the deeper part where the temperature is high enough to allow significant strain rate. Above this depth, the microstructures record the thermomechanical history of rocks rather than the in situ stress.In the case of the oceanic lithosphere where the thermomechanical history is best known, the following features of grain-size distribution are found. At the uppermost mantle, where the amount of grain growth is limited, the grain size is determined by the initial value and the growth rate, and, where the effect of grain growth dominates, it increases with depth. When the amount of grain growth becomes large and the grain size reaches the steady state size corresponding to the ambient stress while the rock is hot enough to deform, the grain size is then determined by the applied stress. This grain size is, however, frozen, when the rock gets cool and the strain rate becomes too small to induce any further dynamic recrystallization. Thus, at the intermediate depth region, the grain size records the fossil (frozen) stress at which the microstructures of rock have been frozen. Since the frozen stress increases with age, the grain size in this depth interval decreases with depth. Finally, the grain size below this level reflects the in situ stress, and increases with depth, its extent being dependent on the nature of return flow in the deep mantle.Thus the grain size versus depth relation may show a sigmoid curve. The qualitative features of this curve may be similar also in the case of the continental lithosphere, if a similar thermal event (i.e., the intrusion of hot material and subsequent cooling) occurs. The results are quite consistent with the observed depth variation of olivine grain size in peridotite nodules (Avé Lallemant et al., 1980). The present model suggests that the depth of minimum grain size (65 and 150 km at the continental rift zone and the shield region respectively) corresponds to that where the mechanical properties of the upper mantle change from elastic to ductile at tectonic stress levels (~ 1 MPa) and in the geological time scale. This result leads to a new definition of the thickness of lithosphere in terms of its rheological properties. This thickness is about twice as large as that inferred from the flexure of lithosphere but approximately equal to seismic thickness. The model suggests the importance of grain growth as well as dynamic recrystallization and plastic flow in determining the texture of upper mantle rocks and therefore seismic anisotropy.     

In situ X-ray diffraction study of an aluminous phase in MORB under lower mantle conditions

In situ X-ray diffraction study was conducted to identify the crystal structure of the “Al-phase”, which was previously reported to form in basaltic compositions at pressures and temperatures of the uppermost part of the lower mantle. Le Bail whole-pattern fitting method was adopted to investigate the structure of the Al-phase under high pressure and temperature as well as ambient conditions. Observed patterns were satisfactorily fitted using the “hexagonal phase” with space group P6₃/m (plus minor amount of garnet) under both of these conditions. On the other hand, the calcium ferrite structure model proposed in some earlier studies based on quench experiments yielded profile-fitting results at significantly lower confidence levels, particularly at simultaneous high pressure and high temperature conditions, suggesting that this phase may not form in oceanic crust materials subducted in the uppermost lower mantle. The difference in densities of hexagonal and calcium ferrite phases, however, is only ~1% under pressures and temperatures of the uppermost part of the lower mantle conditions, which yields a negligible effect on the bulk density of the subducted oceanic crust.     

上地幔顶部电导率异常的起因

地球物理深部探测研究表明,上地幔顶部个别地区具有显著的电导率异常,表现为高电导率和各向异性。造成上地幔顶部电导率异常的机理,一直以来是地球科学中极具争议的问题之一。目前比较流行的解释是由部分熔融产生的熔体和橄榄石中耦合的结构水所致,其它的解释包括由颗粒边界的石墨或硫化物以及其它一些导电性强的矿物所致。这些不同的模型,对于认识上地幔的结构、组成和性质有直接的影响。综合评述了近年来基于岩石学、地球化学、地球物理学、数值模拟和高温高压实验研究等方面的进展,对已有模型伴随的各种问题进行了探讨。局部地区的电导率异常可能主要由固态导电机制造成,但其主要载体可能不是构成地幔主体的橄榄岩,而很可能与上地幔岩石学组成上的宏观不均一性有关。不同地区上地幔顶部的电导率异常,可能由不同的因素造成,可能并不存在所谓的"单一"导电机制。     

Accessory phases and the generation of LREE-Enriched basalts — A test for disequilibrium melting

The REE contents of tholeiitic rocks can be derived by simple mantle melting models. However this type of model has been less successful in accounting for rocks of the alkali basalt-kimberlite suite with strong LREE enrichment. Rocks from these associations have similar La/Sm ratios over a range of total REE concentrations and their generation by simple melting models requires an enriched source. These requirements conflict with the conclusions reached from Nd-Sm studies.An alternative hypothesis involves the disequilibrium melting of a LREE-rich accessory phase in the mantle. Such a phase will be among the first to melt and thus will dominate the REE patterns of early-formed liquids, even if subsequent partial re-equilibration occurs. This model could account for liquids with strong LREE enrichment and similar La/Sm ratios at different levels of total REE enrichment by partial melting of a simple chondritic mantle. Since the model predicts the existence of an accessory phase in the mantle with a REE pattern parallel to that found in strongly LREE-enriched magma, it provides a sensitive test for disequilibrium melting.     

The Role of Pre-existing Mechanical Anisotropy on Shear Zone Development within Oceanic Mantle Lithosphere: an Example from the Oman Ophiolite

Structural and fabric analysis of the well-exposed Hilti mantlesection, Oman ophiolite, suggests that shear zone development,which may have resulted from oceanic plate fragmentation, wasinfluenced by pre-existing mantle fabric present at the paleo-ridge.Detailed structural mapping in the mantle section revealed agently undulating structure with an east–west flow direction.A NW–SE strike-slip shear zone cuts across this horizontalstructure. The crystal preferred orientation (CPO) of olivinewithin the foliation is dominated by (010) axial patterns ratherthan more commonly observed (010)[100] patterns, suggestingthat the horizontal flow close to the Moho involved non-coaxialflow. Olivine CPO within the shear zone formed at low temperatureis characterized by (001)[100] patterns and a sinistral senseof shear. The olivine CPO becomes weaker with progressive mylonitizationand accompanying grain size reduction, and ultimately developsinto an ultra-mylonite with a random CPO pattern. The olivine[010]-axis is consistently sub-vertical, even where the horizontalfoliation has been rotated to a sub-vertical orientation withinthe shear zone. These observations suggest that the primarymechanical anisotropy (mantle fabric) has been readily transformedinto a secondary structure (shear zone) with minimum modification.This occurred as a result of a change of the olivine slip systemsduring oceanic detachment and related tectonics during cooling.We propose that primary olivine CPO fabrics may play a significantrole in the subsequent structural development of the mantle.Thus, the structural behavior of oceanic mantle lithosphereduring subduction and obduction may be strongly influenced byinitial mechanical anisotropy developed at an oceanic spreadingcenter. KEY WORDS: mantle lithosphere; anisotropy; shear zone; olivine CPO; Oman ophiolite     

Structure of young East Pacific Rise lithosphere from ambient noise correlation analysis of fundamental- and higher-mode Scholte-Rayleigh waves

Inter-station Green's functions estimated from ambient noise studies have been widely used to investigate crustal structure. However, most studies are restricted to continental areas and use fundamental-mode surface waves only. In this study, we recover inter-station surface (Scholte-Rayleigh) wave empirical Green's function (EGFs) of both the fundamental- and the first-higher mode using one year of continuous seismic noise records on the vertical component from 28 ocean bottom seismographs deployed in the Quebrada/Discovery/Gofar transform faults region on the East Pacific Rise. The average phase-velocity dispersion of the fundamental mode (period band 2–30 s) and the first-higher mode (period band 3–7 s) from all EGFs are used to invert for the 1-D average, shear-velocity structure in the crust and uppermost mantle using a model-space search algorithm. The preferred shear-velocity models reveal low velocities (4.29 km/s) between Moho and 25 km depth below sea-surface, suggesting the absence of a fast uppermost mantle lid in this young (0–2 Myr) oceanic region. An even more pronounced low-velocity zone, with shear velocities ～3.85 km/s, appears at a depth between 25–40 km below sea-surface. Along with previous results, our study indicates that the shear velocity in the uppermost oceanic mantle increases with increasing seafloor age, consistent with age-related lithospheric cooling.     

Stress and viscosity in the asthenosphere

Stresses and effective viscosities in the asthenosphere to a depth of 400 km are calculated on the basis of Weertmans “temperature method” i.e., on relating viscosity to the ratio of the temperature to the melting point (=homologous temperature). Some oceanic and continental geotherms and two melting point—depth curves, the dry pyrolite solidus and the forsterite₉₀ melting curve are used for the conversion of the homologous temperature to the effective viscosity. Two creep laws are considered, the linear, grain-size-dependent Nabarro—Herring (NH) creep law, and a power creep law, in which the creep rate is proportional to the third power of the stress. A plate tectonic model yields creep rates of 2 · 10⁻¹⁴ s⁻¹ for the oceanic and 3 · 10⁻¹⁵ s⁻¹ for the continental asthenosphere. These values are held constant for the calculations and may be valid for regions inside plates.The dry pyrolite mantle model results in high homologous temperatures in the asthenosphere below oceans (0.9), very low stresses (a few bars and lower) and shows a low viscosity “layer” of about 200-km thickness. Below continental shields the homologous temperature has a maximum value of 0.73, stresses are around 5–20 bar and the low-viscosity region is thicker and less pronounced than in the oceanic case. The Fo₉₀ mantle model generally gives lower homologous temperatures (maximum value below oceans beside active ridges 0.75). The stresses in the asthenosphere beneath oceans vary from a few bars to about 50 bar and below continents to about 100 bar. The low-viscosity region seems to reach great depths without forming a “channel”. The Figs. 1 and 2 show the approximate viscosity—depth distribution for the two mantle models under study.Assuming a completely dry mantle and a mean grain size of 5 mm, power law creep will be the dominating creep process in the asthenosphere. However, grains may grow in a high-temperature—low-stress regime (i.e., below younger oceans), an effect which will further diminish the influence of NH creep. In the upper 100–150 km of the earth some fluid phases may affect considerably creep processes.     

On melting of the subducted oceanic crust: Effects of subduction induced mantle flow

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.     

Peridotitic diamonds from the Slave and the Kaapvaal cratons—similarities and differences based on a preliminary data set

A comparison of the diamond productions from Panda (Ekati Mine) and Snap Lake with those from southern Africa shows significant differences: diamonds from the Slave typically are un-resorbed octahedrals or macles, often with opaque coats, and yellow colours are very rare. Diamonds from the Kaapvaal are dominated by resorbed, dodecahedral shapes, coats are absent and yellow colours are common. The first two features suggest exposure to oxidizing fluids/melts during mantle storage and/or transport to the Earth's surface, for the Kaapvaal diamond population.

Comparing peridotitic inclusions in diamonds from the central and southern Slave (Panda, DO27 and Snap Lake kimberlites) and the Kaapvaal indicates that the diamondiferous mantle lithosphere beneath the Slave is chemically less depleted. Most notable are the almost complete absence of garnet inclusions derived from low-Ca harzburgites and a generally lower Mg-number of Slave inclusions.

Geothermobarometric calculations suggest that Slave diamonds originally formed at very similar thermal conditions as observed beneath the Kaapvaal (geothermal gradients corresponding to 40–42 mW/m² surface heat flow), but the diamond source regions subsequently cooled by about 100–150 °C to fall on a 37–38 mW/m² (surface heat flow) conductive geotherm, as is evidenced from touching (re-equilibrated) inclusions in diamonds, and from xenocrysts and xenoliths. In the Kaapvaal, a similar thermal evolution has previously been recognized for diamonds from the De Beers Pool kimberlites. In part very low aggregation levels of nitrogen impurities in Slave diamonds imply that cooling occurred soon after diamond formation. This may relate elevated temperatures during diamond formation to short-lived magmatic perturbations.

Generally high Cr-contents of pyrope garnets (inside and outside of diamonds) indicate that the mantle lithosphere beneath the Slave originally formed as a residue of melt extraction at relatively low pressures (within the stability field of spinelperidotites), possibly during the extraction of oceanic crust. After emplacement of this depleted, oceanic mantle lithosphere into the Slave lithosphere during a subduction event, secondary metasomatic enrichment occurred leading to strong re-enrichment of the deeper (>140 km) lithosphere. Because of the extent of this event and the occurrence of lower mantle diamonds, this may be related to an upwelling plume, but it may equally just reflect a long term evolution with lower mantle diamonds being transported upwards in the course of “normal” mantle convection.     

Seismic evidence for a mantle plume beneath the Cape Verde hotspot

P- and S-wave tomography of the upper mantle beneath the Cape Verde hotspot is determined using arrival-time data measured precisely from three-component seismograms of 106 distant earthquakes recorded by a local seismic network. Our results show a prominent low-velocity anomaly imaged as a continuous column <100 km wide from the uppermost mantle down to about 500 km beneath Cape Verde, especially below the Fogo active volcano, which erupted in 1995. The low-velocity anomaly may reflect a hot mantle plume feeding the Cape Verde hotspot.     

Rheology of the upper mantle: Inferences from peridotite xenoliths

Stress estimates as a function of depth are obtained for peridotite xenoliths from the upper mantle of three types of tectonic environments by applying revised recrystallizedgrain-size paleopiezometry and pyroxene thermobarometry. The general increase in grain size with depth and hence decrease in deviatoric stress, observed previously, is confirmed but reversals in these trends are now established and remain enigmatic. Stresses and temperatures obtained are combined with a representative creep-flow law to calculate strainrate and viscosity profiles that appear to be physically reasonable. Profiles for the highthermal-gradient rift/ridge environments show a complexity that is interpreted as.a rheological discontinuity resulting from the emplacement of asthenospheric diapirs during late stages of continental rifting. Profiles for broad continental extension zones (C.E.Z.), believed to be most representative of oceanic upper mantle, fluctuate between 50 and 80 km, with a general small increase in strain rate and decrease in viscosity with depth; deepest samples apparently come from the base of the lithosphere. Profiles for the infracratonic mantle of southern Africa show nearly a uniform increase in strain rate to values greater than 10⁻¹⁴/sec, and a decrease in viscosity to lower than 10²¹ poise, at a depth of 230 km. These profiles may transect the mechanically defined lithosphere—asthenosphere transition at about 200 km and, if so, there is no evidence for a mechanical discontinuity at the boundary. This observation, coupled with evidence that the sense of shear is homogeneous for all mantle profiles constructed, clearly favors a model whereby lithospheric plates are dragged by thermal convection of the asthenosphere below. Sea-floor spreading rates and relative plate-velocity estimates are consistent with this interpretation but do not independently permit a definitive choice between the two favored models advanced to explain the driving force for plate motions.     

下地幔及核幔边界结构及地球动力学

新一代高分辨率下地幔及核幔边界的地震层析成像,改变了我们对全球构造模式及地球动力过程的认识。古海洋岩石圈板片一直俯冲到下地幔底部,其残留体在核幔边界积累,并支持了地幔整体对流模式。位于核幔边界上的D″层有着十分复杂而精细的结构。紧靠核幔边界的地幔一侧发现了超低速层(ULVZ),它们可能是D″层内的局部熔融物,是引起地表热点的上升地幔柱的源头。     

根据汪清橄榄岩包体推导上地幔流变学状态初步研究

运用幔源橄榄岩包体的辉石地质温度计、地质压力计、橄榄石变形显微构造地质应力计以及橄榄石的高温流动律实验资料,计算上地幔的流变学参数是近年来探索上地幔流变学状态的一条新的途径,也是在地球物理手段之外研究上地幔状态的一个值得注意的进展^[1-4]。     

Subduction of a fossil slow–ultraslow spreading ocean: a petrology-constrained geodynamic model based on the Voltri Massif,Ligurian Alps,Northwest Italy

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.     

Geophysical constraints on geodynamic processes at convergent margins: A global perspective

Convergent margins, being the boundaries between colliding lithospheric plates, form the most disastrous areas in the world due to intensive, strong seismicity and volcanism. We review global geophysical data in order to illustrate the effects of the plate tectonic processes at convergent margins on the crustal and upper mantle structure, seismicity, and geometry of subducting slab. We present global maps of free-air and Bouguer gravity anomalies, heat flow, seismicity, seismic Vs anomalies in the upper mantle, and plate convergence rate, as well as 20 profiles across different convergent margins. A global analysis of these data for three types of convergent margins, formed by ocean–ocean, ocean–continent, and continent–continent collisions, allows us to recognize the following patterns. (1) Plate convergence rate depends on the type of convergent margins and it is significantly larger when, at least, one of the plates is oceanic. However, the oldest oceanic plate in the Pacific ocean has the smallest convergence rate. (2) The presence of an oceanic plate is, in general, required for generation of high-magnitude (M > 8.0) earthquakes and for generating intermediate and deep seismicity along the convergent margins. When oceanic slabs subduct beneath a continent, a gap in the seismogenic zone exists at depths between ca. 250 km and 500 km. Given that the seismogenic zone terminates at ca. 200 km depth in case of continent–continent collision, we propose oceanic origin of subducting slabs beneath the Zagros, the Pamir, and the Vrancea zone. (3) Dip angle of the subducting slab in continent–ocean collision does not correlate neither with the age of subducting oceanic slab, nor with the convergence rate. For ocean–ocean subduction, clear trends are recognized: steeply dipping slabs are characteristic of young subducting plates and of oceanic plates with high convergence rate, with slab rotation towards a near-vertical dip angle at depths below ca. 500 km at very high convergence rate. (4) Local isostasy is not satisfied at the convergent margins as evidenced by strong free air gravity anomalies of positive and negative signs. However, near-isostatic equilibrium may exist in broad zones of distributed deformation such as Tibet. (5) No systematic patterns are recognized in heat flow data due to strong heterogeneity of measured values which are strongly affected by hydrothermal circulation, magmatic activity, crustal faulting, horizontal heat transfer, and also due to low number of heat flow measurements across many margins. (6) Low upper mantle Vs seismic velocities beneath the convergent margins are restricted to the upper 150 km and may be related to mantle wedge melting which is confined to shallow mantle levels.     

Rheology and seismotectonic regime in the northern central Mediterranean

The connection between thermal field and mechanical properties is analysed in the northern central Mediterranean region, extending from the Ligurian-Provençal basin to the Adriatic foredeep. As the thermal regime is still far from equilibrium in most of the tectonic units, transient thermal models are used. The temperature-depth distribution is estimated in four areas affected by the volcanic activity, which from the Neogene to the Present shifted from Corsica to the Apenninic arc. In the Adriatic foredeep, the thermal effects of the recent thrust-faulting phase in the buried sectors of the northern Apennines are taken into account.

The general context consists of convergence involving westward subduction of the Adriatic plate. This process caused anti-clockwise rotation of Corsica and Sardinia, which led to formation of the Ligurian marginal basin, and also resulted in crustal doubling and overthrusting in the northern Apennines and rifting in the northern Tyrrhenian.

Seismic activity is focused in the internal and external zones of the Apenninic arc, where low surface heat flux is observed, and in the western margin of the Ligurian-Provençal basin. This is a consequence not only of lateral variations in the thermal field but also of the different tectonic settings. Regional extensional patterns in the shallow crust, with minimum principal stress axes trending N60°E and E-W, are observed in the northern and in the southern sectors of the Apenninic arc, respectively. A compressional regime at depths greater than 30 km is observed below the northern sector of the arc, while to the south a change in the structure of the lithosphere is marked by a decrease in deeper seismic activity. Thrust faults and strike-slip faults with a thrust component support a compressional regime along the western margin of the Ligurian basin with maximum principal stress axis oriented N120°E.

Two lithospheric cross-sections across the study region are constructed, based on structural, thermal, gravity, rheological and seismic data. There is clear evidence of the presence of the subducting slab of the Adriatic plate, corresponding to a thickening of the uppermost brittle layer. The crustal seismicity cut-off corresponds to temperatures of 320–390°C. A brittle layer of considerable thickness is present in the uppermost mantle beneath Variscan Corsica and the Adriatic foredeep, with estimated seismic cut-off temperature of about 550 ± 50°C.