40Ar/ 39Ar and K–Ar geochronological age constraints for the inception and early evolution of the Izu–Bonin – Mariana arc system

K–Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates are presented for locations in the Izu–Bonin – Mariana (IBM) forearc (Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) sites 786 & 782, Chichijima, Deep Sea Drilling Program (DSDP) sites 458 & 459, Saipan), and Palau on the remnant arc of the Kyushu–Palau Ridge. For a number of these locations, the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau and ³⁶Ar/⁴⁰Ar versus ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar isochrons give older ages than the K–Ar results. The most important results are: (i) at site 786, initial construction of the proto-IBM (now forearc) basement occurred at least by ca 47–45 Ma, consistent with the age of the immediately overlying sediments (middle Eocene nannofossil Zone CP13c); the younger pulse of construction dated at ca 35 Ma by K–Ar could not be confirmed by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analysis; (ii) ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages for the initial construction of the Mariana portion of the IBM system are as old as those of the Izu–Bonin portion, for example at site 458, initial construction commenced at least by ca 49 Ma and at ca 47 Ma at Saipan (Sankakayuma Formation); and (iii) a combination of K–Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages indicate continued boninite magmatism in the Izu–Bonin forearc (and remnant arc at Palau) until ca 35 Ma. Subduction inception including boninite series rocks along most of the exposed length of the IBM system, clearly preceded by some 5 million years the Middle Eocene (ca 43.5 Ma) change in Pacific plate motion. Boninitic series magmatism persisted at locations now exposed in the forearc for ～ 15 million years after arc inception concurrently with low-K tholeiitic series eruptions from a subaerial arc system, established at ≥ 40 Ma, on the Kyushu–Palau Ridge. For the Mariana portion of the IBM system, reconstruction of the proto-arc places this activity adjacent to the concurrent but orthogonally spreading Central Basin Ridge of the West Philippine Basin. It is possible that a combination of subduction of a young North New Guinea Plate beneath newly created back-arc basin crust may account for some of the features of the Mariana system. It is clear, however, that the understanding of the processes of subduction initiation and early IBM arc development is incomplete.     

Geochemistry of volcanic glass from Oligocene detrital sediments at DSDP Site 296, Kyushu Palau Ridge: Interpreting the magmatic evolution of the early northern Izu–Bonin–Mariana Island Arc

Understanding the petrologic and geochemical evolution of island arcs is important for interpreting the timing and impacts of subduction and processes leading to the formation of a continental crust. The Izu–Bonin–Mariana (IBM) Arc, western Pacific, is an outstanding location to study arc evolution. The IBM first arc (45–25 Ma) followed a period of forearc basalt and boninite formation associated with subduction initiation (52–45 Ma). In this study, we present new major and trace element data for the IBM first arc from detrital glass shards and clasts from DSDP Site 296, located on the northernmost Kyushu Palau Ridge (KPR). We synthesize these data with published literature for contemporaneous airfall ash and tephra from the Izu–Bonin forearc, dredge and piston core samples from the KPR, and plutonic rocks from the rifted eastern KPR escarpment, locations which lie within or correlate with KPR Segment 1 of Ishizuka, Taylor, Yuasa, and Ohara (2011). Our objective is to test ways in which petrologic and chemical data for diverse igneous materials can be used to construct a complete picture of this section of the Oligocene first arc and to draw conclusions about its evolution. Important findings reveal that widely varying primary magmas formed and differentiated at various depths at this location during this period. Changes in key trace element ratios such as La/Sm, Nb/Yb, and Ba/Th show that mantle sources varied in fertility and in the inputs of subducted sediment and fluids over time and space. Plutonic rocks appear to be related to early K‐poor dacitic liquids represented by glasses sampled both in the forearc and volcanic fronts. An interesting observation is that the variation in magma compositions in this relatively small segment encompasses that inferred for the IBM Arc as a whole, suggesting that sampling is a key factor in inferring temporal, across‐arc, and along‐strike geochemical trends.     

Eocene volcanism during the incipient stage of Izu–Ogasawara Arc: Geology and petrology of the Mukojima Island Group,the Ogasawara Islands

The Ogasawara Islands mainly comprise Eocene volcanic strata formed when the Izu–Ogasawara–Mariana Arc began. We present the first detailed volcanic geology, petrography and geochemistry of the Mukojima Island Group, northernmost of the Ogasawara Islands, and show that the volcanic stratigraphy consists of arc tholeiitic rocks, ultra‐depleted boninite‐series rocks, and less‐depleted boninitic andesites, which are correlatable to the Maruberiwan, Asahiyama and Mikazukiyama Formations on the Chichijima Island Group to the south. On Chichijima, a short hiatus is identified between the Maruberiwan (boninite, bronzite andesite, and dacite) and Asahiyama Formation (quartz dacite and rhyolite). In contrast, these lithologies are interbedded on Nakodojima of the Mukojima Island Group. The stratigraphically lower portion of Mukojima is mainly composed of pillow lava, which is overlain by reworked volcaniclastic rocks in the middle, whereas the upper portion is dominated by pyroclastic rocks. This suggests that volcanic activity now preserved in the Mukojima Island Group records growth of one or more volcanoes, beginning with quiet extrusion of lava under relatively deep water followed by volcaniclastic deposition. These then changed into moderately explosive eruptions that took place in shallow water or above sea level. This is consistent with the uplift of the entire Ogasawara Ridge during the Eocene. Boninites from the Mukojima Island Group are divided into three types on the basis of geochemistry. Type 1 boninites have high SiO₂ (>57.0 wt.%) and Zr/Ti (>0.022) and are the most abundant type in both Mukojima and Chichijima Island Groups. Type 2 boninites have low SiO₂ (<57.1 wt.%) and Zr/Ti (<0.014). Type 3 boninites have 57.6–60.7 wt.% SiO₂ and are characterized by high CaO/Al₂O₃ (0.9–1.1). Both type 2 and 3 boninites are common on Mukojima but are rare in the Chichijima Island Group.     

Petrologic evolution of Palau,a nascent island arc

Palau Islands, 7°30′N, are the only emergent feature on the more than 2500‐km‐long Kyushu–Palau Ridge. Small islands are mainly uplifted reef carbonate. Larger islands are volcanic with basalt to dacite and rare boninite. Polymict breccia is abundant: sills, flows, and dykes are common but pillows are rare. Palau Trench samples include all types found on the islands as well as high‐Mg basalt. Volcanism began in the late Eocene and ended by early Miocene. All igneous rocks comprise a low‐K primitive island arc‐tholeiite series. None are mid‐ocean ridge basalts. Rare earth elements and high field‐strength elements indicate a depleted mantle source. Elevated large ion lithophile elements and light rare earth elements indicate influx of ‘dehydration fluid’. Ce/Ce* and Eu/Eu* ratios show no evidence for recycling of arc‐derived clastics. Plate reconstructions and paleomagnetic data suggest that the arc probably formed on the trace of a transform fault that migrated northward and rotated clockwise up to 90°. Episodes of transtension caused upwelling of hot mantle into depleted mantle and sheared altered rocks of the transform. Episodes of transpression may have initiated subduction of old seafloor with a thin cover of pelagic sediments deposited far from terrigenous sediment sources.     

Timing and geochemical characters of the Sanchazi magmatic arc in Mianlüe tectonic zone, South Qinling

The Sanchazi mafic-ultramafic complex in Mianlue tectonic zone, South Qinling can be subdivided into two blocks, i.e. Sanchazi paleo-magmatic arc and Zhuangkegou paleo-oceanic crust fragment (ophiolite). The Sanchazi paleo-magmatic arc is mainly composed of andesite, basaltic and basalt-andesitic gabbro (or diorite), andesitic dyke, plagiogranite and minor ultramafic rocks, which have typical geochemical features of island arc volcanic rocks, such as high field strength element (e.g. Nb, Ti) depletions and lower Cr, Ni contents. The Light rare earth element (LREE) and K enrichments of these rocks and zircon xenocrystals of 900 Ma from plagiogranite suggest that this magmatic arc was developed on the South active continental margin of the South Qinling micro-continent. The U-Pb age of (300 ± 61)Ma for zircons from plagiogranite indicates that the Mianlue paleo-oceanic crust was probably subducted underneath the South Qinling micro-continent in Carboniferous. This is consistent with the formation time (309Ma) of the Huwan eclogite originating from oceanic subduction in Dabie Mountains, suggesting that the Mianlue paleo-ocean probably extended eastward to the Dabie Mountains in Carboniferous. The high-Mg adakitic rocks in Sanchazi paleo-magmatic arc suggest that the subducted oceanic crust was relatively young (＜25Ma) and hot.     

Geochemical evidence for sundering of the West Mariana arc in miocene ash from the Parece Vela Basin

Glass and mineral fragments from discrete volcanic ash layers were sampled from DSDP/IPOD Site 450 in the Parece Vela Basin, Philippine Sea and analyzed by electron microprobe. The ashes are interpreted as eruptive products of the adjacent West Mariana arc system between 25 and 14 Ma B.P., and have compositions between basaltic andesite and rhyolite, and rarely, boninite. ‘Continuous’ chemical trends appear to reflect mixing of mafic and silicic magmas. ‘Discontinuous’ trends between these end-members are relatively few, and are consistent with ‘liquid lines’ produced by fractional crystallization. Andesitic tephra become progressively richer in MgO and CaO through the middle Miocene, while boninite appears towards the end of the sequence, between 14 and 15 Ma B.P. Coeval rhyolitic glasses become richer in K₂O and Na₂O, with maximum concentrations at about 15 Ma B.P. Chronologic changes in fractionation type and composition of parent magmas are interpreted to reflect the subaerial volcanic evolution of the West Mariana arc. The appearance of boninite is believed to signal early stages of arc sundering, and corresponds temporally with regional uplift of the sea floor above the carbonate compensation depth, precursor to a new pulse of back-arc spreading.     

Possible Miocene rifting of the Izu–Ogasawara (Bonin) arc deduced from magnetic anomalies

A magnetic anomaly map of the northern part of the Philippine Sea plate shows two conspicuous north–south rows of long-wavelength anomalies over the Izu–Ogasawara (Bonin) arc, which are slightly oblique to the present volcanic front. These anomalies are enhanced on reduced-to-pole and upward-continued anomaly maps. The east row is associated with frontal arc highs (the Shinkurose Ridge), and the west row is accompanied by the Nishi-Shichito Ridge. Another belt of long-wavelength anomalies very similar to the former two occurs over the Kyushu–Palau Ridge. To explain the similarity of the magnetic anomalies, it is proposed that after the spreading of the Shikoku Basin separated the Izu–Ogasawara arc from the Kyushu–Palau Ridge, another rifting event occurred in the Miocene, which divided the Izu–Ogasawara arc into the Nishi-Shichito and Shinkurose ridges. The occurrence of Miocene rifting has also been suggested from the geology of the collision zone of the Izu–Ogasawara arc against the Southwest Japan arc: the Misaka terrain yields peculiar volcanic rocks suggesting back-arc rifting at ～ 15 Ma. The magnetic anomaly belts over the Izu–Ogasawara arc do not extend south beyond the Sofugan Tectonic Line, suggesting a difference in tectonic history between the northern and southern parts of the Izu–Ogasawara arc. It is estimated that the Miocene extension was directed northeast–southwest, utilizing normal faults originally formed during Oligocene rifting. The direction is close to the final stage of the Shikoku Basin spreading. On a gravity anomaly relief map, northeast–southwest lineaments can be recognized in the Shikoku Basin as well as over the Nishi-Shichito Ridge. We thus consider that lines of structural weakness connected transform faults of the Shikoku Basin spreading system and the transfer faults of the Miocene Izu–Ogasawara arc rifting. Volcanism on the Nishi-Shichito Ridge has continued along the lines of weakness, which could have caused the en echelon arrangement of the volcanoes.     

Ophiolites of the Eastern Peninsulas zone (Eastern Kamchatka): Age, composition, and geodynamic diversity

Abstract   The geological, geochemical and mineralogical data of dismembered ophiolites of various ages and genesis occurring in accretionary piles of the Eastern Peninsulas of Kamchatka enables us to discriminate three ophiolite complexes: (i) Aptian–Cenomanian complex: a fragment of ancient oceanic crust, composed of tholeiite basalts, pelagic sediments, and gabbroic rocks, presently occurring in a single tectonic slices (Afrika complex) and in olistoplaques in Pikezh complex of the Kamchatsky Mys Peninsula and probably in the mélange of the Kronotsky Peninsula; (ii) Upper Cretaceous complex, composed of highly depleted peridotite, gabbro and plagiogranite, associated with island arc tholeiite, boninite, and high-alumina tholeiitic basalt of supra-subduction origin; and (iii) Paleocene–Early Eocene complex of intra-island arc or back-arc origin, composed of gabbros, dolerites (sheeted dykes) and basalts produced from oceanic tholeiite melts, and back-arc basin-like dolerites. Formation of the various ophiolite complexes is related to the Kronotskaya intra-oceanic volcanic arc evolution. The first ophiolite complex is a fragment of ancient Aptian–Cenomanian oceanic crust on which the Kronotskaya arc originated. Ophiolites of the supra-subduction zone affinity were formed as a result of repeated partial melting of peridotites in the mantle wedge up to the subduction zone. This is accompanied by production of tholeiite basalts and boninites in the Kamchatsky Mys segment and plagioclase-bearing tholeiites in the Kronotsky segment of the Kronotskaya paleoarc. The ophiolite complex with intra-arc and mid-oceanic ridge basalt geochemical characteristics was formed in an extension regime during the last stage of Kronotskaya volcanic arc evolution.     

Petrogenesis of the Tanzawa plutonic complex, central Japan: Exposed felsic middle crust of the Izu–Bonin – Mariana arc

The Miocene Tanzawa plutonic complex, consisting mainly of tonalite intrusions, is exposed at the northern end of the Izu–Bonin – Mariana (IBM) arc system as a consequence of collision with the Honshu Arc. The Tanzawa plutonic rocks belong to the calc-alkaline series and exhibit a wide range of chemical variation, from 43 to 75 wt% SiO₂. They are characterized by relatively high Ba/Rb and Ce/Nb ratios, and low abundances of K₂O, LIL elements, and rare earth elements (REE). Their petrographic and geochemical features indicate derivation from an intermediate parental magma through crystal fractionation and accumulation processes, involving hornblende, plagioclase, and magnetite. The Tanzawa plutonic complex is interpreted to be the exposed middle crust of the IBM arc, which was uplifted during the collision. The mass balance calculations, combining data from melting experiments of hydrous basaltic compositions at lower-to-middle crustal levels, suggest that parental magma and ultramafic restite were generated by dehydration partial melting (∼ 45% melting) of amphibolite chemically similar to low-K tholeiitic basalt. Partial melting of hydrated mafic lower crust might play an important role in felsic middle-crust formation in the IBM arc.     

Link between SSZ ophiolite formation, emplacement and arc inception, Northland, New Zealand: U–Pb SHRIMP constraints; Cenozoic SW Pacific tectonic implications

New U–Pb age-data from zircons separated from a Northland ophiolite gabbro yield a mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 31.6 ± 0.2 Ma, providing support for a recently determined 28.3 ± 0.2 Ma SHRIMP age of an associated plagiogranite and  29–26 Ma ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages (n = 9) of basalts of the ophiolite. Elsewhere, Miocene arc-related calc-alkaline andesite dikes which intrude the ophiolitic rocks contain zircons which yield mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages of 20.1 ± 0.2 and 19.8 ± 0.2 Ma. The ophiolite gabbro and the andesites both contain rare inherited zircons ranging from 122–104 Ma. The Early Cretaceous zircons in the arc andesites are interpreted as xenocrysts from the Mt. Camel basement terrane through which magmas of the Northland Miocene arc lavas erupted. The inherited zircons in the ophiolite gabbros suggest that a small fraction of this basement was introduced into the suboceanic mantle by subduction and mixed with mantle melts during ophiolite formation.

We postulate that the tholeiitic suite of the ophiolite represents the crustal segment of SSZ lithosphere (SSZL) generated in the southern South Fiji Basin (SFB) at a northeast-dipping subduction zone that was initiated at about 35 Ma. The subduction zone nucleated along a pre-existing transform boundary separating circa 45–20 Ma oceanic lithosphere to the north and west of the Northland Peninsula from nascent back arc basin lithosphere of the SFB. Construction of the SSZL propagated southward along the transform boundary as the SFB continued to unzip to the southeast. After subduction of a large portion of oceanic lithosphere by about 26 Ma and collision of the SSZL with New Zealand, compression between the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate was taken up along a new southwest-dipping subduction zone behind the SSZL. Renewed volcanism began in the oceanic forearc at 25 Ma producing boninitic-like, SSZ and within-plate alkalic and calc-alkaline rocks. Rocks of these types temporally overlap ophiolite emplacement and subsequent Miocene continental arc construction.     

Evolution of the tertiary volcanic rocks in the Izu-Mariana arc

Petrological evolution of the Tertiary island arc in the Izu-Mariana region has been accompanied by the development of three different volcanic suites: 1) oceanridge basalt now exposed as the metamorphic basement on Yap; 2) island-arc tholeiites of Eocene to early Oligocene age characterized by low contents of incompatible elements at all levels of silica enrichment; and 3) calc-alkalic rocks of late Oligocene to early Miocene age showing higher contents of silica and incompatible elements. All these three suites have primitive, undifferentiated basalts or andesites (boninites) characterized by high Mg/Fe, Cr, and Ni, suggesting that they have been derived from an upper mantle peridotite at relatively high temperatures. The earliest volcanism appears to have occurred at a spreading ridge. Later, as subduction proceeded, the island-arc tholeiite magma may have been produced by the introduction of a smaller amount of water into the locus of fusion from the subducted oceanic crust. An increasingly larger amount of water introduced into the same region could have led to the development of the more siliceous, calc-alkalic magma, as represented typically by the boninite.     

The earliest stage of Izu rear‐arc volcanism revealed by drilling at Site U1437, International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 350

The International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 350 drilled between two Izu rear‐arc seamount chains at Site U1437 and recovered the first complete succession of rear‐arc rocks. The drilling reached 1806.5 m below seafloor. In situ hyaloclastites, which had erupted before the rear‐arc seamounts came into existence at this site, were recovered in the deepest part of the hole (～15–16 Ma). Here it is found that the composition of the oldest rocks recovered does not have rear‐arc seamount chain geochemical signatures, but instead shows affinities with volcanic front or some of the extensional zone basalts between the present volcanic front and the rear‐arc seamount chains. It is suggested that following the opening of the Shikoku back‐arc Basin, Site U1437 was a volcanic front or a rifting zone just behind the volcanic front, and was followed at ~ 9 Ma by the start of rear‐arc seamount chains volcanism. This geochemical change records variations in the subduction components with time, which might have followed eastward moving of hot fingers in the mantle wedge and deepening of the subducting slab below Site U1437 after the cessation of Shikoku back‐arc Basin opening.     

Dredge petrology of the boninite‐ and adakite‐bearing Hahajima Seamount of the Ogasawara (Bonin) forearc: An ophiolite or a serpentinite seamount?§

Abstract During the Hakuho‐Maru KH03‐3 cruise and the Tansei‐Maru KT04‐28 cruise, more than 1000 rock samples were dredged from several localities over the Hahajima Seamount, a northwest–southeast elongated, rectangular massif, 60 km × 30 km in size, with a flat top approximately 1100 m deep. The rocks included almost every lithology commonly observed among the on‐land ophiolite outcrops. Volcanic rocks included mid‐oceanic ridge basalt (MORB)‐like tholeiitic basalt and dolerite, calc‐alkaline basalt and andesite, boninite, high‐Mg adakitic andesite, dacite, and minor rhyolite. Gabbroic rocks included troctolite, olivine gabbro, olivine gabbronorite (with inverted pigeonite), gabbro, gabbronorite, norite, and hornblende gabbro, and showed both MORB‐type and island arc‐type mineralogies. Ultramafic rocks were mainly depleted mantle harzburgite (spinel Cr? 50–80) and its serpentinized varieties, with some cumulate dunite, wehrlite and pyroxenites. This rock assemblage suggests a supra‐subduction zone origin for the Hahajima Seamount. Compilation of the available dredge data indicated that the ultramafic rocks occur in the two northeast–southwest‐oriented belts on the seamount, where serpentinite breccia and gabbro breccia have also developed, but the other areas are free from ultramafic rocks. Although many conical serpentinite seamounts 10 km in size are aligned along the Izu–Ogasawara (Bonin)–Mariana forearc, the Hahajima Seamount may be better interpreted as a fault‐bounded, uplifted massif composed of ophiolitic thrust sheets, resembling the Izki block of the Oman ophiolite in its shape and size. The ubiquitous roundness of the dredged rocks and their thin Mn coating (<2 mm) suggest that the Hahajima Seamount was uplifted above sealevel and wave‐eroded, like the present Macquarie Is., a rare example of ophiolite exposure in an oceanic setting. The Ogasawara Plateau on the Pacific Plate is adjacent to the east of the Hahajima Seamount, and collision and subduction of the plateau may have caused uplift of the forearc ophiolite body.     

Petrochemistry and tectonic setting of mafic volcanic rocks in the Chon Daen–Wang Pong area,Phetchabun, Thailand

The mafic volcanic rocks and hypabyssal rocks in the Chon Dean‐Wang Pong area are possibly the southern extension of the western Loei Volcanic Sub‐belt, Northeast Thailand. They are least‐altered, and might have been formed in Permian–Triassic times. The rocks are commonly porphyritic, with different amounts of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, amphibole, Fe–Ti oxide, unknown mafic mineral, and apatite phenocrysts or microphenocrysts, and are uncommonly seriate textured. The groundmass mainly shows an intergranular texture, with occasionally hyalophitic, intersertal and ophitic–subophitic textures. The groundmass constituents have the same minerals as the phenocrysts or microphenocrysts and may contain altered glass. The groundmass plagioclase laths may show a preferred orientation. Chemically, the studied rock samples can be separated into three magmatic groups: Group I, Group II, and Group III. These magmatic groups are different in values for Ti/Zr ratios. The averaged Ti/Zr values for Group I, Group II, and Group III rocks are 83 ± 6, 46 ± 12, and 29 ± 5, respectively. In addition, the Group I rocks have higher P/Zr, but lower Zr/Nb relative to Group II and Group III rocks. The Group I and Group II rocks comprise tholeiitic andesite–basalt and microdiorite–microgabbro, while the Group III rocks are calc‐alkalic andesite and microdiorite. According to the magmatic affinities and the negative Nb anomalies on normal mid‐oceanic ridge basalt (N‐MORB) normalized multi‐element plot, arc‐related lavas are persuasive. The similarity between the studied lavas and the Quaternary lavas from the northern Kyukyu Arc, in terms of chondrite‐normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns and N‐MORB normalized multi‐element patterns, leads to a conclusion that the mafic volcanic rocks and hypabyssal rocks in the Chon Daen–Wang Pong area have been formed in a volcanic arc environment.     

Petrogenesis of boninites in the Ordovician Ballantrae Complex ophiolite, southwestern Scotland

Primitive lava and hyaloclastite with unusual, highly refractory compositions, form part of the Early Ordovician Balcreuchan Group within the ophiolitic Ballantrae Complex, southwestern Scotland. They are identified as likely high-Ca boninites on the basis of new XRF and INAA results and are the first unambiguous boninites to be discovered in the British Isles. The boninites are interbedded with low-Ti tholeiitic lavas with which they share some distinctive geochemical characteristics suggestive of a close petrogenetic relationship. The low-Ti tholeiite lavas have been interpreted as island-arc tholeiites but they also resemble back-arc basin basalts. The newly discovered boninites confirm an intra-oceanic environment of eruption; their distinctive features include relatively high SiO₂, MgO, Cr and Ni but low Al₂O₃ and HFSE abundances, U-shaped REE patterns, low Ti/Zr and high Zr/Hf ratios. Bulk geochemical trends are indicative of low-temperature, seawater-dominated alteration of the lavas but these alteration conditions apparently had little effect on the distribution of critical diagnostic elements such as Zr, Ti, Sc, Ta and the mid-heavy rare earths. We suggest that the Ballantrae boninites and low-Ti tholeiites represent different batch melts derived from a common, depleted mantle source region variably modified compositionally (i.e., made “streaky”) by fluids and/or melts during slab interaction (subduction metasomatism). A contribution from slab-derived pelagic sediments and/or a carbonatite melt is necessary to account for the fractionated, non-chondritic Zr/Hf ratios in the boninites. In view of the close compositional similarity of the Ballantrae lavas to Cenozoic boninite suites, we believe that these interpretations may have wider application to the petrogenesis of boninites in general.     

Distribution of Early Tertiary volcanic rocks in south Sumatra and west Java

Abstract   The evolution of volcanism in Sumatra and Java during Tertiary and Quaternary time can be divided into three phases: (i) lava flows of the Early Tertiary event (43–33 Ma) consisting of island arc tholeiites; followed by (ii) eruption of tholeiitic pillow basalt at the beginning of the Late Tertiary (11 Ma); and succeeded by (iii) medium-K calc-alkaline magmatism in the Pliocene and Quaternary. The present available field data on the occurrence of Paleogene volcanic rocks and subsurface data in south Sumatra and northern west Java indicate a much larger area of distribution of the volcanic rocks than previously recognized. Because the eastward continuation of the northern west Java volcanic rocks had not been found, early investigators were inclined to assume that they continued to south Kalimantan. In contrast, the early Tertiary volcanic rocks that occupy the south coast of Java can be traced further east as far as Flores. The occurrence of Paleogene volcanics in south Sumatra and northern west Java can be interpreted as a Paleogene volcanic arc that was presumably related to the late Cretaceous–Paleogene trench parallel to Sumatra and west Java due to subduction of the Indian Plate toward the northeast (Meratus trend).     

Evidence for changing plate motions in southwest Japan and reconstructions of the Philippine Sea plate

Abstract We propose that a change in convergence between the Pacific and Eurasian plates and the demise of the Kula-Pacific spreading centre at ca 43 Ma resulted in an ∼40° counterclockwise rotation in shortening direction within the Eocene Shimanto accretionary prism of southwest Japan. Evidence for this interpretation comes from: (1) structural studies of the accreted, deep-sea rocks of the Eocene Shimanto Belt from four widely separated localities; and (2) new plate reconstructions that incorporate the geological history of east Asia as well as the recently recognized reorganization of the Kula and Pacific plates at the time of anomaly 24. These reconstructions suggest that the Philippine Sea plate formed as the Kula-Pacific spreading centre reoriented at the time of anomaly 24 and that the Kula plate was being subducted beneath southwest Japan until ca 43 Ma. Our reconstructions and structural studies suggest that after ca 43 Ma, plate convergence in southwest Japan was oblique to the trend of the continental margin. Oblique convergence was apparently recorded at this time because arc volcanism had decreased and the accretionary prism was not detached from the arc massif. Moreover, the transition from cataclasis and faulting to pressure solution within the accreted sediments may have resulted in a stronger basal décollément, resulting in higher shear stresses along this boundary. We therefore propose that where the arc region and the décollément are of similar strengths, structures within accretionary prisms may record changing plate motions, including oblique convergence.     

Arc–arc collision in the Izu collision zone, central Japan, deduced from the Ashigara Basin and adjacent Tanzawa Mountains

The Pleistocene Ashigara Basin and adjacent Tanzawa Mountains, Izu collision zone, central Japan, are examined to better understand the development of an arc–arc orogeny, where the Izu–Bonin – Mariana (IBM) arc collides with the Honshu Arc. Three tectonic phases were identified based on the geohistory of the Ashigara Basin and the denudation history of the Tanzawa Mountains. In phase I, the IBM arc collided with the Honshu Arc along the Kannawa Fault. The Ashigara Basin formed as a trench basin, filled mainly by thin-bedded turbidites derived from the Tanzawa Mountains together with pyroclastics. The Ashigara Basin subsided at a rate of 1.7 mm/year, and the denudation rate of the Tanzawa Mountains was 1.1 mm/year. The onset of Ashigara Basin Formation is likely to be older than 2.2 Ma, interpreted as the onset of collision along the Kannawa Fault. Significant tectonic disruption due to the arc–arc collision took place in phase II, ranging from 1.1 to 0.7 Ma in age. The Ashigara Basin subsided abruptly (4.6 mm/year) and the accumulation rate increased to approximately 10 times that of phase I. Simultaneously, the Tanzawa Mountains were abruptly uplifted. A tremendous volume of coarse-grained detritus was provided from the Tanzawa Mountains and deposited in the Ashigara Basin as a slope-type fan delta. In phase III, 0.7–0.5 Ma, the entire Ashigara Basin was uplifted at a rate of 3.6 mm/year. This uplift was most likely caused by isostatic rebound resulting from stacking of IBM arc crust along the Kannawa Fault which is not active as the decollement fault by this time. The evolution of the Ashigara Basin and adjacent Tanzawa Mountains shows a series of the development of the arc–arc collision; from the subduction of the IBM arc beneath the Honshu Arc to the accretion of IBM arc crust onto Honshu. Arc–arc collision is not the collision between the hard crusts (massif) like a continent–continent collision, but crustal stacking of the subducting IBM arc beneath the Honshu Arc intercalated with very thick trench fill deposits.     

Geochemistry and origin of Archean volcanic rocks from the Upper Keewatin assemblage (ca 2.7 Ga), Lake of the Woods Greenstone Belt, Western Wabigoon Subprovince, Superior Province, Canada

Abstract   Volcanic rocks from the Upper Keewatin assemblage ( ca 2720 Ma) were geochemically classified into five groups; komatiites, tholeiitic rocks having near-flat primitive mantle-normalized abundance patterns, Nb-enriched basalts and andesites (NEBA) plus normal calc-alkaline (NCA) rocks, adakites and shoshonites. The adakites having [La/Yb]_N >30 and <30 were probably derived from felsic magmas formed by partial melting of a subducted slab at relatively greater and smaller depths, respectively. Ascending adakite magmas, by interaction with the overlying mantle wedge, decreased in Al₂O₃ / Y ratio and selectively lost high-field strength elements, thereby forming mantle sources for both NEBA + NCA and shoshonite magmas. Under the influence of a mantle plume, the source of komatiites, the NEBA + NCA magmas were generated from that part of the mantle wedge metasomatized by adakite magmas having [La / Yb]_N <30, and tholeiitic magmas from unmetasomatized part of the same mantle wedge. Magmas of both adakites having [La / Yb]_N >30 and shoshonites were generated in a normal Archean Arc system setting.     

Geochemistry of basaltic and gabbroic rocks from the West Mariana basin and the Mariana trench

This paper describes the chemistry of 33 basaltic rocks dredged from the West Mariana basin and from the Mariana trench during the R/V “Dmitry Mendeleev” 1976 cruise in the western Pacific.The shipboard investigations were carried out by an international working group of 66 earth scientists under the IGCP Project “Ophiolites” and sponsored by the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Moscow. The purpose of the expedition was to investigate the structure and composition of the oceanic crust of marginal basins, remnant island arcs and deep-sea trenches. Tholeiitic basalts and gabbros as well as ultramafic rocks in various stages of alteration were dredged from the central part of the West Mariana basin demonstrating the presence of oceanic crust.The Pacific slope of the Mariana trench yielded altered basaltic rocks of tholeiitic and alkalic (? trachybasaltic to shoshonitic) composition. The lower part of the island arc slope contains typical tholeiitic basalts, dolerites and gabbros as well as ultramafics associated with flysch-type sediments. This is strong evidence for the formation of an “ophiolite-schuppenzone”, probably due to subduction of Pacific oceanic crust.Associated with these rocks are amygdaloidal, highly magnesian lavas (similar to boninites), which have not been recognized previously in oceanic ridge basalts.These rocks (together with the dolerites) are interpreted as parts of the Mariana island arc and are thought to be the first stage of island arc development (an immature island arc).