Subduction-channel model of prism accretion,melange formation,sediment subduction,and subduction erosion at convergent plate margins: 2. Implications and discussion

The subduction-channel model predicts five geologically and geophysically distinctive types of convergent plate margin. They differ primarily in the proportions of incoming sediment and upflowing melange offscraped and underplated near the toe of the overriding block. The model predicts complex patterns of uplift or subsidence of the forearc region due to differential underplating or subduction erosion and to initiation or cessation of melange upflow. It shows how subduction speed, sediment input, and pressure gradient along the channel govern the general distribution and magnitude of subduction-zone earthquakes. It can predict the upward trajectories of exotic blueschist or serpentinized peridotite blocks that become entrained in the upwelling melange; and it suggests mechanisms by which much larger tracts of coherent blueschist can be raised to shallower levels. It predicts characteristic structural and metamorphic histories for geologic units accreted during steady-state subduction, showing for example, that offscraped materials undergo subhorizontally-directed compression during final dewatering and accretion, whereas underplated ones undergo large simple shear. It gives the maximum depths reached by upwelled melange, which bear significantly on the metamorphic changes observed in them. It predicts large-scale melange diapirism in certain rare cases, in which the normally adverse pressure gradient is reversed in a short reach of the channel, as at Barbados Island. Finally, it explains why pelagic sediments are seldom found in accretionary complexes and gives insight into the factors controlling what portion of the incoming sediment, and the¹⁰Be and other tracers it carries, will reach the region of volcanic-arc magmagenesis.     

Morphologic and geologic effects of the subduction of bathymetric highs

Morphologic and geologic observations suggest that subduction of bathymetric highs, such as aseismic ridges, chains of seamounts, and fracture zones, are important in the development of many forearc features and that those features form during relatively brief episodes of intense tectonism. A bathymetric high obliquely entering a subduction zone tends to compress sediments along its leading edge, resulting in arcward compression of the accretionary wedge. A landward deflection of the trench axis and a steepened inner wall result from this deformation. If a significant component of oblique slip occurs along the subduction zone, then along-strike movement of the accretionary wedge may also occur. Stresses resulting from subduction of bathymetric features with sufficient buoyancy or high relief extend farther landward than in the case of smaller, less buoyant features, inducing uplift of the leading edge of the overriding plate. Tectonic erosion of the base of the overriding plate and along-strike transport of are material may also occur. The accelerated tectonism observed along several convergent margins can be attributed to the consumption of bathymetric irregularities on the seafloor rather than temporally abrupt changes in rates and directions of plate motions or other episodic events in the accretionary prism.     

Material transportation and fluid-melt activity in the subduction channel: Numerical modeling

The subduction channel is defined as a planar to wedge-like area of variable size,internal structure and composition,which forms between the upper and lower plates during slab subduction into the mantle.The materials in the channel may experience complex pressure,temperature,stress and strain evolution,as well as strong fluid and melt activity.A certain amount of these materials may subduct to and later exhume from100 km depth,forming high to ultra-high pressure rocks on the surface as widely discovered in nature.Rock deformation in the channel is strongly assisted by metamorphic fluids activities,which change composition and mechanical properties of rocks and thus affect their subduction and exhumation histories.In this study,we investigate the detailed structure and dynamics of both oceanic and continental subduction channels,by conducting highresolution petrological-thermomechanical numerical simulations taking into account fluid and melt activities.The numerical results demonstrate that subduction channels are composed of a tectonic rock melange formed by crustal rocks detached from the subducting slab and the hydrated mantle rocks scratched from the overriding plate.These rocks may either extrude sub-vertically upward through the mantle wedge to the crust of the upper plate,or exhume along the subduction channel to the surface near the suture zone.Based on our numerical results,we first analyze similarities and differences between oceanic and continental subduction channels.We further compare numerical models with and without fluid and melt activity and demonstrate that this activity results in strong weakening and deformation of overriding lithosphere.Finally,we show that fast convergence of orogens subjected to fluid and melt activity leads to strong deformation of the overriding lithosphere and the topography builds up mainly on the overriding plate.In contrast,slow convergence of such orogens leads to very limited deformation of the overriding lithosphere and the mountain building mainly occurs on the subducting plate.     

Latent heat effects of the major mantle phase transitions on low-angle subduction

Very low to zero shallow dip angles are observed at several moderately young subduction zones with an active trenchward moving overriding plate. We have investigated the effects of latent heat for this situation, where mantle material is pushed through the major mantle phase transitions during shallow low-angle subduction below the overriding plate. The significance of the buoyancy forces, arising from the latent heat effects, on the dynamics of the shallowly subducting slab is examined by numerical modeling. When a 32-Ma-old slab is overridden with 2.5 cm/yr by a continent, flat subduction occurs with a 4–5 cm/yr convergence rate. When latent heat is included in the model, forced downwellings cause a thermal anomaly and consequently thermal and phase buoyancy forces. Under these circumstances, the flat slab segment subducts horizontally about 350 km further and for about 11 Ma longer than in the case without latent heat, before it breaks through the 400-km phase transition. The style of subduction strongly depends on the mantle rheology: increasing the mantle viscosity by one order of magnitude can change the style of subduction from steep to shallow. Similarly, an overriding velocity of less than 1 cm/yr leads to steep subduction, which gradually changes to flat subduction when increasing the overriding velocity. However, these model parameters do not change the aforementioned effect of the latent heat, provided that low-angle subduction occurs. In all models latent heat resulted in a substantial increase of the flat slab length by 300–400 km. Varying the olivine–spinel transition Clapeyron slope γ from 1 to 6 MPa/K reveals a roughly linear relation between γ and the horizontal length of the slab. Based on these results, we conclude that buoyancy forces due to latent heat of phase transitions play an important role in low-angle subduction below an overriding plate.     

Character of sediments entering the Costa Rica subduction zone: Implications for partitioning of water along the plate interface

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.     

双地震带的影响因素探讨

讨论了全球39个俯冲带内的双地震带层间距、应力类型与俯冲参数的相互关系,这些俯冲参数包括动力学参数(板块年龄、热参数、板片拉力)、运动学参数(俯冲板块速度、上覆板块运动速度、海沟迁移速度、弧后形变特征)、几何形态参数(浅俯冲角、深俯冲角、俯冲深度、长度)及上覆板块性质等.结果表明:(1)I型双地震带易形成于年龄较古老(...     

苏门答腊俯冲带地区壳内密度结构研究

俯冲带上覆板片密度特征是认识俯冲及其引发深部岩浆过程的一个窗口.本文以苏门答腊俯冲带空间重力异常数据为基础,在2.5D密度结构剖面约束下,通过3D密度反演,获得了研究区3D密度结构分布.反演结果表明,俯冲板片角度和下倾极限深度均从研究区西北向东南方向逐渐增加;研究区上覆板片下地壳存在低密度异常,主要集中在东南部,分布范围也随深度而增加.分析认为这有可能是俯冲引发的洋壳脱水对上覆板片下地壳侵染所造成.此外,研究区东南部存在的地幔板片撕裂可能是造成该区下地壳低密度异常最为显著的另一个原因.3D密度切片揭示出下地壳密度异常具有沿NE方向延伸迹象,推断应与印澳板块在苏门答腊地区的斜向俯冲作用有关.本文还对研究区的地震分布特征进行了讨论.大部分的浅源地震集中在下倾极限附近,为脆性破裂或摩擦滑移所引发.震源深度大于200 km的地震基本分布在研究区中部和东南部,震源深度从西北向东南方向逐渐加大,这从另一角度为研究区东南部地幔存在板片撕裂的观点提供了佐证.     

The study of subduction channels: Progress,controversies, and challenges

Science China Earth Sciences - The subduction channel is defined as a relatively thin and weak zone with coherent kinematics between the descending and overriding plates during subduction. The...     

From incipient island arc to doubly‐vergent orogen: A review of geodynamic models and sedimentary basin‐fills of southern Central America

Southern Central America is a Late Mesozoic/Cenozoic island arc that evolved in response to the subduction of the Farallón Plate beneath the Caribbean Plate in the Late Cretaceous and, from the Oligocene, the Cocos and Nazca Plates. Southern Central America is one of the best studied convergent margins in the world. The aim of this paper is to review the sedimentary and structural evolution of arc‐related sedimentary basins in southern Central America, and to show how the arc developed from a pre‐extensional intra‐oceanic island arc into a doubly‐vergent, subduction orogen. The Cenozoic sedimentary history of southern Central America is placed into the plate tectonic context of existing Caribbean Plate models. From regional basin analysis, the evolution of the southern Central American island arc is subdivided into three phases: (i) non‐extensional stage during the Campanian; (ii) extensional phase during the Maastrichtian‐Oligocene with rapid basin subsidence and deposition of arc‐related, clastic sediments; and (iii) doubly‐vergent, compressional arc phase along the 280 km long southern Costa Rican arc segment related to either oblique subduction of the Nazca plate, west‐to‐east passage of the Nazca–Cocos–Caribbean triple junction, or the subduction of rough oceanic crust of the Cocos Plate. The Pleistocene subduction of the Cocos Ridge contributed to the contraction but was not the primary driver. The architecture of the arc‐related sedimentary basin‐fills has been controlled by four factors: (i) subsidence caused by tectonic mechanisms, linked to the angle and morphology of the incoming plate, as shown by the fact that subduction of aseismic ridges and slab segments with rough crust were important drivers for subduction erosion, controlling the shape of forearc and trench‐slope basins, the lifespan of sedimentary basins, and the subsidence and uplift patterns; (ii) subsidence caused by slab rollback and resulting trench retreat; (iii) eustatic sea‐level changes; and (iv) sediment dispersal systems.     

Age-dependent subduction of oceanic lithosphere beneath western South America

A recently established relation between the penetration depth of oceanic lithosphere and the lithospheric age appears to be of special interest to the understanding of the South American subduction zone. The main characteristics of this complicated zone, such as the absence of deep-focus earthquakes south of 30°S, the variations in the dip angle of the descending Nazca plate and the gap in seismic activity between depths of approximately 300 and 525 km, can be understood if the spatial and temporal variations in the age of the descending oceanic lithosphere are taken into account. In view of the significance of local aspects of the subduction process the South American-Nazca plate interaction cannot simply be considered as a type-example of the interaction between a continental and an oceanic plate.     

阿留申—阿拉斯加俯冲带及周边地区地幔过渡带结构研究

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...     

Composition and mass flux of sediment entering the world's subduction zones: Implications for global sediment budgets, great earthquakes, and volcanism

Lithologic data compiled from Deep Sea Drilling Project and Ocean Drilling Program sites, when combined with orthogonal convergence rates at convergent plate boundaries, permit quantification of the mass flux of sediment into subduction zones. We have made such calculations for each major sediment component — terrigenous grains, calcium carbonate, opal, and water — for twelve trench systems. Results show that 1.4 × 10¹⁵ g/yr of sediment and 0.9 × 10¹⁵ g/yr of water enter the trenches in the oceanic sedimentary layer. Most of the entering sediment, 1.1 × 10¹⁵ g/yr, is terrigenous; the remainder is more carbonate than opal. For most of geologic time an order of magnitude more sediment enters the ocean than leaves it via subduction. The global sedimentary cycle need be in balance only over an entire Wilson cycle. Comparison of sediment fluxes into trenches with the magnitude of large earthquakes and with the composition of bulk volcanic rock shows no correlation.     

A review on the numerical geodynamic modeling of continental subduction, collision and exhumation

Continental subduction and collision normally follows oceanic subduction,with the remarkable event of formation and exhumation of high-to ultra-high-pressure(HP-UHP)metamorphic rocks.Based on the summary of numerical geodynamic models,six modes of continental convergence have been identified:pure shear thickening,folding and buckling,one-sided steep subduction,flat subduction,two-sided subduction,and subducting slab break-off.In addition,the exhumation of HP-UHP rocks can be formulated into eight modes:thrust fault exhumation,buckling exhumation,material circulation,overpressure model,exhumation of a coherent crustal slice,episodic ductile extrusion,slab break-off induced eduction,and exhumation through fractured overriding lithosphere.During the transition from subduction to exhumation,the weakening and detachment of subducted continental crust are prerequisites.However,the dominant weakening mechanisms and their roles in the subduction channel are poorly constrained.To a first degree approximation,the mechanism of continental subduction and exhumation can be treated as a subduction channel flow model,which incorporates the competing effects of downward Couette(subduction)flow and upward Poiseuille(exhumation)flow in the subduction channel.However,the(de-)hydration effect plays significant roles in the deformation of subduction channel and overriding lithosphere,which thereby result in very different modes from the simple subduction channel flow.Three-dimensionality is another important issue with highlighting the along-strike differential modes of continental subduction,collision and exhumation in the same continental convergence belt.     

Upper Pleistocene uplifted shorelines as tracers of (local rather than global) subduction dynamics

Past studies have shown that high coastal uplift rates are restricted to active areas, especially in a subduction context. The origin of coastal uplift in subduction zones, however, has not yet been globally investigated. Quaternary shorelines correlated to the last interglacial maximum (MIS 5e) were defined as a global tectonic benchmark (Pedoja et al., 2011). In order to investigate the relationships between the vertical motion and the subduction dynamic parameters, we cross-linked this coastal uplift database with the “geodynamical” databases from Heuret (2005), Conrad and Husson (2009) and Müller et al. (2008). Our statistical study shows that: (1) the most intuitive parameters one can think responsible for coastal uplift (e.g., subduction obliquity, trench motion, oceanic crust age, interplate friction and force, convergence variation, dynamic topography, overriding and subducted plate velocity) are not related with the uplift (and its magnitude); (2) the only intuitive parameter is the distance to the trench which shows in specific areas a decrease from the trench up to a distance of ∼300 km; (3) the slab dip (especially the deep slab dip), the position along the trench and the overriding plate tectonic regime are correlated with the coastal uplift, probably reflecting transient changes in subduction parameters. Finally we conclude that the first order parameter explaining coastal uplift is small-scale heterogeneities of the subducting plate, as for instance subducting aseismic ridges. The influence of large-scale geodynamic setting of subduction zones is secondary.     

Three-dimensional mantle lithosphere deformation at collisional plate boundaries: A subduction scissor across the South Island of New Zealand

The continental plate collision across the South Island of New Zealand is highly oblique (dextral) and bounded by oppositely verging ocean plate subduction zones. As such, the region can be considered as a type of ‘subduction scissor’. Within this tectonic context, we use three-dimensional computational geodynamic models to consider how convergent mantle lithosphere can be modified by scissor and strike–slip effects. Bounding subduction at both ends of the continental collision causes flow of the descending mantle lithosphere in the direction along strike of the model plate boundary, with thinning in the centre and thickening towards the subduction zones that bifurcates the continental mantle lithosphere root. With dipping bounding subduction, the mantle lithosphere root takes on a more complex morphology that folds over from one subduction polarity to the other, but remains as a continuous feature as it folds under the collision zone. In the absence of bounding subduction, the plate convergence causes a linear (along strike) mantle lithosphere root to develop. A rapid strike–slip motion between the converging plates transfers material in the plate boundary-parallel direction and tends to blur out features that develop in this direction—such as descending viscous instabilities. The along-strike variations in the morphology of the mantle lithosphere root that develop in the models—viz., thickening of the root towards the subduction edges, thinning in the centre—are consistent with recent, albeit poorly constrained, geophysical interpretations of the large-scale lithospheric structure of the South Island. We speculate that this reflects the nature of the evolution of the South Island collision as a limited continental segment of the plate boundary that it is dominated and guided by adjacent well-developed/developing ocean plate subduction.     

海洋板块俯冲作用下上覆大陆岩石层减薄机制的动力学模拟

几乎所有大陆岩石层的减薄现象,可能都与海洋板块的俯冲作用相关,但是两者之间的内在联系迄今仍不十分明确,为此,我们设计了一系列包含洋-陆俯冲系统的二维数值模型,来探讨海洋板块的俯冲作用对上覆大陆岩石层变形行为的影响,尤其对大陆岩石层减薄效应的制约.模型结果表明,海洋板块俯冲过程中的地幔楔熔体对大陆岩石层地幔的热侵蚀以及由熔体上升所诱发的地幔局部对流的强烈扰动会导致上覆大陆岩石层的减薄效应.这种效应不仅表现在横向上的向陆内蔓延,还表现在垂向上的向浅部发展.且多类动力学参数都能制约大陆岩石层的减薄效应.具体地,随着汇聚速率和洋壳厚度的增加,上覆大陆岩石层在横向上的减薄范围越大,在垂向上的减薄程度也越深;而随着俯冲海洋板块年龄的增加,上覆大陆岩石层在横向上的减薄范围增大,但在垂向上的减薄程度会减小;随着上覆大陆岩石层厚度的增加,其横向减薄范围会减小,但在垂向上的减薄程度会加深.本文研究成果能为揭示华北克拉通减薄/破坏的动力学过程提供一定的理论参考依据.     

Initiation of subduction by post-collision foreland thrusting and back-thrusting

While postulated causes of initial subduction and trench formation include underthrusting, controls on its location and age have not been determined. Consideration of the age of subduction zones bordering five collisional orogens suggests that subduction may have been initiated by foreland thrusts and back-thrusts. Foreland thrusts develop within a continental foreland on the subducting plate mostly within 50 my of collision with an arc system; where the foreland is narrow the thrusts may intersect the continent-ocean crust boundary. Back-thrusts develop in the fore-arc or back-arc area on the overriding plate within 10 to 20 my of collision, and can result in tectonic burial of the magmatic arc; where the arc system is oceanic the back-thrusts may intersect the arc-ocean crust boundary. Possible examples of subduction initiated by foreland thrusts are the start of subduction in the late Jurassic beneath the northern Sunda Arc, and at the end-Miocene in the Negros Trench. Examples of back-thrusts which have initiated or may initiate subduction are the late Cenozoic eastward translation of Taiwan over the Philippine Sea plate, the incipient southward subduction of the Banda Sea beneath Timor, and the W-dipping back-thrust comprising the Highland Boundary Fault zone and postulated early Ordovician thrusts to the SE in Scotland. The suggested relationship of subduction to collision helps to explain the persistence of Wilson cycles in the still-active late Mesozoic to Cenozoic orogenic belts and implies that orogeny will cease only with collision between major continents.     

Hydrating laterally extensive regions of continental lithosphere by flat subduction: A pilot study from the North American Cordillera

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.     

三维板块几何形态对大陆深俯冲动力学的制约

大陆深俯冲及超高压变质作用是大陆动力学的重要研究内容,前人进行了系统的地质、地球物理观测以及数值模拟研究.然而,自然界中大陆板块的俯冲、碰撞及造山过程大部分具有明显的沿走向的差异性,这种典型的三维特征可能很大程度上依赖于会聚大陆板块的初始几何学和运动学特征.本文采用三维高分辨率的动力学数值模拟方法,建立了方形大陆板块和楔形大陆板块两种不同的俯冲-碰撞模型,并且俯冲大陆板块侧面与大洋俯冲带相邻.数值模拟结果揭示大洋板块可以持续地俯冲到地幔之中,而大陆板块俯冲到一定深度处,其前端的俯冲板块将发生断离,并进而造成残余的大陆板块俯冲角度的减小.方形大陆俯冲板块的断离深度约为150km,而楔形大陆俯冲板块的断离深度较大,约250~300km,这很大程度上取决于俯冲带中大洋板块的牵引力和大陆板块的负浮力之间的竞争关系.同时,无论方形还是楔形大陆板块俯冲模型中,板块断离后,侧向的大洋俯冲板块仍可以拖曳约60~70km宽的大陆边缘岩石圈持续向下俯冲,揭示了新西兰东部的洋-陆空间转换俯冲带的动力学机制.并且,数值模型与喜马拉雅造山带和秦岭—大别—苏鲁造山带进行了对比,进而对其高压-超高压岩石空间展布沿走向的差异性特征和机制提供了一定的启示.     

The Japan Trench and its juncture with the Kuril Trench: cruise results of the Kaiko project, Leg 3

This paper presents the results of a detailed survey combining Seabeam mapping, gravity and geomagnetic measurements as well as single-channel seismic reflection observations in the Japan Trench and the juncture with the Kuril Trench during the French-Japanese Kaiko project (northern sector of the Leg 3) on the R/V “Jean Charcot”. The main data acquired during the cruise, such as the Seabeam maps, magnetic anomalies pattern, and preliminary interpretations are discussed. These new data cover an area of 18,000 km² and provide for the first time a detailed three-dimensional image of the Japan Trench. Combined with the previous results, the data indicate new structural interpretations. A comparative study of Seabeam morphology, single-channel and reprocessed multichannel records lead to the conclusion that along the northern Japan Trench there is little evidence of accretion but, instead, a tectonic erosion of the overriding plate. The tectonic pattern on the oceanic side of the trench is controlled by the creation of new normal faults parallel to the Japan Trench axis, which is a direct consequence of the downward flexure of the Pacific plate. In addition to these new faults, ancient normal faults trending parallel to the N65° oceanic magnetic anomalies and oblique to the Japan trench axis are reactivated, so that two directions of normal faulting are observed seaward of the Japan Trench. Only one direction of faulting is observed seaward of the Kuril Trench because of the parallelism between the trench axis and the magnetic anomalies. The convergent front of the Kuril Trench is offset left-laterally by 20 km relative to those of the Japan Trench. This transform fault and the lower slope of the southernmost Kuril Trench are represented by very steep scarps more than 2 km high. Slightly south of the juncture, the Erimo Seamount riding on the Pacific plate, is now entering the subduction zone. It has been preceded by at least another seamount as revealed by magnetic anomalies across the landward slope of the trench. Deeper future studies will be necessary to discriminate between the two following hypothesis about the origin of the curvature between both trenches: Is it due to the collision of an already subducted chain of seamounts? or does it correspond to one of the failure lines of the America/Eurasia plate boundary?