Variations in sediment thickness and type along the northern Philippine Sea Plate at the Nankai Trough

Abstract   We documented regional and local variations in basement relief, sediment thickness, and sediment type in the Shikoku Basin, northern Philippine Sea Plate, which is subducting at the Nankai Trough. Seismic reflection data, tied with ocean drilling program drill cores, reveal that variations in the incoming sediment sequences are correlated with basement topography. We mapped the three-dimensional seismic facies distribution and measured representative seismic sequences and units. Trench-parallel seismic profiles show three regional provinces in the Shikoku Basin that are distinguished by the magnitude of basement relief and sediment thickness: Western (<200–400 m basement relief, >600 m sediment thickness), Central (>1500 m relief, ∼2000 m sediments), and Eastern (<600 m relief, ∼1200 m sediments) provinces. The total thickness of sediment in basement lows is as much as six times greater than that over basement highs. Turbidite sedimentation in the Shikoku Basin reflects basement control on deposition, leading to the local presence or absence of turbidite units deposited during the middle Oligocene to the middle Miocene. During the first phase of sedimentation, most basement lows were filled with turbidites, resulting in smooth seafloor morphology that does not reflect basement relief. A second phase of turbidite deposition in the Eastern Province was accompanied by significant amounts of hemipelagic sediments interbedded with turbidite layers compared to the other provinces because of its close proximity to the Izu–Bonin Island Arc. Both regional and local variations in basement topography and sediment thickness/type have caused lateral heterogeneities on the underthrusting plate that will, in turn, influence lateral fluid flow along the Nankai accretionary prism.     

Geophysical implications of Izu–Bonin mantle wedge hydration from chemical geodynamic modeling

Using two-dimensional dynamic models of the Northern Izu–Bonin (NIB) subduction zone, we show that a particular localized low-viscosity (η_LV =  3.3 × 10¹⁹ − 4.0 × 10²⁰ Pa s), low-density (Δρ ∼ −10 kg/m³ relative to ambient mantle) geometry within the wedge is required to match surface observations of topography, gravity, and geoid anomalies. The hydration structure resulting in this low-viscosity, low-density geometry develops due to fluid release into the wedge within a depth interval from 150 to 350 km and is consistent with results from coupled geochemical and geodynamic modeling of the NIB subduction system and from previous uncoupled models of the wedge beneath the Japan arcs. The source of the fluids can be either subducting lithospheric serpentinite or stable hydrous phases in the wedge such as serpentine or chlorite. On the basis of this modeling, predictions can be made as to the specific low-viscosity geometries associated with geophysical surface observables for other subduction zones based on regional subduction parameters such as subducting slab age.     

日本海俯冲带的热结构及热源的影响

在对温度场计算所需的初始条件、边界条件、热源条件和介质热参数进行讨论和计算的基础上,利用二维热传导问题的有限单元法,计算了日本海俯冲带热结构的演化.发现400℃等温线在板块俯冲7Ma后趋于稳定,最大深度约60km;800℃等温线在板块俯冲11Ma后趋于稳定,最大深度约280km;1200℃等温线在板块俯冲50Ma后趋于稳定,最大深度约530km.通过计算不同热源组合情况下日本海俯冲带的热结构,讨论了热源的因素对俯冲带热结构的影响.结果表明,剪切生热和脱水热只对俯冲带浅部热结构有很大影响,绝热压缩生热对热结构的影响范围最大,而橄榄石→尖晶石相变生热是400km深度以下热结构的控制性热源因素.     

Tectonics and sedimentation around Kashinosaki Knoll: A subducting basement high in the eastern Nankai Trough

Abstract   When seamounts and other topographic highs on an oceanic plate are subducted, they cause significant deformation of the overriding plate and may act as asperities deeper in the seismogenic zone. Kashinosaki Knoll (KK) is an isolated basement high of volcanic origin on the subducting Philippine Sea Plate that will soon be subducted at the eastern Nankai Trough. Seismic reflection imaging reveals a thick accumulation of sediments (∼1200 m) over and around the knoll. The lower portion of the sedimentary section has a package of high-amplitude, continuous reflections, interpreted as turbidites, that lap onto steep basement slopes but are parallel to the gentler basement slopes. Total sediment thickness on the western and northern slopes is approximately 40–50% more than on the summit and southeastern slopes of KK. These characteristics imply that the basal sedimentary section northwest of KK was deposited by infrequent high-energy turbidity currents, whereas the area southeast of KK was dominated by hemipelagic sedimentation over asymmetric basement relief. From the sediment structure and magnetic anomalies, we estimate that the knoll likely formed near the spreading center of the Shikoku Basin in the early Miocene. Its origin differs from that of nearby Zenisu Ridge, which is a piece of the Shikoku Basin crust uplifted along a thrust fault related to the collision of the Izu–Bonin arc and Honshu. KK has been carried into the margin of the Nankai Trough, and its high topography is deflecting Quaternary trench turbidites to the south. When KK collides with the accretionary prism in about 1 My, the associated variations in sediment type and thickness around the knoll will likely result in complex local variations in prism deformation.     

Heat influx and exhumation of the Shimanto accretionary complex: Miocene fission track ages from the Kii Peninsula, southwest Japan

Abstract   To determine how local geological events contributed to the evolution of accretionary complexes and eventual exposure of rocks with different structural levels, geochronological mapping was carried out using fission track (FT) analysis at the Kii Peninsula, southwest Japan. At this site, the original zonal structure of Cretaceous accretionary complexes parallel to the subduction zone is disturbed by the northward projection of the Shimanto accretionary complex. Twenty-six zircon FT ages were obtained from an area of ∼12 km in an east–west direction and ∼15 km in a north–south direction, and classified into three groups: (i) ages ∼15 Ma (range ∼10–20 Ma), which are distributed along the northwest–southeast valley; (ii) ages of ∼50 Ma in the northwest of the study area; and (iii) ages older than those in Groups 1 and 2. Based on results from eight zircon FT length distributions, the Miocene ages appear to be the result of spatial variations in heat influx and cooling after the regional exhumation of the area, as recorded by FT ages of ∼50 Ma.     

The transport of water in subduction zones

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

An investigation of seawater and sediment depth using a prototype airborne electromagnetic instrumentation system – a case study in Broken Bay, Australia

Previous studies using commercial airborne electromagnetic equipment that is not optimized for marine surveying have demonstrated the use of airborne electromagnetic methods for measuring water depth and estimating sediment thickness. A new prototype helicopter time-domain airborne electromagnetic system, SeaTEM(0), is now under development for bathymetric surveying. The first sea trial of the SeaTEM(0) system took place over Broken Bay, New South Wales, Australia, in shallow water up to ∼30 m in depth. Broken Bay was chosen because the separate paleodrainage systems for the Hawkesbury River, Brisbane Water and Pittwater, which join in Broken Bay give rise to paleovalleys infilled with unconsolidated sediments, ranging in thickness between 0 m (bedrock outcrop) and ∼200 m. The survey area also included a tombolo with a beach either side, which provided the opportunity to measure water depth through a surf zone. Sediment thickness and water depth is predicted from stitched layered-earth inversion of data based on a simplified two-layer model that represents seawater and sediment overlying a resistive half-space basement (bedrock). The resulting bathymetric profiles show agreement typically to within ∼±1 m and ∼±0.5 m with known water depths in areas less than 20 and 6 m deep respectively. The inverted depth profile of the second (sediment) layer is noisy; however, the profiles reveal coarse topographic features of paleovalleys to depth limits of ∼60 to 80 m below sea level in 20 to 30 m water depth, as well as resolving bedrock ridges and exposed reefs in shallow waters.     

日本海-鄂霍次克海下俯冲带的应力状态及其深部形变

通过地震分布及地震机制解所反映的日本海-鄂霍次克海俯冲带的形态及应力状态,研究了俯冲带深部形变及650km间断面的穿透问题.日本海Benioff带较直,连续性较好;鄂霍次克海Benioff带弯度稍大,220-320km深度之间地震很少.两俯冲带在浅部及深部地震密集,100-200km深度之间有双地震层.应力状态随深度变化,200km深度以下P,T轴方向相对集中,P轴接近俯冲方向,在约100-200km深度附近,P,T轴均接近俯冲方向.观测和理论地震图拟合分析表明,地震断层面走向接近俯冲带走向,断裂的结果使俯冲带在深部倾角变小.     

Evaluation of factors controlling smectite transformation and fluid production in subduction zones: Application to the Nankai Trough

Abstract The transformation of smectite‐group clay minerals to illite has garnered considerable interest as a potentially important process affecting both the mechanical and hydrologic behavior of subduction zones. Illitization can generate fluid overpressure by release of bound water, and the mineralogical change and associated cementation may increase intrinsic frictional strength while decreasing the sliding stability of faults. Released bound water also contributes to pore water freshening observed in boreholes at numerous margins. Here the authors combine data from Ocean Drilling Program drill sites along two transects at the Nankai subduction zone with numerical models of smectite transformation, to (i) quantify the distribution of smectite transformation and fluid production downdip of the trench; and (ii) evaluate its hydrologic and mechanical implications. High heat flow (ca 180 mW/m²) along the axis of the Kinan Seamount Chain (Muroto transect) initiates clay mineral transformation outboard of the trench, whereas lower heat flow (70–120 mW/m²) 100 km to the SW (Ashizuri transect) results in negligible presubduction diagenesis. As a result, considerably more bound fluid is subducted along the Ashizuri transect; simulated peak fluid sources down‐dip of the trench are considerably higher than for the Muroto transect (ca 1.2–1.3 × 10^?14/s vs ca 6 × 10^?15/s), and are shifted ca 10 km further from the trench. More generally, sensitivity analysis illustrates that heat flow, taper angle, incoming sediment thickness, and plate convergence rate all systematically affect reaction progress and the distribution of bound water release down‐dip of the trench. These shifts in the loci and volume of fluid release are important for constraining fluid flow pathways, and provide insight into the links between clay transformation and fault mechanics.     

Dewatering and extensional deformation of the Shikoku Basin hemipelagic sediments in the Nankai Trough

The Shikoku Basin hemipelagic sequence, which underlies the Nankai Trough wedge, S.W. Japan, thins by 50% between the outer edge of the trench wedge and DSDP Site 582, 14 km arcward. A sedimentation model, which incorporates changes in sedimentation rates with time and with distance from the trench wedge toe, indicates that 57% of the total thinning occurs as a result of temporally varying sedimentation rates and a time transgressive facies boundary between the trench wedge turbidites and the underlying hemipelagites. Burial-induced consolidation beneath the wedgeshaped turbiditic overburden, accounts for the remaining 43% of arcward thinning within the hemipelagic unit. Rapid dewatering, modeled as one-dimensional consolidation suggests that the excess pore water pressures are quite low during this progressive dewatering. Thus, high pore water pressures should not be assumed to occur universally in convergent margin settings. Normal faults and vein structures in the hemipelagites suggest near-horizontal extension in addition to vertical consolidation. The estimates of excess pore water pressures together with fault geometries and horizontal extensional strains, determined from the geometry of the subducting oceanic plate, can be used to constrain the stress conditions at failure. The expulsion of hot water from the rapidly dewatering sediments in the Nankai Trough may help to explain anomalously high heat flow in the central part of the trough.     

Causes of spatial compositional variations in Mariana arc lavas: Trace element evidence

New inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) trace element data are presented on a suite of arc lavas from the northern Mariana and southern Bonin island arcs. The samples were dredged from seamounts in the Central Island Province (CIP), the Northern Seamount Province (NSP) and the Volcano Arc (VA), and they range in composition from low-K tholeiites to shoshonites. Previous studies on these samples concluded that the primary compositional control was two-component mixing between a fluid-metasomatized mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) source and an enriched, ocean island basalt (OIB)-like, mantle component, with subducted sediment material playing a secondary role. However, the new trace element data suggest that the compositional variations along the Mariana arc can be better explained by the addition of spatially varying subduction components to a spatially varying mantle source. The data suggest that the subduction component in the CIP and VA is dominated by aqueous fluids derived from altered oceanic crust and a pelagic sediment component, while the subduction component in the NSP is dominated by more silicic fluids derived from volcanogenic sediments as well as from pelagic sediment and altered oceanic crust. The mantle wedge in the CIP and VA is depleted relative to a normal mid-ocean ridge basalt source by loss of a small melt fraction, while the mantle wedge in the NSP is enriched either by possible gain of a small melt fraction or addition of a sediment-derived melt. Because the subduction of seamounts controls the arc and back-arc geometries, so the concomitant variation between subducted material and mantle composition may be no coincidence. The high field strength element (HFSE) data indicate a high degree of melting (∼ 25–30%) throughout the arc, ∼ 10% of which may be attributed to decompression and ∼ 20% to fluid addition.     

The origin of strata within the inner accretionary prism of Nankai Trough: Evidence from clay mineral assemblages along the NanTroSEIZE transect

One of the more prominent architectural elements of the Nankai subduction margin, offshore southwest Japan, is an out‐of‐sequence thrust fault (megasplay) that separates the inner accretionary prism from the outer prism. The inner prism (hanging wall of the megasplay) is dominated by mudstone, which is enigmatic when the sedimentary facies is compared to coeval deposits in the Shikoku Basin (i.e. inputs from the subducting Philippine Sea plate) and to coarser‐grained turbidite sequences from the Quaternary trench wedge. Clay mineral assemblages amplify the mismatches of sedimentary facies. Mudstones from the inner prism are uniformly depleted in smectite, with average bulk values of 23–24 wt%, whereas the Shikoku Basin deposits show progressive decreases in proportions of smectite over time, from averages of 46–48 wt% at 10 Ma to 17–21 wt% at 1 Ma. Plate‐boundary reconstructions for the Philippine Sea region provide one solution to the conundrum. Between 15 Ma and 10 Ma, the Pacific plate subducted near the NanTroSEIZE transect, and a trench‐trench‐trench triple junction migrated to the northeast. Accretion during that period involved sediments that had been deposited on the Pacific plate. Motion of the Philippine Sea plate changed from 10 Ma to 6 Ma, resulting in sinistral slip along the proto‐Nankai Trough. Sediments accreted during that period probably had been deposited near the triple junction, with a hybrid detrital provenance. Renewed subduction of the Philippine Sea plate at 6 Ma led to reorganization of watersheds near the Izu–Honshu collision zone and gradual incision of large submarine canyons on both sides of the colliding Izu arc. Accreted Pliocene mudstones share more of an affinity to the triple junction paleoenvironment than they do to Shikoku Basin. These differences between subducting Shikoku Basin strata and accreted Pacific plate sediments have important implications for interpretations of frictional properties, structural architecture, and diagenetic fluid production.     

The seismogenic zone of subduction thrust faults

Abstract Subduction thrust faults generate earthquakes over a limited depth range. They are aseismic in their seaward updip portions and landward downdip of a critical point. The seaward shallow aseismic zone, commonly beneath accreted sediments, may be a consequence of unconsolidated sediments, especially stable-sliding smectite clays. Such clays are dehydrated and the fault may become seismogenic where the temperature reaches 100--150°C, that is, at a 5--15 km depth. Two factors may determine the downdip seismogenic limit. For subduction of young hot oceanic lithosphere beneath large accretionary sedimentary prisms and beneath continental crust, the transition to aseismic stable sliding is temperature controlled. The maximum temperature for seismic behavior in crustal rocks is ～ 350°C, regardless of the presence of water. In addition, great earthquake ruptures initiated at less than this temperature may propagate with decreasing slip to where the temperature is ～ 450°C. For subduction beneath thin island arc crust and beneath continental crust in some areas, the forearc mantle is reached by the thrust shallower than the 350°C temperature. The forearc upper mantle probably is aseismic because of stable-sliding serpentinite hydrated by water from the underthrusting oceanic crust and sediments. For many subduction zones the downdip seismogenic width defined by these limits is much less than previously assumed. Within the narrowly defined seismic zone, most of the convergence may occur in earthquakes. Numerical thermal models have been employed to estimate temperatures on the subduction thrust planes of four continental subduction zones. For Cascadia and Southwest Japan where very young and hot plates are subducting, the downdip seismogenic limit on the subduction thrust is thermally controlled and is shallow. For Alaska and most of Chile, the forearc mantle is reached before the critical temperature, and mantle serpentinite provides the limit. In all four regions, the seismogenic zones so defined agree with estimates of the extent of great earthquake rupture, and with the downdip extent of the interseismic locked zone.     

Subduction-channel model of prism accretion,melange formation,sediment subduction,and subduction erosion at convergent plate margins: 1. Background and description

Many geological and geophysical investigations, particularly the Deep Sea Drilling Project, have shown that convergent plate margins are highly diverse features. For example, at some sites of subduction, such as the Lesser Antilles, the bedded sediment atop the incoming oceanic plate is extensively offscraped, whereas at others, such as Mariana, not only is the incoming sediment completely subducted beneath crystalline rock but portions of the overriding plate are undergoing subduction erosion. Earthquakes indicate wide variations in stress distribution within and between sites of plate convergence. Many ancient accretionary complexes include tracts of intensely-deformed subduction melange that contain blocks of mafic greenstones. Some contain bodies of thoroughly recrystallized blueschist that were uplifted from depths of 20 to 30 km. A comprehensive model for convergent plate margins must explain these and numerous other observations. Although the still widely cited imbricatethrust model for prism accretion qualitatively explains some observations at subduction zones, it does not account for many others, such as deep sediment subduction and subduction erosion. The subduction-channel model postulates essentially the same basic mechanics for all convergent plate margins that have attained a quasi-steady state (typically reached after about 20 Ma of subduction at speeds of 10 to 20 km Ma^?1). It assumes that the subducting sediment deforms approximately as a viscous material once it is dragged into a relatively thin shear zone, or subduction channel, between the downgoing plate and the overriding one. It predicts the overall movement patterns of the sediment deforming within the channel and near its inlet, accounts for most of the observed features at convergent plate margins, and quantifies the processes of sediment subduction, offscraping, and underplating, and the formation of subduction melange. The predicted variations in tectonic behavior depend upon such site-specific variables as the speed of subduction, the supply of sediment, the geometry of the descending plate, and the topography and structure of the overriding block.     

Implications from the seismic crustal structure of the northern Izu–Bonin arc

The results of a controlled source seismic reflection–refraction experiment carried out in 1992 reveal the following characteristics of the northern Izu–Bonin (Ogasawara) oceanic island arc–trench system. (1) The crust rapidly thickens from the Shikoku back-arc basin to the arc, is thickest beneath the active rifts, and then gradually thins to the forearc. The thickness of the crust beneath the arc rift zone and the back-arc basin are ∼ 20 km and 8 km, respectively. (2) The Moho vanishes beneath the forearc. Velocities rapidly decrease eastwards beneath the inner trench wall. (3) The velocity of the lower crust of the arc and the back-arc basin is 7.1–7.3 km/s. This velocity is higher than the typical oceanic lower crust whose velocity is ∼ 6.7 km/s. (4) The velocity of the middle crust of the arc is ∼ 6 km/s. This layer does not exist beneath the back-arc basin. (5) A slight difference in the velocity gradient of the middle crust exists between the arc rift zone and the forearc. Based on these findings and previous studies, it is inferred that: (i) the middle crust is probably granitic rock and formed in more than two episodes; (ii) the lower crust formed by igneous underplating which may also have affected part of the back-arc basin; and (iii) the root of the serpentinite diapir on the inner trench wall is a low-velocity mantle wedge that was probably caused by large amounts of water released from the subducting Pacific plate at depths shallower than 30 km.     

Dehydration of clastic sediments in subduction zones: Theoretical study using thermodynamic data of minerals

Pseudosections for two sediments and one basalt calculated in the system K₂O–Na₂O–CaO–MgO–FeO–Fe₂O₃–Al₂O₃–TiO₂–SiO₂–H₂O for the P–T range 10 to 35 kbar, 300 to 900°C give useful insights into the amount of H₂O released from oceanic crust in subduction zones. In cold subduction zones (20 kbar–300°C to 35 kbar–500°C) hydrous minerals storing 3 to 4 wt% H₂O are still present in metasediments at depths of 120 km. In the same environment, metabasite releases 1 wt% H₂O in the depth range 100 to 120 km, but 4.5 wt% H₂O is transported to greater depths. In hot subduction zones (300°C hotter than the cold subduction zone at 100 km depth), dehydration events of metasediments in the depth range 50 to 80 km correspond to the breakdown of chlorite and paragonite. In the calculations no further water is released at greater depths because the modal content of phengite, the only hydrous mineral phase at these depths, remains almost constant. For the same P–T path, metabasite shows continuous dehydration between 40 and 80 km releasing almost 3 wt% H₂O. At 120 km depth less than 0.4 wt% of H₂O remains. In an average modern subduction zone (～6°C/km) most dehydration of sediments occurs at depths of 70 to 100 km and that of basalts at depths of 80 to 120 km. Only 1.3 wt% H₂O in metasediments and 1.6 wt% H₂O in metabasalt has the potential to be subducted to depths greater than 120 km. The dehydration behavior of sediments concurs with the generally held idea that subduction zone fluids are most effectively transported to great depths by cold subduction. In hot subduction zones, such as those characteristic of early Earth, most H₂O carried by oceanic crust is liberated at depths less than 120 km and, thus, would not contribute to island‐arc magmatism.     

两种地幔对流模式下俯冲带的热结构

根据准动力学计算方案，通过采用等效热源和等效热传导系数的方法，用有限元法计算了不同俯冲角度，而俯冲速度为８ｃｍ／ａ、年龄为１００Ｍａ的俯冲带在稳定俯冲状态的热结构．计算结果表明俯冲带在接近６７０ｋｍ间断面的最低温度可达到１１００℃．全地幔对流模式热结构的计算结果表明６７０ｋｍ间断面以下可存在最低温度达１０００℃的低温区，相应于有０．７％-３．０％的Ｐ波低速异常存在．双层地幔对流模式表明，在６７０ｋｍ间断面以上可有与周围地幔相差约４００℃的水平舌状低温区存在，相应于０．５％-１．４％的Ｐ波低速异常．     

琉球岛弧地区的地震分布、Benioff带形态及应力状态h

利用ISC及中国台网的资料,研究了琉球岛弧及冲绳海槽的地震分布及震源机制解,讨论了Benioff带的形态及应力状态.mb4.0的地震主要分布于琉球海沟西侧的弧形带,并形成明显的Benioff带.吐噶喇海峡以北俯冲带弯曲明显,深部倾角大,约92,70km以下张应力轴沿俯冲方向;吐噶喇海峡以南,俯冲带较平直,深部倾角较小,约55,压应力轴基本沿俯冲方向。冲绳海槽内处于NNW向近水平的拉伸,华北应力场与之类似,没有受到菲律宾海块挤压作用的影响.      

The Oka Belt (Southern Siberia and Northern Mongolia): A Neoproterozoic analog of the Japanese Shimanto Belt?

Abstract   The Oka Belt, composed of clastic rocks and greenschists, extends for approximately 600 km in the South-Siberian Sayan region and adjacent northern Mongolia. For a long time the Oka Belt's age and tectonic setting were the most controversial problem in the region. We argue that the belt was formed in Late Neoproterozoic as an accretionary prism. The Oka Belt shows imbricated thrust structure, which had originally seaward vergence and reflected the Neoproterozoic accretion process. The Early Paleozoic orogeny had minor effect on its structural style. The belt contains tectonic slivers of mid-ocean ridge basalts, some oceanic-island basalts and possible pelagic sediments. In several localities they are associated with gabbro and serpentinite. All these rocks represent the oceanic lithosphere subducting beneath the Oka prism and trapped within it. In the inner zone of the Oka Belt are the blueschists exhumed from the deeper prism level. The northern Oka Belt includes mafic intrusions geochemically similar to normal mid-oceanic ridge basalt and felsic volcaniclastic rocks. This segment of the belt is very similar to the Tertiary portion of northern Shimanto Belt, in Japan, and has also experienced the subduction of orthogonal oceanic ridge beneath the prism. This event dates back to 753 ± 16 Ma (the U-Pb zircon discordia). The Oka prism started accreting in Mid-Neoproterozoic after the subduction had initiated under the Japan-like South-Siberian continental terrain. The prism existed through the second half of Neoproterozoic and accumulated a huge volume of sialic material to enlarge the nearby continent. Currently, the Oka Belt remains poorly studied and is very promising for further investigation and discoveries.     

Receiver functions in northeast China - implications for slab penetration into the lower mantle in northwest Pacific subduction zone

Seismic studies of the subducting lithosphere and the upper mantle discontinuities in the northwest Pacific subduction zone beneath Japan and northeast China have suggested contrary subduction scenarios. There was little consensus on the issue whether the subducting slab penetrates the upper mantle discontinuities into the lower mantle or it is deflected atop of the 660-km discontinuity over several hundred kilometers. We calculate receiver functions from a recent seismic broadband station network located in northeast China and find topographic variations of the upper mantle discontinuities. A deeper-than-normal 660-km discontinuity is observed over an area of 400 km and it coincides with the stagnant slab imaged by seismic tomography. The 660-km discontinuity is locally depressed by more than 35 km and the transition zone is thickened by more than 20 km in the east of the region where it encounters the slab. These observations provide evidence of the slab accumulating in the mantle transition zone and locally penetrating into the lower mantle.