Accretionary complex: Geological records from oceanic subduction to continental deep subduction

Science China Earth Sciences - Accretionary complex was usually formed by offscraping of the subducting crustal material over the trench and thus often referred to as subduction zone mélange....     

Seismicity and the subduction process

There is considerable variation between subduction zones in the largest characteristic earthquake within each zone. Assuming that coupling between downgoing and upper plates is directly related to characteristic earthquake size, we have tested for correlations between variation in coupling and other physical features of subduction zones: the lateral extent and penetration depth of Benioff zones, age of subducting lithosphere, convergence rate, and back-arc spreading. Using linear multivariate regression, coupling is correlated with two variables: convergence rate and lithosphere age. Secondary correlations within the data set are penetration depth versus lithosphere age, and lateral extent versus convergence rate. An important additional correlation is that back-arc spreading is found to be associated with subduction zones where coupling is low (those characterised by small earthquakes). Taken together, the observed correlations suggest a simple qualitative model where convergence rate and lithosphere age determine the horizontal and sinking rates, respectively, of slabs: these parameters influence the seismic coupling in the subduction zone. In the limit of a fast sinking rate and slow convergence rate, back-arc spreading occurs and thereby appears to be a passive process.     

俯冲带库仑楔形体力学

楔形体理论研究楔形体在底部摩擦力、重力和边界外力共同作用下内部的应力状态,有助于我们定量分析断层强度和岩石性质与楔形体稳定状态之间的关系.本文首先简要介绍基于不同楔形体材料而得出的应力解析解.然后介绍基于理想弹塑性材料的俯冲带库仑楔应力解析解.最后介绍基于该解析解而提出的动态库仑楔形体理论.俯冲带地震反射剖面数据表明,...     

On the initiation of subduction zones

Analysis of the relation between intraplate stress fields and lithospheric rheology leads to greater insight into the role that initiation of subduction plays in the tectonic evolution of the lithosphere. Numerical model studies show that if after a short evolution of a passive margin (time span a few tens of million years) subduction has not yet started, continued aging of the passive margin alone does not result in conditions more favorable for transformation into an active margin.Although much geological evidence is available in supporting the key role small ocean basins play in orogeny and ophiolite emplacement, evolutionary frameworks of the Wilson cycle usually are cast in terms of opening and closing of wide ocean basins. We propose a more limited role for large oceans in the Wilson cycle concept. In general, initiation of subduction at passive margins requires the action of external plate-tectonic forces, which will be most effective for young passive margins prestressed by thick sedimentary loads. It is not clear how major subduction zones (such as those presently ringing the Pacific Basin) form but it is unlikely they form merely by aging of oceanic lithosphere. Conditions likely to exist in very young oceanic regions are quite favorable for the development of subduction zones, which might explain the lack of preservation of back-arc basins and marginal seas.Plate reorganizations probably occur predominantly by the formation of new spreading ridges, because stress relaxation in the lithosphere takes place much more efficiently through this process than through the formation of new subduction zones.     

Reverse metasomatism of subduction zone fluids

<正>1. Fluid metasomatism in subduction zones Subduction zones are the key tectonic setting that links Earth’s surficial sphere to deep sphere(Zheng and Chen,2016). Fluid action occurring in subduction zones is closely related to many important geological processes such as volcanic and seismic activity, the migration, enrichment and mineralization of metallogenic elements, mass transport and crust-mantle material cycling,     

Deflection rheoevolution of lithosphere under subduction

Along the continental margin, the tectonic system consisting of trench, island are, back are basin and outer rise is often known as a convergent transitional belt between the oceanic lithosphere and the continental lithosphere. The occurrence, development and activity of trench and outer rise bear closely on the underthrusting process of the oceanic lithosphere. A generalized analytical theory of deflection rheoevolution of lithosphere under subduction is established, and solutions with universal significance have been obtained. Project supported by the Laboratory of Lithosphere Tectonics and Its Dynamics of Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources of China.     

Deep carbon cycle in subduction zones

The carbon cycle between the deep Earth and the atmosphere(i.e., the deep carbon cycle) can significantly affect the global climate on both long and short time scales. Although carbon in the deep Earth can be released to the atmosphere in many ways, plate subduction is the only pathway for the return of carbon from the surface to the deep Earth. Owing to diversity in the forms of carbon and the special physicochemical property of carbonates, the behavior of carbon and carbonates in subduction zones significantly affects the products of subduction processes, the oxygen fugacity in subduction zones, and the activation and migration of elements during the crust-mantle interaction. Therefore, the carbon cycle in subduction zones plays an important role in maintaining a habitable climate by regulating the atmospheric CO_2 concentration, which significantly affects the global climate, and in causing fundamental changes in the physical and chemical properties of the mantle that result in a heterogeneous mantle. In this study, we review and discuss previous studies and scientific problems regarding the carbon cycle in subduction zones from four aspects: observation and tracing of the carbon cycle, migration and variation of carbon during subduction,carbon flux, and the effect of the carbon cycle.     

俯冲带大断层的强度问题

俯冲带大断层的强度是地球动力学的一个重要问题.过去20年来,学界对这一问题的认识有了根本性的改变.本文将简单介绍近期这一研究的核心科学内容、主要方法和结果.宏观估计这种断层大尺度平均强度的有效方法只有两种:一是用弧前地壳应力观测约束横向挤压力从而推算大断层强度,二是用弧前地表热流观测约束断层摩擦生热量从而推算大断层强度.目前的研究结果表明:首先,这些断层极弱,其有效摩擦系数一般在0.03左右,有些可能略大于0.1,这一结果也解释了为什么俯冲带不是造山带.其次,发生特大地震的大断层是最弱的,充分表明大地震不需要高强度断层和高应力,而需要易于破裂传播扩展的地质条件.另外,大地震发生时断层的应力降与强度相比,既不是微乎其微,也远不到百分之百.导致大断层极弱的地质原因还尚不明确.一般认为需要相当高的孔隙液压,但是断层泥中的软弱含水矿物可能也起关键作用.     

Historical 1942 Ecuador and 1942 Peru subduction earthquakes and earthquake cycles along Colombia-Ecuador and Peru subduction segments

Two large shallow earthquakes occurred in 1942 along the South American subduction zone inclose proximity to subducting oceanic ridges: The 14 May event occurred near the subducting Carnegie ridge off the coast of Ecuador, and the 24 August event occurred off the coast of southwestern Peru near the southern flank of the subducting Nazca ridge. Source parameters for these for these two historic events have been determined using long-periodP waveforms,P-wave first motions, intensities and local tsunami data.We have analyzed theP waves for these two earthquakes to constrain the focal mechanism, depth, source complexity and seismic moment. Modeling of theP waveform for both events yields a range of acceptable focal mechanisms and depths, all of which are consistent with underthrusting of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate. The source time function for the 1942 Ecuador event has one simple pulse of moment release with a duration of 22 suconds, suggesting that most of the moment release occurred near the epicenter. The seismic moment determined from theP waves is 6–8×10²⁰N·m, corresponding ot a moment magnitude of 7.8–7.9. The reported location of the maximum intensities (IX) for this event is south of the main shock epicenter. The relocated aftershcks are in an area that is approximately 200 km by 90 km (elongated parallel to the trench) with the majority of aftershocks north of the epicenter. In contrast, the 1942 Peru event has a much longer duration and higher degree of complexity than the Ecuador earthquake, suggesting a heterogeneous rupture. Seismic moment is released in three distinct pulses over approximately 74 seconds; the largest moment release occurs 32 seconds after rupture initiation. the seismic moment as determined from theP waves for the 1942 Peru event is 10–25×10²⁰N·m, corresponding to a moment magnitude of 7.9–8.2. Aftershock locations reported by the ISS occur over a broad area surrounding the main shock. The reported locations of the maximum intensities (IX) are concentrated south of the epicenter, suggesting that at least part of the rupture was to the south.We have also examined great historic earthquakes along the Colombia-Ecuador and Peru segments of the South American subduction zone. We find that the size and rupture length of the underthrusting earthquakes vary between successive earthquake cycles. This suggests that the segmentation of the plate boundary as defined by earthquakes this century is not constant.     

Global variability in subduction thrust zone-forearc systems

Deviations of slip vector azimuths of interplate thrust earthquakes from expected plate convergence directions at oblique subduction zones provide kinematic information about the deformation of forearcs and indirect evidence on the dynamics of the plate boundary. A global survey of slip vectors at major trenches of the world reveals a large variability in the kinematic response of forearcs to shear produced by oblique convergence. The variability in forearc deformation inferred from slip vector deflections is suggested to be caused by variations in forearc rheology rather than in the stresses acting on subduction zone thrust faults. Estimated apparent macroscopic rheologies range from elastic to perfectly plastic (or viscous). Forearc rheologies inferred from slip vectors do not correlate with age of the subducting lithosphere, but continental forearcs or old arcs appear to deform less than oceanic or young arcs. The inferred absence of forearc deformation at continental arcs from this study is counter to inferences drawn from compiled geologic information on forearc faults. Correlations of the apparent forearc rheology with backarc spreading, convergence rate, slab dip, arc curvature, and downdip length of the thrust contact are poor. However, great subduction zone earthquakes occur where forearcs are apparently more elastic (i.e., less deformed by oblique convergence), which suggests that the mechanical properties of forearcs rather than stress magnitude on thrust faults control both the kinematic behavior of forearcs and where great subduction zone earthquakes occur.     

Oblique subduction of a Newtonian fluid slab

A Newtonian fluid model is proposed to describe the oblique subduction of a planar 2-D slab. The slab is assumed to subduct in response to the ridge push force exerted along the trench, the slab pull force at the downdip of the slab, the gravitational body force within the slab, and the frictional resistance force at the upper surface of the slab. Because the slab motion along strike is being resisted by the frictional resistance at the interplate coupling area while the slab motion along the trench normal is being maintained by the gravitational pulling, the slab turns gradually toward the trench normal direction as it subducts. This model offers an alternative explanation for earthquake slip partitioning, the observation that the earthquake slip vectors deflect away from the relative plate motion direction toward the trench normal direction along most of the oblique subduction zones worldwide. Numerical models suggest that slip partitioning caused by slab deformation could be as much as 30% at 100 km downdip of the slab. The slab viscosity, the plate coupling width, the interplate resistance coefficient, the slab pull force, and the gravitational body force are all important in determining the geometry of the slab subduction.     

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.     

Ridge subduction,magmatism, and metallogenesis

Modern oceans contain large bathymetric highs(spreading oceanic ridges, aseismic ridges or oceanic plateaus and inactive arc ridges) that, in total, constitute more than 20–30% of the total area of the world's ocean floor. These bathymetric highs may be subducted, and such processes are commonly referred to as ridge subduction. Such ridge subduction events are not only very common and important geodynamic processes in modern oceanic plate tectonics, they also play an important role in the generation of arc magmatism, material recycling, the growth and evolution of continental crust, the deformation and modification of the overlying plates, and metallogenesis at convergent plate boundaries. Therefore, these events have attracted widespread attention. The perpendicular or high-angle subduction of mid-ocean spreading ridges is commonly characterized by the occurrence of a slab window, and the formation of a distinctive adakite–high-Mg andesite–Nb-enriched basalt-oceanic island basalt(OIB) or a mid-oceanic ridge basalt(MORB)-type rock suite, and is closely associated with Au mineralization. Aseismic ridges or oceanic plateaus are traditionally considered to be difficult to subduct, to typically collide with arcs or continents or to induce flat subduction(low angle of less than 10°) due to the thickness of their underlying normal oceanic crust(6–7 km) and high topography. However, the subduction of aseismic ridges and oceanic plateaus occurred on both the western and eastern sides of the Pacific Ocean during the Cenozoic. On the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean, aseismic ridges or oceanic plateaus are being subducted flatly or at low angles beneath South and Central American continents, which may cause a magmatic gap. But slab melting can occur and adakites, or an adakite–high-Mg andesite–adakitic andesite–Nb-enriched basalt suite may be formed during the slab rollback or tearing. Cu-Au mineralization is commonly associated with such flat subduction events. On the western side of the Pacific Ocean, however, aseismic ridges and oceanic plateaus are subducted at relatively high angles(30°).These subduction processes can generate large scale eruptions of basalts, basaltic andesites and andesites, which may be derived from fractional crystallization of magmas originating from the subduction zone fluid-metasomatized mantle wedge. In addition,some inactive arc ridges are subducted beneath Southwest Japan, and these subduction processes are commonly associated with the production of basalts, high-Mg andesites and adakites and Au mineralization. Besides magmatism and Cu-Au mineralization,ridge subduction may also trigger subduction erosion in subduction zones. Future frontiers of research will include characterizing the spatial and temporal patterns of ridge subduction events, clarifying the associated geodynamic mechanisms, quantifying subduction zone material recycling, establishing the associated deep crustal and mantle events that generate or influence magmatism and Cu-Au mineralization, establishing criteria to recognize pre-Cenozoic ridge subduction, the onset of modernstyle plate tectonics and the growth mechanisms for Archean continental crust.     

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.     

A proterozoic subduction zone in southern Sweden

Optical microscopy and chemical analyses for major and trace elements have been performed on 27 Proterozoic metavolcanics from southern Sweden. The metavolcanics and associated metasediments are part of a large arced structure around a vast region with granitic batholiths.The compositional data show that the rocks are altered basalts and andesites and the Si, Ti, Zr and Cr relations demonstrate that almost half of the metabasalts are in accordance with present day arc volcanics and that another large fraction represents ocean floor tholeiites. These relations suggest that major plate tectonic processes occurred already during the Proterozoic in southern Sweden and that during these processes arc volcanics and ocean floor basalts were mixed at a subduction zone.     

Water and magma generation at subduction zones

The basaltic ocean crust, metasomatized and metamorphosed during and after generation at the ocean ridge, contains H₂O stored in minerals and pore fluid. Phase equilibrium data establish the conditions for dehydration, and the conditions for melting of amphibole-gabbro or amphibole-quartz-eclogite, or for quartz-eclogite or mantle peridotite if aqueous fluids are available. But there is no concensus about the temperature distribution through the subducted crust, or within the overlying mantle wedge. Therefore, a variety of magmatic models can be derived from the experimental data. According to some calculations, endothermic dehydration reactions in the depth interval 75–125 km cool the oceanic crust to such an extent that it cannot be a major source of magmas; instead, concentrated aqueous fluids released from the crust generate magmas in the overlying peridotite. However, according to most existing thermal models, if temperatures in ocean crust are cool enough to prohibit melting of amphibolite, then temperatures in the mantle above the main sources of expelled fluids are too low for hydrous melting. The ocean crust appears to be effectively dehydrated by 100–125 km depth. Dense hydrous magnesian silicates are not likely candidates for deeper H₂O transport. The extent to which H₂O can be fixed in metasomatic phlogopite in crust or mantle is a significant but undetermined factor. Experimental data on minerals and liquid compositions do not support the concept of primary magmas for andesites and associated lavas from mantle or subducted crust. Complex, multi-stage processes appear to be more likely, which is consistent with recent interpretations of geochemical data.     

Oblique subduction, collision of microcontinents and subduction of oceanic ridge: Their implications on the Cretaceous tectonics of Japan

Abstract The Izanagi plate subducted rapidly and obliquely under the accretionary terrane of Japan in the Cretaceous before 85 Ma. A chain of microcontinents collided with it at about 140 Ma. In southwest Japan the major part of it subducted thereafter, but in northeast Japan it accreted and the trench jumped oceanward, resulting in a curved volcanic front. The oblique subduction and the underplated microcon-tinent caused uplifting of high-pressure (high-P) metamorphic rocks and large scale crustal shortening in southwest Japan. The oblique subduction caused left-lateral faulting and ductile shearing in northeast Japan. The arc sliver crossed over the high-temperature (high-T) zone of arc magmatism, resulting in a wide high-T metamorphosed belt. At about 85 Ma, the subduction mode changed from oblique to normal and the tectonic mode changed drastically. Just after this the Kula/Pacific ridge subducted and the subduction rate of the Pacific plate decreased gradually, causing the intrusion of huge amounts of granite magma and the eruption of acidic volcanics from large cauldrons. The oblique subduction of the Pacific plate resumed at 53 Ma and the left-lateral faults were reactivated.