Large earthquakes in the macquarie ridge complex: Transitional tectonics and subduction initiation

While most aspects of subduction have been extensively studied, the process of subduction initiation lacks an observational foundation. The Macquarie Ridge complex (MRC) forms the Pacific-Australia plate boundary between New Zealand to the north and the Pacific-Australia-Antarctica triple junction to the south. The MRC consists of alternating troughs and rises and is characterized by a transitional tectonic environment in which subduction initiation presently occurs. There is a high seismicity level with 15 large earthquakes (M>7) in this century. Our seismological investigation is centered on the largest event since 1943: the 25 MAY 1981 earthquake. Love, Rayleigh, andP waves are inverted to find: a faulting geometry of right-lateral strike-slip along the local trend of the Macquarie Ridge (N30°E); a seismic moment of 5×10²⁷ dyn cm (M _w=7.7) a double event rupture process with a fault length of less than 100km to the southwest of the epicenter and a fault depth of less than 20km. Three smaller thrust earthquakes occurred previous to the 1981 event along the 1981 rupture zone; their shallow-dipping thrust planes are virtually adjacent to the 1981 vertical fault plane. Oblique convergence in this region is thus accommodated by a dual rupture mode of several small thrust events and a large strike-slip event. Our study of other large MRC earthquakes, plus those of other investigators, produces focal mechanisms for 15 earthquakes distributed along the entire MRC; thrust and right-lateral strike-slip events are scattered throughout the MRC. Thus, all of the MRC is characterized by oblique convergence and the dual rupture mode. The true best-fit rotation pole for the Pacific-Australia motion is close to the Minster & Jordan RM2 pole for the Pacific-India motion. Southward migration of the rotation pole has caused the recent transition to oblique convergence in the northern MRC. We propose a subduction initiation process that is akin to crack propagation; the 1981 earthquake rupture area is identified as the crack-tip region that separates a disconnected mosaic of small thrust faults to the south from a horizontally continuous thrust interface to the north along the Puysegur trench. A different mechanism of subduction initiation occurs in the southernmost Hjort trench region at the triple junction. newly created oceanic lithosphere has been subducted just to the north of the triple junction. The entire MRC is a soft plate boundary that must accommodate the plate motion mismatch between two major spreading centers (Antarctica-Australia and Pacific-Antarctica). The persistence of spreading motion at the two major spreading centers and the consequent evolution of the three-plate system cause the present-day oblique convergence and subduction initiation in the Macquarie Ridge complex.     

汕头－吕宋岛岩石圈速度结构与震源构造──台湾浅滩7．3级地震构造之一

汕头－吕宋岛岩石圈速度结构剖面，划分出华南陆缘古生代陆壳、陆架区晚古生代－中生代陆壳、陆坡带中生代－早第三纪过渡壳、新生代南海海盆洋壳及吕宋岛中生代－新生代岛弧陆壳与东吕宋海槽洋壳等地壳构造组分，并确定了上述地壳构造之间的边界断裂构造及其性质。结合地震震源分布及机制，初步确定了华南陆架盆岭构造带北、南两侧地震构造的控震构造与发震构造性质及其震源力学特征；１）指出１９９４年９月１６日台湾浅滩７．３级地震属于板缘壳幔地震及造成一千公里有感范围的原因；２）马尼拉海沟的海底地堑构造与南海海盆岩石圈地幔上隆是马尼拉海沟俯冲带震源显示正断层性质的原因，且为被动的或转换俯冲带；３）东吕宋海槽仍属于菲律宾海俯冲带性质；吕宋岛东西两侧俯冲带岩石圈板片震源深度的准三层分布，可能表明俯冲带岩石圈板片存在相应的低速滑移层。     

Geoid anomalies over Gorringe Ridge,North Atlantic Ocean

Gorringe Ridge is a strong uplifted block of oceanic crust and upper mantle lying at the eastern end of the Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary. The geoid over this structure derived from Seasat altimeter data exhibits a 9-m height anomaly with a north-south lateral extension smaller than 200 km. An attempt is made to interpret this geoid together with the gravity anomalies and with the seismicity, which has been compiled as a function of depth.It is first shown that the flexure of the oceanic lithosphere due to the ridge loading does not provide a good fit of the geoid anomalies and probably should be discarded, as it assumes a continuous unfractured elastic plate.Models involving local heterogeneities are then tested. The comparison of the observed geoid anomalies with the anomalies due to the uncompensated relief indicates that the topographic high has no shallow compensation.Uncompensated models, previously proposed to explain the gravity anomalies, are tested using the geoid. One model (Purdy and Bonnin, in Bonnin [11]), which involves an uplift of upper mantle material at depth, generates too strong geoid anomalies and must be discarded. Another model, which represents a nascent subduction zone (Le Pichon et al. [25]), fits both the gravity and geoid anomalies, but leads to difficulties in explaining the deep seismicity north of Gorringe Ridge.A model in isostatic equilibrium is also able to fit both gravity and geoid anomalies. This model involves a deep root of density 3.0 g cm^?3, as has been previously proposed for many oceanic ridges and plateaus. This model is compatible with the deep seismicity, but the origin of this low-density material at great depth is up to now an unresolved question.More likely, dynamical models taking into account the forces induced by the convection related to the slow plate convergence in this area will have to be considered.     

Geoid anomalies over two South Atlantic fracture zones

Seasat altimetry profiles across the Falkland-Agulhas fracture zone (FZ) and the Ascension FZ in the South Atlantic were examined for evidence of step-like geoid offsets predicted from thermal modeling of the lithosphere. The geoid profiles exhibit much short-wavelength power and the step-like offsets are often small, making reliable estimation of the heights of the observed geoid offsets difficult. The offsets were estimated by the least-squares fitting of quadratic curves incorporating a step function to the altimetry profiles. A preferred offset value was determined for each profile by taking the average of step heights computed with various distances around the fracture zone excluded from the fit. The age of the crust surrounding the fracture zones, necessary for computing a theoretical geoid offset, was determined from surface ship magnetic anomaly data and from existing ocean floor age maps.Observed variations in geoid step height with age of the lithosphere are not consistent with those predicted from standard thermal plate models. For ages less than 30 Ma, the step offsets across both fracture zones decrease in a manner appropriate for an unusually thin plate with a thickness of 50–75 km. At greater ages, the offsets show complex behavior that may be due to bathymetric features adjacent to the fracture zones. Similar geoid patterns on opposite branches of the Falkland-Agulhas FZ are indicative of processes that act symmetrically on both sides of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This behavior of the geoid is consistent both with small-scale convection occurring beneath the lithosphere and with bathymetric features originally produced along the ridge crest and now located symmetrically on opposite sides of the ridge. The west flank of the Ascension FZ displays a regrowth in step height at about 40 Ma consistent with small-scale convection and in agreement with other studies of Pacific and South Atlantic fracture zones.     

Asymmetric fracture zones and sea-floor spreading

An asymmetric pattern is observed in the orientation of minor fracture zones about the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at five sites where relatively detailed studies have been made between latitudes 22°N and 51°N. The minor fracture zones intersect the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in an asymmetric V-shaped configuration. The V's point south north of the Azores triple junction (38°N latitude) and point north south of that junction.The rates and directions of sea-floor spreading are related to the asymmetric pattern of minor fracture zones at the sites studied. Half-rates of sea-floor spreading averaged between about 0 and 10 m.y. are unequal measured perpendicular to the ridge axis. The unequal half-rates of spreading are faster to the west north of the Azores triple junction and faster to the east south of that junction. The half-rates of sea-floor spreading calculated in the directions of the asymmetric minor fracture zones are equal about the ridge axis within the uncertainty of the direction determinations.A discrepancy exists between minor fracture zones that form an asymmetric V about the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and major fracture zones that follow small circles symmetric about the ridge axis. To reconcile this discrepancy it is proposed that minor fracture zones are preferentially reoriented under the influence of a stress field related to interplate and intraplate motions. Major fracture zones remain symmetric about the Mid-Atlantic Ridge under the same stress field due to differential stability between minor and major structures in oceanic lithosphere. This interpretation is supported by the systematic variation in the orientation of minor fracture zones and the equality of sea-floor spreading half-rates observed about lithospheric plate boundaries.     

Focal mechanism solutions and its tectonic significance in the trench of the eastern South China Sea

Introduction South China Sea (SCS) is located in the convergence zone between Euro-Asian plate, Pacific plate (Philippine plate) and Indian plate. Interactions of three plates made the crust of this region suffer tectonic stress in many directions and made the South China Sea be in the complex environ-ment of the tectonic stress. There are four different marginal types in the surrounding of the South China Sea: The tectonic zone of the rifting margin in the north of SCS, the NS direct…     

Polyphase accretionary tectonics in the Jurassic to Cretaceous accretionary belts of central Japan

Abstract Mesozoic accretionary complexes of the southern Chichibu and the northern Shimanto Belts, widely exposed in the Kanto Mountains, consist of 15 tectonostratigraphic units according to radiolarian biochronologic data. The units show a zonal arrangement of imbricate structure and the age of the terrigenous clastics of each unit indicates successive and systematic southwestward younging. Although rocks in these complexes range in age from Carboniferous to Cretaceous, the trench-fill deposits corresponding to the Hauterivian, the Aptian to Middle Albian and the Turonian are missing. A close relationship between the missing accretionary complexes and the development of strike-slip basins is recognizable. The tectonic nature of the continental margin might have resulted from a change from a convergent into a transform or oblique-slip condition, so that strike-slip basins were formed along the mobile zones on the ancient accretionary complexes. Most terrigenous materials were probably trapped by the strike-slip basins. Then, the accretion of the clastic rock sequence occurred, probably as a result of the small supply of terrigenous materials in the trench. However, in the case of right-angle subduction, terrigenous materials might have been transported to the trench through submarine canyons and deposited there. Thus, the accretionary complexes grew rapidly and thickened. Changes both in oceanic plate motion and in the fluctuation of terrigenous supply due to the sedimentary trap caused pulses of accretionary complex growth during Jurassic and Cretaceous times. In the Kanto Mountains, three tectonic phases are recognized, reflecting the changes of the consuming direction of the oceanic plates along the eastern margin of the Asian continent. These are the Early Jurassic to early Early Cretaceous right-angle subduction of the Izanagi Plate, the Early to early Late Cretaceous strike-slip movement of the Izanagi and Kula Plates, and the late Late Cretaceous right-angle subduction of the Kula Plate.     

中国东部海域岩石圈结构面波层析成像

本文通过面波层析成像得到了中国东部海域及邻近地区的地壳上地幔S波速度图像,给出了主要构造单元的区划及其结构特征,并讨论了速度结构与现今构造活动及构造演化历史的关系.研究区内中下地壳的平均速度与地震活动存在比较显著的关系,强震基本都发生在低速区内或高低速过渡区.太行山以东地壳内存在几条北西向低速带,其中张家口—渤海地震带下方的低速带最为显著.东部海域划分成北黄海、南黄海、东海、和冲绳海槽等4个构造块体.北黄海具有较薄较高速的岩石圈,与南华北盆地类似,推测是中生代特提斯洋向北俯冲造成岩石圈减薄的遗迹.北华北地区具有低速的地壳和较厚的岩石圈,岩石圈地幔速度偏低且上下比较均匀,可能反映中生代沿北方缝合带持续碰撞作用的特点.南黄海具有相对较厚的岩石圈,较多地保存了下扬子克拉通的特征.在下扬子与华北地块的拼合过程中,洋壳俯冲可能是北黄海和苏皖地区上地幔低速特征的成因.在125°E以东的朝鲜半岛地区未发现这一拼合过程的遗迹.有可能整个朝鲜半岛都是华北地块的一部分;但也有可能是太平洋俯冲和日本海张开的作用完全改造了朝鲜半岛的岩石圈上地幔,抹去了以往构造运动的痕迹.东海地区的地壳厚度,特别是岩石圈厚度向冲绳海槽方向减小,反映出菲律宾海板块俯冲在弧后广大地区都有影响.冲绳海槽地区可见俯冲的菲律宾海板片以及板片上方显著低速的地壳和上地幔,为冲绳海槽的弧后扩张机制提供了证据.     

Seismicity and tectonics of the far Western Aleutian Islands

Study of focal mechanisms of earthquakes in the Near and Komandorsky Islands indicate that there are several distinct zones of tectonic activity. South of the Near Islands, normal faulting occurs in the trench east of 172°E and low-angle thrusting dominates the Aleutian ridge. Mechanisms indicate underthrusting as far west as Mednyy Island with strike-slip faulting restricted to the south and west of Beringa Island. A zone of northeast striking left-lateral faulting near 1645.°E is proposed to separate the Aleutian Ridge from Kamchatka Peninsula. This motion, as well as faulting north of the Komandorsky Islands, may be related to the existance of a buffer plate comprising the Aleutian Ridge in the Komandorsky Islands. Active subduction terminates near 173°E and the faulting north of the Komandorsky Islands may, in part, be due to the bouyancy of a remnant slab. Depth phase modelling indicates bulletin-reported depths are overestimated due to a misidentification of depth phases.     

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.     

The memory of the accreting plate boundary and the continuity of fracture zones

A detailed aeromagnetic anomaly map of the Mesozoic seafloor-spreading lineations southwest of Bermuda reveals the dominant magnetic grain of the oceanic crust and the character of the accreting boundary at the time of crustal formation. The magnetic anomaly pattern is that of a series of elongate lobes perpendicular to the fracture zone (flowline) trends. The linear sets of magnetic anomaly peaks and troughs have narrow regions of reduced amplitude anomalies associated with the fracture zones. During the period of Mesozoic geomagnetic polarity reversals (when 1200 km of central North Atlantic seafloor formed), the Atlantic accreting boundary consisted of stationary, elongate, spreading center cells that maintained their independence even though sometimes only minor spatial offsets existed between cells. Normal oceanic crustal structure was formed in the spreading center cells, but structural anomalies and discontinuities characteristic of fracture zones were formed at their boundaries, which parallel flowlines of Mesozoic relative plate motion in the central North Atlantic. We suggest that the memory for a stationary pattern of independent spreading center cells resides in the young brittle lithosphere at the accreting boundary where the lithosphere is weakest; here, each spreading center cell independently goes through its cylce of stress buildup, stress release, and crustal accretion, after which its memory is refreshed. The temporal offset between the peaks of the accretionary activity that takes place within each cell may provide the mechanism for maintaining the independence of adjacent spreading center cells through times when no spatial offset between the cells exists.     

印度-欧亚碰撞与洋—陆碰撞的差异

观测的证据充分表明,印度——欧亚的缝合带雅鲁藏布江上存在自南向北的地壳俯冲带,它穿过莫霍面,深度大约达到100 km. 喜马拉雅中可能存在多重的地壳俯冲. 它们有别于海洋碰撞时所产生的整个岩石圈俯冲. 作者观测到雅鲁藏布江以北上地幔的板片构造,它可以解释为印度向欧亚俯冲时上地幔岩石圈的痕迹. 它们说明与洋——陆的俯冲不同,印度向欧亚俯冲时,地壳与上地幔岩石圈出现拆层现象. 综合现有的地壳上地幔构造,显示在不同地质年代中,印度与欧亚之间产生自南向北以及自北向南相反方向的俯冲,而且俯冲带周围出现某些速度异常区.      

Historical seismicity near Chagos: a complex deformation zone in the equatorial Indian Ocean

Over the last twenty years, Chagos Bank has a seismicity rate disproportionate to its supposed intraplate location. Earthquake relocation also shows a high seismicity rate in pre-WWSSN time (1912–1963), with seven events located off of the Central Indian Ridge, including large events in 1912 (M = 6.8) and 1944 (M = 7.2). This study uses the moment variance technique, a systematic search for the mechanism which best fits P, PP, SH, Love and Rayleigh amplitudes, to determine the focal mechanisms of two pre-WWSSN earthquakes. A test with a recent event of known mechanism demonstrates that accurate focal parameter determination is possible even when only a few good records are available. Moment variance analysis shows a thrust faulting mechanism for the 1944 event, northeast of Chagos Bank near the Chagos-Laccadive ridge, and a strike-slip focal mechanism for a smaller 1957 event west of Chagos Bank. The 1944 event, one of the largest oceanic “intraplate” earthquakes known (moment 1.4 × 10²⁷ dyne-cm), indicates that the Chagos seismicity reflects not an isolated occurrence of normal faulting as previously thought, but rather regional tectonic deformation extending northeast of Chagos Bank and including thrust, normal and strike-slip events. This seismicity and previously studied seismicity near the Ninetyeast Ridge and Central Indian Basin suggest a broad zone of deformation stretching across the equatorial Indian Ocean. This zone contains all known magnitude seven oceanic “intraplate” earthquakes not associated with subduction zones or continental margins, suggesting that elsewhere such extensive deformation occurs only along plate boundaries. This study proposes that a slow, diffuse plate boundary extends east from the Central Indian Ridge to the Ninetyeast Ridge and north to the Sumatra Trench. A recent plate motion study confirms this boundary and suggests that it separates the Australian plate from a single Indo-Arabian plate.     

Effects of plate and slab viscosities on the geoid

The effects of plate rheology (strong plate interiors and weak plate margins) and stiff subducted lithosphere (slabs) on the geoid and plate motions, considered jointly, are examined with three-dimensional spherical models of mantle flow. Buoyancy forces are based on the internal distribution of subducted lithosphere estimated from the last 160 Ma of subduction history. While the ratio of the lower mantle/upper mantle viscosity has a strong effect on the long-wavelength geoid, as has been shown before, we find that plate rheology is also significant and that its inclusion yields a better geoid model while simultaneously reproducing basic features of observed plate motion. Slab viscosity can strongly affect the geoid, depending on whether a slab is coupled to the surface. In particular, deep, high-viscosity slabs beneath the northern Pacific that are disconnected from the surface as a result of subduction history produce significant long-wavelength geoid highs that differ from the observation. This suggests that slabs in the lower mantle may be not as stiff as predicted from a simple thermally activated rheology, if the slab model is accurate.     

Subduction-zone peridotites and their records of crust-mantle interaction

Subduction is the core process of plate tectonics. The mantle wedge in subduction-zone systems represents a key tectonic unit, playing a significant role in material cycling and energy exchange between Earth's layers. This study summarizes research progresses in terms of subduction-related peridotite massifs, including supra-subduction zone(SSZ) ophiolites and mantle-wedge-type(MWT) orogenic peridotites. We also provide the relevant key scientific questions that need be solved in the future. The mantle sections of SSZ ophiolites and MWT orogenic peridotites represent the mantle fragments from oceanic and continental lithosphere in subduction zones, respectively. They are essential targets to study the crust-mantle interaction in subduction zones. The nature of this interaction is the complex chemical exchanges between the subducting slab and the mantle wedge under the major control of physical processes. The SSZ ophiolites can record melt/fluid-rock interaction, metamorphism,deformation, concentration of metallogenic elements and material exchange between crust and mantle, during the stages from the generation of oceanic lithosphere at spreading centers to the initiation, development, maturation and ending of oceanic subduction at continental margins. The MWT orogenic peridotites reveal the history of strong metamorphism and deformation during subduction, the multiple melt/fluid metasomatism(including silicatic melts, carbonatitic melts and silicate-bearing C-HO fluids/supercritical fluids), and the complex cycling of crust-mantle materials, during the subduction/collision and exhumation of continental plates. In order to further reveal the crust-mantle interaction using subduction-zone peridotites, it is necessary to utilize high-spatial-resolution and high-precision techniques to constrain the complex chemical metasomatism, metamorphism,deformation at micro scales, and to reveal their connections with spatial-temporal evolution in macro-scale tectonics.     

Tsunami Hazard Posed to New Zealand by the Kermadec and Southern New Hebrides Subduction Margins: An Assessment Based on Plate Boundary Kinematics, Interseismic Coupling, and Historical Seismicity

We assess the tsunami hazard posed to New Zealand by the Kermadec and southern New Hebrides subduction margins. Neither of these subduction zones has produced tsunami large enough to cause significant damage in New Zealand over the past 150?years of well-recorded history. However, as this time frame is short compared to the recurrence interval for major tsunamigenic earthquakes on many of the Earth’s subduction zones, it should not be assumed that what has been observed so far is representative of the long term. For each of these two subduction zones we present plate kinematic and fault-locking results from block modelling of earthquake slip vector data and GPS velocities. The results are used to estimate the current rates of strain accumulation on the plate interfaces where large tsunamigenic earthquakes typically occur. We also review data on the larger historical earthquakes that have occurred on these margins, as well as the Global CMT catalogue of events since 1976. Using this information we have developed a set of scenarios for large earthquakes which have been used as initial conditions for the COMCOT tsunami code to estimate the subsequent tsunami propagation in the southwest Pacific, and from these the potential impact on New Zealand has been evaluated. Our results demonstrate that there is a significant threat posed to the Northland and Coromandel regions of New Zealand should a large earthquake (M _w ?8.5) occur on the southern or middle regions of the Kermadec Trench, and that a similarly large earthquake on the southern New Hebrides Trench has the potential to strongly impact on the far northern parts of New Zealand close to the southern end of the submarine Three Kings Ridge. We propose logic trees for the magnitude–frequency parameters of large earthquakes originating on each trench, which are intended to form the basis for future probabilistic studies.     

Thermal cooling of the oceanic lithosphere: new constraints from geoid height data

Up to now, tests of thermal models of the oceanic lithosphere as it cools and moves away from the ridge crest have been based mainly on topography and heat flow data. However, large areas of the ocean floor deviate from the normal subsidence due to thermal contraction and heat flow data are not very sensitive to the form of the model.

Cooling of the lithosphere causes a short-wavelength step in the geoid across fracture zones that can also be used to constrain thermal models. We have analyzed geoid data at fracture zones from the SEASAT altimeter measurements in the entire Pacific Ocean and redetermined parameters of the cooling models. We find that the data reveal two distinct regimes of cooling; one for seafloor ages in the range 0–30 Ma, the other beyond 30 Ma; this does not appear to be correlated with particular fracture zones but rather it is representative of the whole area studied, i.e., the entire south Pacific and northeast Pacific Ocean. These two trends may be interpreted in terms of two different (asymptotic) thermal thicknesses of the plate model. The smaller thermal thickness ( 65 km) found for ages <30 Ma—compared to 90 km in the age range 30–50 Ma—calls for some kind of thermal perturbation in the vicinity of the ridge crest.

From the results obtained in this study, we conclude that the half-space cooling model is unable to explain the data, that beyond 30 Ma, a simple plate model gives a satisfactory fit to the data but in the younger plate portion (ages < 30 Ma) the cooling history of the oceanic lithosphere is much more complex than predicted by the usual cooling models. Furthermore, the depth-age relationship obtained from the geoid-derived thermal parameters departs significantly beyond 30 Ma from the widely used Parsons and Sclater's depth-age curve, predicting a lesser subsidence.     

A present-day tectonic stress map for eastern Asia region

Introduction Tectonically the eastern Asia refers to the region bounded by the following three active tec-tonic zones: in the east the western Pacific subduction zone, including Japan trench, Ryukyu trench and Philippine trench; in the southwest the Himalaya continental collision zone and the Burma-arc-Java-trench subduction zone; in the northwest the Tianshan-Baikal continental defor-mation zone (Figure 6). In the world the eastern Asia is one of the regions with the strongest pre-sent-da…     

Paleotectonic structures and their influence on recent seismo-tectonics in the south Kuril subduction zone

Abstract Bathymetric data from south of Hokkaido obtained during a cruise of R/V Hakuho-Maru are summarized, and their correlation with earthquake occurrence is discussed. There are structural lineations on the seaward slope of the Kuril Trench, oblique to the Kuril Trench axis and parallel to the magnetic lineations in the Pacific plate. The structural lineations comprise horst-grabens generated by normal faulting. This suggests that Cretaceous tectonic structures originating at the spreading centre affect present seismotectonics around the trench axis. The structural-magnetic relation is compared to the case of the Japan Trench. North-east of the surveyed area, there are two major fracture zones (Nosappu Fracture Zone and Iturup Fracture Zone) that divide the oceanic plate into three segments. If the fracture zones (FZ) and the zone of paleo-mechanical weakness, represented by magnetic lineations, can control the direction of normal faults at a trench, the extent of the resulting topographic roughness on the seaward slope of the trench would be different across an FZ because of the differences in ages. By studying recent large earthquakes occurring in the south Kuril region, it is shown that several main-aftershock distributions for large earthquakes in this region are bounded by the Nosappu FZ and the Iturup FZ. Two models (Barrier model and Rebound model) are presented to interpret earthquake occurrence near the south Kuril Islands. The Barrier model explains seismic boundaries seen in several examples for earthquake occurrence in the south Kuril regions. The fracture zone forming the boundary of two segments with different magnetic lineations is also the boundary of two different normal fault systems on their ocean bottom, and the difference in sea-bottom roughness between two normal fault systems should affect the seismic coupling at a plate interface. Due to the difference of seismic coupling, earthquake occurrence is controlled by an FZ and then the FZ acts as a seismic boundary (Barrier model). Existing normal faults created by plate bending of subducting oceanic plate should rebound after its subduction (Rebound model). This rebound of normal faults may cause intraplate earthquakes with a high-angle reverse-fault mechanism such as the 1994 Shikotan Earthquake. The energy released by an intraplate earthquake generated by normal-fault rebounding is not directly related to that of interplate earthquakes such as low-angle thrust earthquakes. It is a reason why large earthquakes occurred in the same region during a relatively short period.     

对日本俯冲带与IBM俯冲带俯冲特征的地球物理研究:来自重力与震源分布数据的启示

日本俯冲带与IBM俯冲带位于太平洋板块、菲律宾海板块和欧亚板块三者的交汇地带,是典型的"俯冲工厂"地区,具有重要的研究意义.本文利用震源分布资料与卫星重力数据对日本俯冲带与IBM俯冲带进行了研究.通过空间重力异常反映了俯冲带地区的区域构造形态,在此基础上基于艾利模式计算了均衡异常以反映地壳均衡特征.利用震源分布资料,分别从垂直俯冲带走向与沿俯冲带走向划定了横截剖面(cross-sections)进行了地震提取,讨论了俯冲带地区的Wadati-Benioff带形态特征,并借助于俯冲带地震等深线图直观描述了俯冲带的俯冲形态.在日本俯冲带与伊豆-小笠原俯冲带各选取了一条典型剖面进行了重力2.5D反演,研究了俯冲带地区的壳幔结构特征.研究结果表明,九州-帕劳海脊与IBM岛弧在均衡异常上存在差异,前者已逐渐趋向于地壳均衡.IBM的Wadati-Benioff带存在明显的南北差异,反映出伊豆-小笠原俯冲板片停留在了660 km转换带中,而马里亚纳俯冲板片很可能垂直穿过了这一转换带,造成这种南北差异的原因与板块相对运动、岩石圈黏性和年龄差异以及俯冲板片的重力效应等因素有关.在IBM的中部和南部存在板片撕裂现象.日本俯冲带的俯冲洋壳密度随俯冲深度变化较小,洋幔存在一定程度的蛇纹岩化,地幔楔蛇纹岩化作用不典型,海沟处有一范围较小的含水畸变带;伊豆-小笠原俯冲带俯冲洋壳密度随深度增大而明显增大,洋幔蛇纹岩化程度较日本俯冲带低,地幔楔蛇纹岩化作用强烈,板块交汇处存在明显的蛇纹岩底辟.日本俯冲带与IBM俯冲带一线自北向南板片俯冲变陡,两侧板块耦合度降低,与俯冲带两侧的板块运动速率差异有关.