Initiation of Subduction Zones as a Consequence of Lateral Compositional Buoyancy Contrast within the Lithosphere: a Petrological Perspective

Tonga and Mariana fore-arc peridotites, inferred to representtheir respective sub-arc mantle lithospheres, are compositionallyhighly depleted (low Fe/Mg) and thus physically buoyant relativeto abyssal peridotites representing normal oceanic lithosphere(high Fe/Mg) formed at ocean ridges. The observation that thedepletion of these fore-arc lithospheres is unrelated to, andpre-dates, the inception of present-day western Pacific subductionzones demonstrates the pre-existence of compositional buoyancycontrast at the sites of these subduction zones. These observationsallow us to suggest that lateral compositional buoyancy contrastwithin the oceanic lithosphere creates the favoured and necessarycondition for subduction initiation. Edges of buoyant oceanicplateaux, for example, mark a compositional buoyancy contrastwithin the oceanic lithosphere. These edges under deviatoriccompression (e.g. ridge push) could develop reverse faults withcombined forces in excess of the oceanic lithosphere strength,allowing the dense normal oceanic lithosphere to sink into theasthenosphere beneath the buoyant overriding oceanic plateaux,i.e. the initiation of subduction zones. We term this conceptthe ‘oceanic plateau model’. This model explainsmany other observations and offers testable hypotheses on importantgeodynamic problems on a global scale. These include (1) theorigin of the 43 Ma bend along the Hawaii–Emperor SeamountChain in the Pacific, (2) mechanisms of ophiolite emplacement,(3) continental accretion, etc. Subduction initiation is notunique to oceanic plateaux, but the plateau model well illustratesthe importance of the compositional buoyancy contrast withinthe lithosphere for subduction initiation. Most portions ofpassive continental margins, such as in the Atlantic where largecompositional buoyancy contrast exists, are the loci of futuresubduction zones. KEY WORDS: subduction initiation; compositional buoyancy contrast; oceanic lithosphere; plate tectonics; mantle plumes; hotspots; oceanic plateaux; passive continental margins; continental accretion; mantle peridotites; ophiolites     

Diachronous evolution of systems tracts in a depositional sequence from the middle Pleistocene palaeo-Tokyo Bay, Japan

Palaeo-Tokyo Bay is a relic of the Plio-Pleistocene Kazusa forearc basin in the Boso Peninsula of Japan. The sedimentary infill of palaeo-Tokyo Bay is characterized by shallow marine to paralic sediments of the middle to upper Pleistocene Shimosa Group. Sequence stratigraphical analysis has been used to describe spatial and temporal variations in the depositional systems of the lowest units of the Shimosa Group, deposited during the early stage of development of palaeo-Tokyo Bay. Three different type of depositional systems were recognized: sand ridge to shelf (SRS), shelf to delta (SDL) and shelf to non-deltaic nearshore (SNS) systems. They overlie early transgressive estuarine deposits infilling lowstand valleys incised in the south-eastern margin of palaeo-Tokyo Bay. These systems were developed during late transgressive through highstand stages of a relative sea level cycle, which may have been controlled by a glacio-eustatic sea level change at about 0·4 Ma. Spatial variation in depositional systems is largely identical to that in modern Tokyo Bay; environmental conditions similar to those prevailing at the present day probably characterized the early history of palaeo-Tokyo Bay. The timing of highstand systems tracts within a high frequency depositional sequence was analysed in terms of the effect of sedimentation rate, based on the mapping of a chronostratigraphical surface marked by the Hy4 volcanic ash layer. From spatial variations in sedimentation rate, it was possible to identify the diachronous evolution of highstand systems tracts from the SDL system, through the SNS system, to the SRS system. Time lag is indicated by major bounding surfaces, such as maximum flooding or downlap surfaces associated with a condensed section, which developed immediately above or below the Hy4 volcanic ash layer. The lag may be of the order of a few thousands to tens of thousands of years within a depositional sequence with a total of duration of about 100 000 years.     

Fluid inclusion evidence for basement decompression during Permo-Triassic extension, SE New England, USA

Abstract CO₂-bearing fluid inclusions in strongly lineated but weakly foliated late Precambrian gneisses within the Hope Valley Shear zone of Connecticut and Rhode Island are of mixed composition ( X _co2± 0.1; 7 wt% NaCl equivalent) and variable density (0.59–0.86 g/ml) and occur mainly as isolated inclusions. Also present are dilute (3 wt% NaCl equivalent) aqueous inclusions which occur on healed fractures related to greenschist facies retrograde metamorphism. Isochores for dense isolated CO₂-bearing inclusions indicate pressures of 7.5–9 kbar at 500–600° C, the estimated temperature conditions of peak metamorphism. Published ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar hornblende plateau age spectra indicate cooling through about 500° C at 265 ± 5 Ma. Isochores for low-density CO₂-bearing inclusions and aqueous inclusions intersect at the conditions of retrograde metamorphism (325–400° C) and indicate pressures of 3–4 kbar. Published ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar biotite plateau ages indicate cooling through about 300° C at 250 ± 5 Ma. These data define a P–T uplift curve for the region which is convex towards the temperature axis and indicate uplift rates between 0.4 and 3.3 mm/year in Permian time. Exhumation of basement gneisses was coeval with normal (west-down) motion along the regional basement–cover contact (Honey Hill–Lake Char–Willimantic fault system), and is interpreted as due to post-orogenic extensional collapse of the Alleghanian orogeny.     

The Highly Compatible Trace Element Paradox--Fractional Crystallization Revisited

Field relations in dissected volcanic terrains and the internalevidence of persistent low-pressure cotectic character in eruptedbasalts point to the frequent and substantial modification ofliquid compositions by some form of partial crystallizationwithin the crust In contrast, the highly compatible trace elementsdo not display the marked variations and extreme depletionswhich are predicted to result from perfect fractional crystallization(PFC). Imperfect fractional crystallization, refilling of magmachambers during fractionation and in situ crystallization areimportant factors which can help to explain this apparent paradox.This paper explores another effect, the integration of residualliquids from differing extents of partial crystallization, whichcan help to resolve this paradox, even while still permittingperfect fractional crystallization at all points in the magmachamber. Integration of such residual liquids through the thicknessof the crystallization zone is explicit, although not implemented,in the model of in situ crystallization proposed by Langmuir('Nature 340, 199–205, 1989). It may be separated as aprocess for purposes of mathematical modelling from the basicconcept of partial crystallization of small packets of magmawith remixing of the residual liquids into the main body ofmagma. Integration of melts from differing extents of partialcrystallization might in principle also be applied to the caseof lateral variations in the mass fraction crystallized withposition in the magma chamber. Integrated PFC itself can developresidual liquids which differ little from products of equilibrium(batch) crystallization (FTC) at the same average mass fractionof liquid remaining in both incompatible and compatible traceelement concentrations. For one specific combination of parametersthese integrated liquids are identical in composition at allvalues of the distribution coefficient to the EPC liquid. Atother values of the parameters the integrated liquids may even—anew paradox— have higher relative concentrations of highlycompatible elements than the EPC products. Any integration ofresidual liquids from different mass fractions of PFC rapidlyeliminates what have in the past been taken to be the diagnosticdifferences between PFC and EPC Integration of EPC liquids (towardswhich the products of imperfect fractional crystallization processeswill tend) produces even more pronounced effects, with highlycompatible elements less depleted even than in EPC and far lessdepleted than would be predicted by simple models. When interpretedaccording to oversimplified models, sequences of residual liquidsproduced in such processes might appear to be inconsistent withproducts of a partial crystallization process and to requirea process of progressively smaller mass fractions of meltingof inhomogeneous and progressively more refractory (higher mg-number)source regions. KEY WORDS: highly compatible elements; in situ crystallization; boundary layer; integrated crystallization ^*e-mail: oharamj{at}cardiff.ac.uk     

Minor Phases as Carriers of Trace Elements in Non-Modal Crystal-Liquid Separation Processes I: Basic Relationships

Some trace elements have the property that, although they areincompatible with most mineral phases in magmatic systems, theyare strongly concentrated in certain minor mineral phases. Theseminor phases, termed here ‘carrier-phases’, andtheir associated trace elements include platinum group elementsin base metal sulphide and chromite; chromium and vanadium inmagnetite; uranium group metals in zircon and monazite; andrare earth elements in monazite and xenotime. Carrier-phasesmay form only a small fraction of a source rock undergoing partialmelting and tend to be eliminated from the residue at an intermediatepoint in the partial melting history; conversely, those sameminor carrier-phases tend to precipitate late during fractionalcrystallization of a liquid produced in the above manner, butmay constitute a high proportion of the cumulate then forming.This paper explores the phase equilibria aspects of such processesin a simple system, outlining a nomenclature which is then usedin a mathematical treatment applicable to non-modal meltingand crystallization processes involving several crystal species.The treatment at this stage assumes constant individual crystal–liquiddistribution coefficients. Equations are developed, which areapplied in a companion paper to illustrate the behaviour thatcan be anticipated when carrier-phases play a significant rolein trace element location during melting and crystallization. KEY WORDS: uranium; thorium; platinum group elements; carrier-phase; trace element     

Flood Basalts and Lunar Petrogenesis

The popular interpretation of lunar maria, as sequences of primarypicritic flood basalts derived by remelting a mantle that hadaccumulated from a global magma ocean, has many unsatisfactoryaspects. The expertise of Keith Cox would have been valuablein their interpretation. KEY WORDS: europium anomaly; Io; magma ocean; mare basalt; picrite; quench crystal; regolith     

Zoned Ultrabasic and Basic Gneiss Masses in the Early Lewisian Metamorphic Complex at Scourie, Sutherland

The field relations and petrography of ultrabasic and basicgneisses which occur associated in small masses among bandedgranulite facies gneisses are described. The rocks are ascribedto reaction between ultrabasic intrusive bodies and countryrock under granulite facies conditions.     

Trace Element Geochemical Effects of Integrated Melt Extraction and 'Shaped' Melting Regimes

The mixing (integration) of liquids obtained as different massfractions of partial melting from source material of the samebulk composition, travelling along different mantle flow-linesthrough a melting regime, can result in deficiencies in therelative concentrations of those incompatible elements whosebulk distribution coefficients are numerically approximatelyequal to the average mass fraction of melt extracted from thetotal source material involved in the provision of the mixedmelts. These deficiencies can be very substantial, exceeding50% of the concentration which would have been expected to bepresent in the liquid if that same average mass fraction ofmelt had been extracted from the whole melting regime by simpleequilibrium or accumulated perfect fractional partial melting.The size of the deficit varies with the shape and plan-formof the melting region, and can be greatly reduced by subsequentperfect fractional crystallization of that liquid. Discriminationis increased between all elements whose distribution coefficientsare numerically smaller than the average mass fraction of partialmelt extracted from the whole region. These effects can leadto steepening of chondrite-normalized REE patterns and to apparentselective light rare earth enrichment in liquid and source. KEY WORDS: melt integration; shaped melting regimes; trace elements; numerical modelling     

Flood Basalts, Basalt Floods or Topless Bushvelds? Lunar Petrogenesis Revisited

There is a conspicuous dichotomy in the conventional model oflunar petrogenesis between the total intra-crustal differentiationpostulated for the products of feldspathic volcanism in thelunar highlands and the near absence of differentiation postulatedfor the products of mare volcanism. Both the cumulate mantlemodel, and the selenotherm postulated to accompany genesis ofalleged ‘primary’ mare magmas by remelting of thosecumulates, imply supra-adiabatic thermal gradients in near-solidusmaterials throughout the lunar mantle 4·3–3·2Ga ago. This should have resulted in vigorous convective motion,which has not occurred. There is no positive europium anomalyin the average lunar highland crust. That crust cannot, therefore,have formed by plagioclase flotation from a lunar magma ocean,for which there is no other requirement. There is no negativeeuropium anomaly in the average mantle to be inherited by latermare basalts. Other rocky bodies of lunar size in the SolarSystem have accreted at rates that allowed incorporation ofplenty of volatiles and without forming global magma oceans.Partial melting in the presence of water, followed by near-surfacefractionation and volatile losses can explain the feldspathiccharacter, high incompatible element concentrations and lackof Eu anomaly in the lunar highlands. Volcanic eruption on theMoon must have been accompanied by selective volatilizationlosses of sodium, sulphur and other elements similar to theprocess seen on Io, which can account for the major differencesbetween terrestrial and lunar basalts. Siderophile element depletionin lunar lavas may reflect immiscible sulphide liquid and metalseparation, rather than global impoverishment in such elements,and large ore bodies may have formed close to the lunar surface.Mare basalt volcanism appears to have been a protracted, lowmagma productivity event with few similarities to terrestrialocean-floor, ocean-island, continental flood basalt or komatiitevolcanism. At low pressure the crystallization of plagioclasewell before pyroxene typifies those terrestrial mid-ocean ridgebasalt, ocean-island basalt and continental flood basalt magmas.A similar sequence is demanded of the postulated lunar primarymagmas. Mare basalt hand-specimen and pyroclastic glass beadcompositions do not, however, display the required crystallizationsequence and cannot represent the required primary melt compositions.The true erupted lava compositions which gave rise to the regolithcompositions across all the maria are much more feldspathicthan the majority of large hand specimens and, in common withbasalts on other planets, they are close to low-pressure plagioclase-saturatedcotectic residual liquids which have evolved by removal of gabbrosin crustal magma chambers, or perhaps in giant lava lakes akinto topless Bushveld complexes. Any further debate could be resolvedby a 100 m drill core in a few mare locations. Field provenanceof samples from Mars, a planet half covered by flood basaltsand products of central volcanoes, will be little better thanfor those from the Moon. It will be important to encourage multipleworking hypotheses, rather than to rush to a consensus. KEY WORDS: lunar; basalt; highland; magma ocean; europium     

Geochemical Effects of Small Packet Crystallization in Large Magma Chambers--Further Resolution of the Highly Compatible Element Paradox

This is a study of the effect of solidifying a magma body bypartial crystallization of a series of small packets of liquid,mixing the residual liquid into the main body of liquid beforerepeating the process. It confirms the major conclusions ofearlier workers and demonstrates that the dominant geochemicaleffect of the small packet process is to sustain the relativeconcentrations of the compatible elements in the residual liquidsfrom partial crystallization. Formal introduction of integratedpartial crystallization ivithin the small packets of liquidenhances these effects. Incorporation of such a crystallizationmodel into a refilled, tapped and fractionated magma body enhancesthe effects still more. The process affords a way to explainthe 'anomalously' high compatible element concentrations inerupted liquids which have nevertheless bun subject to substantiallowpressure crystallization. It may also have a bearing on theratios of extremely compatible elements whose concentrationsin the upper mantle are high and relatively undifferentiatedrelative to chondrites. KEY WORDS: nickel; platinum group elements; in situ crystallization; boundary layer; integrated crystallization ^*email oharamj{at}cardiff.ac.uk