Distinctive petrological, geochemical, and geodynamic features of subduction-related magmatism

Geological-petrological and geochemical data on subduction-related magmatism (including the volumes and compositions of the corresponding magmatic series) are compared to the results of experiments and numerical simulation. The subduction zone is subdivided into five depth sectors and volcanic zones I, II, and III: 1 is the accretionary wedge that controls the geodynamic stability of subduction; 2 is the sector of dehydration and fluid filtration; 3 is the zone of eclogitization and initial partial melting in the slab above which boninite volcanic zone I is formed during early stages; 4 is the main zone of melting of the sedimentary-basite layer and the development of volcanic zone II with the predominance of andesites; and 5 is the zone of higher degree melting, above which volcanic zone III (basaltic andesite and alkali basalt) is formed. The criterion of volcanism intensity, which was obtained within the scope of the melting model, is proportional to the subduction velocity and the thickness of the melting zone, and the distance between the groups of volcanics along the subduction zone is 75–100 km, at a thickness of the melting zone of 15–20 km. The calculated isotherm of 600°C, which controls the stability of serpentine and chlorite, is not identified at depth above 150 km, and this is confirmed by the composition and P-T conditions of the high-pressure rocks (containing diamond and coesite), which were brought from depths of 150–200 km in subduction zones. Seismic sections constructed with regard for the amplitude characteristics of seismic waves show two melting zones (“wet” melting at a depth of 100–200 km and “dry” melting at a depth of 150–200 km) and a complicated thermal structure of the suprasthenospheric wedge, which can include slant magma conduits. The mineralogical and geochemical features of arc magmatic series are formed at a decisive role of an H₂O-CO₂ fluid and an elevated oxidation potential. The predominant buffer minerals are as follows: garnet in the slab melting zone; magnetite, Ca-pyroxene, and amphibole in intermediate magmatic chambers; and amphibole, protoenstatite-bronzite (in place of olivine), and Cr-spinel (in place of magnetite) for boninite series generated in a “hot” asthenospheric wedge at interaction with fluids or water-rich melts. Actively disputable problems are the interactions scale of melts and fluids generated in a subduction zone with a “hot” mantle wedge, the possibility of transporting water-rich minerals deep into the mantle (to depths greater than 150 km), and the evolution of the scale at which young continental crust is generated by subduction melts.