Evidence for changing plate motions in southwest Japan and reconstructions of the Philippine Sea plate

Abstract We propose that a change in convergence between the Pacific and Eurasian plates and the demise of the Kula-Pacific spreading centre at ca 43 Ma resulted in an ～40° counterclockwise rotation in shortening direction within the Eocene Shimanto accretionary prism of southwest Japan. Evidence for this interpretation comes from: (1) structural studies of the accreted, deep-sea rocks of the Eocene Shimanto Belt from four widely separated localities; and (2) new plate reconstructions that incorporate the geological history of east Asia as well as the recently recognized reorganization of the Kula and Pacific plates at the time of anomaly 24. These reconstructions suggest that the Philippine Sea plate formed as the Kula-Pacific spreading centre reoriented at the time of anomaly 24 and that the Kula plate was being subducted beneath southwest Japan until ca 43 Ma. Our reconstructions and structural studies suggest that after ca 43 Ma, plate convergence in southwest Japan was oblique to the trend of the continental margin. Oblique convergence was apparently recorded at this time because arc volcanism had decreased and the accretionary prism was not detached from the arc massif. Moreover, the transition from cataclasis and faulting to pressure solution within the accreted sediments may have resulted in a stronger basal décollément, resulting in higher shear stresses along this boundary. We therefore propose that where the arc region and the décollément are of similar strengths, structures within accretionary prisms may record changing plate motions, including oblique convergence.