Thermal evolution of the Northern Cordillera Volcanic Province: implication for heat flow in remnant back-arc regions

ABSTRACT

Active and remnant back-arc regions do not follow a typical conductive lithosphere cooling model, but instead have an apparent two-stage cooling, defined by a high heat flow back-arc region during subduction and a second post-subduction heating event that extends elevated heat flow for several 10s million years. Numerical one-stage cooling models have not reproduced observed heat flow anomalies in active subduction zones using physically realistic parameters and require a secondary post-subduction heating mechanism. Here, an extension driven-volcanism model is developed to examine extension driven heating and volcanism as a mechanism to produce a prolonged thermal anomaly within back-arc lithosphere. This model is tested using the recorded thermal evolution of the Northern Cordillera Volcanic Province (NCVP), a Neogene-Quaternary alkaline volcanic province located in the remnant back-arc region of the Pacific-North American subduction zone in British Columbia, Canada. A single steady-state lithosphere geotherm does not intersect all previously published temperature estimates, suggesting previous data record the thermal evolution of the NCVP. Calculated geotherms at equilibrium with the minimum and maximum MELTS temperatures predict an increase in reduced mantle heat flow (Q_m ) from 43 to 72 mW/m² and lithosphere thinning from a depth of 87 to 48 km. The newly developed extension-volcanism model reproduced the calculated pre- and post-volcanism thermal regimes for the NCVP and supports that extension within the remnant back-arc could produce the present heat flow anomaly and volcanism. The model most readily produces volcanism when Q_m is ~45–65 mW/m², a typical range for back-arcs. Back-arc regions are prime locations for limited volcanism because their warmer thermal regime minimizes tectonic stress requirements to produce volcanism. Additionally, two-stage cooling of back-arcs can be explained with a time-dependent extension-volcanism thermal feedback mechanism that is possible because of the subduction driven pre-heating of back-arc regions.