LATE CENOZOIC GOLD VEINS AND VOLCANIC COLLAPSE TECTONICS IN THE ISLAND ARC JUNCTIONS OF THE JAPANESE ISLANDS

0 Introduction The Japanese Islands consist of five volcanic arcs (Fig.1).The North-East and SouthWest Japan arcs together form the Honshu arc,to which the Kurile arc joins at Hokkaido,whereas the Izu-Mariana arc joins at Izu-Fossa Magna,and the Ryukyu arc joins at Kyushu.These regions where volcanic arcs converge,are termed "island arc junctions".