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1
Nelson, C. H., J. Gutiérrez Pastor, C. Goldfinger, and C. Escutia. "Great earthquakes along the Western United States continental margin: implications for hazards, stratigraphy and turbidite lithology." Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 12, no. 11 (November 1, 2012): 3191–208. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-12-3191-2012.
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Abstract. We summarize the importance of great earthquakes (Mw &gtrsim; 8) for hazards, stratigraphy of basin floors, and turbidite lithology along the active tectonic continental margins of the Cascadia subduction zone and the northern San Andreas Transform Fault by utilizing studies of swath bathymetry visual core descriptions, grain size analysis, X-ray radiographs and physical properties. Recurrence times of Holocene turbidites as proxies for earthquakes on the Cascadia and northern California margins are analyzed using two methods: (1) radiometric dating (14C method), and (2) relative dating, using hemipelagic sediment thickness and sedimentation rates (H method). The H method provides (1) the best estimate of minimum recurrence times, which are the most important for seismic hazards risk analysis, and (2) the most complete dataset of recurrence times, which shows a normal distribution pattern for paleoseismic turbidite frequencies. We observe that, on these tectonically active continental margins, during the sea-level highstand of Holocene time, triggering of turbidity currents is controlled dominantly by earthquakes, and paleoseismic turbidites have an average recurrence time of ~550 yr in northern Cascadia Basin and ~200 yr along northern California margin. The minimum recurrence times for great earthquakes are approximately 300 yr for the Cascadia subduction zone and 130 yr for the northern San Andreas Fault, which indicates both fault systems are in (Cascadia) or very close (San Andreas) to the early window for another great earthquake. On active tectonic margins with great earthquakes, the volumes of mass transport deposits (MTDs) are limited on basin floors along the margins. The maximum run-out distances of MTD sheets across abyssal-basin floors along active margins are an order of magnitude less (~100 km) than on passive margins (~1000 km). The great earthquakes along the Cascadia and northern California margins cause seismic strengthening of the sediment, which results in a margin stratigraphy of minor MTDs compared to the turbidite-system deposits. In contrast, the MTDs and turbidites are equally intermixed on basin floors along passive margins with a mud-rich continental slope, such as the northern Gulf of Mexico. Great earthquakes also result in characteristic seismo-turbidite lithology. Along the Cascadia margin, the number and character of multiple coarse pulses for correlative individual turbidites generally remain constant both upstream and downstream in different channel systems for 600 km along the margin. This suggests that the earthquake shaking or aftershock signature is normally preserved, for the stronger (Mw ≥ 9) Cascadia earthquakes. In contrast, the generally weaker (Mw = or <8) California earthquakes result in upstream simple fining-up turbidites in single tributary canyons and channels; however, downstream mainly stacked turbidites result from synchronously triggered multiple turbidity currents that deposit in channels below confluences of the tributaries. Consequently, both downstream channel confluences and the strongest (Mw ≥ 9) great earthquakes contribute to multi-pulsed and stacked turbidites that are typical for seismo-turbidites generated by a single great earthquake. Earthquake triggering and multi-pulsed or stacked turbidites also become an alternative explanation for amalgamated turbidite beds in active tectonic margins, in addition to other classic explanations. The sedimentologic characteristics of turbidites triggered by great earthquakes along the Cascadia and northern California margins provide criteria to help distinguish seismo-turbidites in other active tectonic margins.
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ORTEGA-FLORES, BERLAINE, LUIGI A. SOLARI, and FELIPE DE JESÚS ESCALONA-ALCÁZAR. "The Mesozoic successions of western Sierra de Zacatecas, Central Mexico: provenance and tectonic implications." Geological Magazine 153, no. 4 (December 17, 2015): 696–717. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0016756815000977.
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AbstractCentral Mexico was subject to active tectonics related to subduction processes while it occupied a position in western equatorial Pangea during early Mesozoic time. The subduction of the palaeo-Pacific plate along the western North American and South American active continental margins produced volcanic arc successions which were subsequently rifted and re-incorporated to the continental margin. In this context, the fringing arcs are important in unravelling the continental accretionary record. Using petrographic analysis, detrital zircon geochronology and structural geology, this paper demonstrates that the Guerrero Arc (Guerrero Terrane) formed on top of a felsic volcaniclastic unit (Middle Jurassic La Pimienta Formation) and siliciclastic strata (Upper Triassic Zacatecas Formation and Arteaga Complex) of continental Mexican provenance, deposited across the continental margin and oceanic substrate. This assemblage was rifted away from continental Mexico to form an intervening oceanic assemblage (Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous Las Pilas Volcanosedimentary Complex of the Arperos Basin), then accreted back more or less at the same place, all above the same east-dipping subduction zone. The accretion of the Guerrero Arc to the Mexican continental mainland (Sierra Madre Terrane) caused the deposition of a siliciclastic unit (La Escondida Phyllite), which recycled detritus from the volcaniclastic and siliciclastic underlying strata.
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Utoplennikov, Vladimir K., and Anastasia D. Drabkina. "Mixgenetic concept of of oil and gas fields formation in basement and sedimentary cover on the shelf of South Vietnam." Georesursy 21, no. 4 (October 30, 2019): 27–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.18599/grs.2019.4.27-33.
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According to the geodynamic model of oil and gas formation, the most favorable conditions for the oil and gas fields are formed in the mobile zones of the earth’s crust, especially in areas of active continental margins, characterized by high seismicity, the presence of deep faults, the development of subduction and riftogenic processes. Therefore, it is logical that most of the world’s oil and gas deposits are concentrated in rifts or in the vicinity of paleo- and modern subduction zones. The study of the unique oil deposits in the granite basement of the White Tiger field, using data from other fields in the world, allows concluding that the formation of oil deposits in the basement can occur not only due to the resources of adjacent oil and gas deposits. Taking into account modern geodynamic ideas, in the context of the Earth’s internal geospheres, at least three oil generation zones can be distinguished: mantle-asthenospheric abiogenic synthesis; subduction-dissipative biomineral synthesis; stratospheric-biogenic synthesis. Obviously, all these three zones, as a single open system for the generation of hydrocarbons, will be interconnected only in conditions of deep faults, active continental margins and other parts of the Earth’s crust. This suggests that there are deep generation zones, which are currently fueling the developed fields.
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Ootes, Luke, William J. Davis, Valerie A. Jackson, and Otto van Breemen. "Chronostratigraphy of the Hottah terrane and Great Bear magmatic zone of Wopmay Orogen, Canada, and exploration of a terrane translation model." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 52, no. 12 (December 2015): 1062–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2015-0026.
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The Paleoproterozoic Hottah terrane is the westernmost exposed bedrock of the Canadian Shield and a critical component for understanding the evolution of the Wopmay Orogen. Thirteen new high-precision U–Pb zircon crystallization ages are presented and support field observations of a volcano-plutonic continuum from Hottah terrane through to the end of the Great Bear magmatism, from >1950 to 1850 Ma. The new crystallization ages, new geochemical data, and newly published detrital zircon U–Pb data are used to challenge hitherto accepted models for the evolution of the Hottah terrane as an exotic arc and microcontinent that arrived over a west-dipping subduction zone and collided with the Slave craton at ca. 1.88 Ga. Although the Hottah terrane does have a tectonic history that is distinct from that of the neighbouring Slave craton, it shares a temporal history with a number of domains to the south and east — domains that were tied to the Slave craton by ca. 1.97 Ga. It is interpreted herein that Hottah terrane began to the south of its current position and evolved in an active margin over an always east-dipping subduction system that began prior to ca. 2.0 Ga and continued to ca. 1.85 Ga, and underwent tectonic switching and migration. The stratigraphy of the ca. 1913–1900 Ma Hottah plutonic complex and Bell Island Bay Group includes a subaerial rifting arc sequence, followed by basinal opening represented by marginal marine quartz arenite and overlying ca. 1893 Ma pillowed basalt flows and lesser rhyodacites. We interpret this stratigraphy to record Hottah terrane rifting off its parental arc crust — in essence the birth of the new Hottah terrane. This model is similar to rapidly rifting arcs in active margins — for example, modern Baja California. These rifts generally occur at the transition between subduction zones (e.g., Cocos–Rivera plates) and transtensional shear zones (e.g., San Andreas fault), and we suggest that extension-driven transtensional shearing, or, more simply, terrane translation, was responsible for the evolution of Bell Island Bay Group stratigraphy and that it transported this newly born Hottah terrane laterally (northward in modern coordinates), arriving adjacent to the Slave craton at ca. 1.88 Ga. Renewed east-dipping subduction led to the Great Bear arc flare-up at ca. 1876 Ma, continuing to ca. 1869 Ma. This was followed by voluminous Great Bear plutonism until ca. 1855 Ma. The model implies that it was the westerly Nahanni terrane and its subducting oceanic crust that collided with this active margin, shutting down the >120 million year old, east-dipping subduction system.
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Billi, Andrea, Claudio Faccenna, Olivier Bellier, Liliana Minelli, Giancarlo Neri, Claudia Piromallo, Debora Presti, Davide Scrocca, and Enrico Serpelloni. "Recent tectonic reorganization of the Nubia-Eurasia convergent boundary heading for the closure of the western Mediterranean." Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 182, no. 4 (July 1, 2011): 279–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.182.4.279.
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Abstract In the western Mediterranean area, after a long period (late Paleogene-Neogene) of Nubian (W-Africa) northward subduction beneath Eurasia, subduction has almost ceased, as well as convergence accommodation in the subduction zone. With the progression of Nubia-Eurasia convergence, a tectonic reorganization is therefore necessary to accommodate future contraction. Previously-published tectonic, seismological, geodetic, tomographic, and seismic reflection data (integrated by some new GPS velocity data) are reviewed to understand the reorganization of the convergent boundary in the western Mediterranean. Between northern Morocco, to the west, and northern Sicily, to the east, contractional deformation has shifted from the former subduction zone to the margins of the two back-arc oceanic basins (Algerian-Liguro-Provençal and Tyrrhenian basins) and it is now mainly active in the south-Tyrrhenian (northern Sicily), northern Liguro-Provençal, Algerian, and Alboran (partly) margins. Onset of compression and basin inversion has propagated in a scissor-like manner from the Alboran (c. 8 Ma) to the Tyrrhenian (younger than c. 2 Ma) basins following a similar propagation of the cessation of the subduction, i.e., older to the west and younger to the east. It follows that basin inversion is rather advanced on the Algerian margin, where a new southward subduction seems to be in its very infant stage, while it has still to really start in the Tyrrhenian margin, where contraction has resumed at the rear of the fold-thrust belt and may soon invert the Marsili oceanic basin. Part of the contractional deformation may have shifted toward the north in the Liguro-Provençal basin possibly because of its weak rheological properties compared with those of the area between Tunisia and Sardinia, where no oceanic crust occurs and seismic deformation is absent or limited. The tectonic reorganization of the Nubia-Eurasia boundary in the study area is still strongly controlled by the inherited tectonic fabric and rheological attributes, which are strongly heterogeneous along the boundary. These features prevent, at present, the development of long and continuous thrust faults. In an extreme and approximate synthesis, the evolution of the western Mediterranean is inferred to follow a Wilson Cycle (at a small scale) with the following main steps : (1) northward Nubian subduction with Mediterranean back-arc extension (since ~35 Ma); (2) progressive cessation, from west to east, of Nubian main subduction (since ~15 Ma); (3) progressive onset of compression, from west to east, in the former back-arc domain and consequent basin inversion (since ~8–10 Ma); (4) possible future subduction of former back-arc basins.
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Gordienko, I. V., O. R. Minina, L. I. Vetluzhskikh, A. Ya Medvedev, and D. Odgerel. "Hentei-Dauria fold system of the Mongolia-Okhotsk belt: magmatism, sedimentogenesis, and geodynamics." Geodynamics & Tectonophysics 9, no. 3 (October 9, 2018): 1063–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.5800/gt-2018-9-3-0384.
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The geostructural, petrological, geochemical, geochronological and biostratigraphic studies were conducted in the Hentei-Dauria fold system of the Mongolia-Okhotsk orogenic belt. This Paleozoic system is composed mainly of three heterochronous rock associations related to the onset and development of oceanic basins and active margins in the conjugation zone of the Siberian continent and the Mongolia-Okhotsk ocean. This region developed in three stages: (1) Late Caledonian (Ordovician – Early Silurian), (2) Early Hercynian (Late Silurian – Devonian), and (3) Late Hercynian (Carboniferous–Permian). In the Late Caledonian, oceanic seafloor spreading was initiated, deep-sea siliceous deposits were formed, basaltic and andesitic pillow lavas were erupted, and layered and cumulative gabbros, gabbro-dolerite dykes and subduction zones with island-arc magmatism were formed. After a short quiescence period, new zones of spreading and subduction occurred at the active margins of the Mongolia-Okhotsk ocean in the Early Hercynian. In the Late Hercynian, large back-arc sedimentary basins, accretionary prisms and connecting intraplate magmatic complexes were formed in all structures of the Hentei-Dauria fold system. As a result of our studies, we propose a comprehensive model showing the geodynamic development of the Hentei-Dauria fold system that occurred in the area of the Mongolia-Okhotsk Ocean and its margins.
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Sokolov, S. D., L. I. Lobkovsky, V. A. Vernikovsky, M. I. Tuchkova, N. O. Sorokhtin, and M. V. Kononov. "Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic Tectonics and Geodynamics of the East Arctic Region." Russian Geology and Geophysics 63, no. 4 (April 1, 2022): 324–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/rgg20214435.
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Abstract Tectonic and geodynamic models of the formation of the Amerasian Basin are discussed. The Arctic margins of the Chukchi region and Northern Alaska have much in common in their Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous tectonic evolution: (1) Both have a Neoproterozoic basement and a complexly deformed sedimentary cover, with the stage of Elsmere deformations recorded in their tectonic history; (2) the South Anyui and Angayucham ocean basins have a common geologic history from the beginning of formation in the late Paleozoic to the closure at the end of the Early Cretaceous, which allows us to consider them branches of the single Proto-Arctic Ocean, the northern margin of which was passive and the southern margin was active; (3) the dipping of the oceanic and, then, continental lithosphere took place in subduction zones southerly; (4) the collision of the passive and active margins of both basins occurred at the end of the Early Cretaceous and ended in Hauterivian–Barremian time; (5) the collision resulted in thrust–fold structures of northern vergence in the Chukchi fold belt and in the orogen of the Brooks Ridge. A subduction-convective geodynamic model of the formation of the Amerasian Basin is proposed, which is based on seismic-tomography data on the existence of a circulation of matter in the upper mantle beneath the Arctic and East Asia in a horizontally elongated convective cell with a length of several thousand kilometers. This circulation involves the subducted Pacific lithosphere, the material of which moves along the bottom of the upper mantle from the subduction zone toward the continent, forming the lower branch of the cell, and the closing upper branch of the cell forms a reverse flow of matter beneath the lithosphere toward the subduction zone, which is the driving force determining the surface kinematics of crustal blocks and the deformation of the lithosphere. The viscous dragging of the Amerasian lithosphere by the horizontal flow of the upper mantle matter toward the Pacific leads to the separation of the system of blocks of Alaska and the Chukchi region from the Canadian Arctic margin. The resulting scattered deformations can cause a different-scale thinning of the continental crust with the formation of a region of Central Arctic elevation and troughs or with a breakup of the continental crust with subsequent rifting and spreading in the Canadian Basin.
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Watson, S. J., J. J. Mountjoy, and G. J. Crutchley. "Tectonic and geomorphic controls on the distribution of submarine landslides across active and passive margins, eastern New Zealand." Geological Society, London, Special Publications 500, no. 1 (December 19, 2019): 477–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/sp500-2019-165.
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AbstractSubmarine landslides occur on continental margins globally and can have devastating consequences for marine habitats, offshore infrastructure and coastal communities due to potential tsunamigenesis. Therefore, understanding landslide magnitude and distribution is central to marine and coastal hazard planning.We present the first submarine landslide database for the eastern margin of New Zealand comprising >2200 landslides occurring in water depths from c. 300–4000 m. Landslides are more prevalent and, on average, larger on the active margin compared with the passive margin. We attribute higher concentrations of landslides on the active margin to tectonic processes including uplift and oversteepening, faulting and seamount subduction. Submarine landslide scars are concentrated around canyon systems and close to canyon thalwegs. This suggests that not only does mass wasting play a major role in canyon evolution, but also that canyon-forming processes may provide preconditioning factors for slope failure.Results of this study offer unique insights into the spatial distribution, magnitude and morphology of submarine landslides across different geological settings, providing a better understanding of the causative factors for mass wasting in New Zealand and around the world.
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Meighan, Hallie E., and Jay Pulliam. "Seismic anisotropy beneath the northeastern Caribbean: implications for the subducting North American lithosphere." Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 184, no. 1-2 (January 1, 2013): 67–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.184.1-2.67.
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Abstract Active plate boundaries in the Caribbean form a complex tectonic environment that includes transform and subduction zones. The Caribbean-North American plate boundary is one such active margin, where subduction transitions from arc- to oblique-type off the northeast coast of Puerto Rico. Understanding mantle flow in this region will not only help determine the nature of tectonic activity and mantle dynamics that control these margins, but will also aid our understanding of the fate of subducting lithosphere. The existence of tears, windows, and gaps in subducting slabs has been proposed at various locations around the world but few have been confirmed. Since mantle flow and crustal deformation are believed to produce seismic anisotropy in the asthenosphere and lithosphere, searching for changes in, for example, SKS splitting parameters can help identify locations at which subducting slabs have been disrupted. Several lines of evidence support the notion of a slab tear within the subducting North American plate at this transition zone, including the counter-clockwise rotation of the Puerto Rico microplate over the past ~10 Ma, clusters of small seismic events, and trench collapse initiating ~3.3 m.y. Here we present results from a detailed investigation of seismic anisotropy from 28 stations across six networks in the Northeast Caribbean that support the hypothesis of a significant slab gap in the vicinity of the U.S. and British Virgin islands. A regional synthesis of our results reveals fast shear wave polarizations that are generally oriented parallel to the plate boundary with intermediate to high SH-SV delay times. For example, polarization directions are oriented roughly NE-SW along the bulk of the Lesser Antilles, E-W along the Puerto Rico trench and the northern Lesser Antilles, and NW-SE beneath Hispaniola. Beneath the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, however, the fast polarization direction differs markedly from the regional pattern, becoming almost perpendicular to the plate boundary. Stations on Anegada, British Virgin islands and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin islands show a fast polarization direction that is oriented nearly NNE-SSW and smaller delay times than surrounding stations. These results suggest that mantle flow is redirected NE-SW at this location through a gap in the subducted lithosphere of the North American plate.
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Hall, Robert. "The subduction initiation stage of the Wilson cycle." Geological Society, London, Special Publications 470, no. 1 (February 19, 2018): 415–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/sp470.3.
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AbstractIn the Wilson cycle, there is a change from an opening to a closing ocean when subduction begins. Subduction initiation is commonly identified as a major problem in plate tectonics and is said to be nowhere observable, yet there are many young subduction zones at the west Pacific margins and in eastern Indonesia. Few studies have considered these examples. Banda subduction developed by the eastwards propagation of the Java trench into an oceanic embayment by tearing along a former ocean–continent boundary. The earlier subducted slab provided the driving force to drag down unsubducted oceanic lithosphere. Although this process may be common, it does not account for young subduction zones near Sulawesi at different stages of development. Subduction began there at the edges of ocean basins, not at former spreading centres or transforms. It initiated at a point where there were major differences in elevation between the ocean floor and the adjacent hot, weak and thickened arc/continental crust. The age of the ocean crust appears to be unimportant. A close relationship with extension is marked by the dramatic elevation of land, the exhumation of deep crust and the spectacular subsidence of basins, raising questions about the time required to move from no subduction to active subduction, and how initiation can be identified in the geological record.
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Farzaneh Farahi, Saeed Taki, and Mojgan Salavati. "Petrogenesis and tectonomagmatic setting of gabbroic rocks in the Gisel area (northern Iran)." Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results 13, no. 4 (October 10, 2022): 583–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.47750/pnr.2022.13.04.077.
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The Alborz-Azerbaijan magmatic zone in northern Iran is one of the important zones of magmatic activity in the Cenozoic. Lithologically, this complex consists of olivine gabbro, monzogabbro, dolerite, and gabbro with granular, intergranular, and porphyritic textures. The main phenocrysts of these rocks are clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and sometimes iddingsitized olivine. The rocks producing magma has potassic and shoshonitic nature. Enrichment in large-ion lithophile elements (LILEs), i.e., Ba, Rb, and Th, and depletion of high-field strength elements (HFSEs), i.e., Ti and Nb, in the spider diagrams are of the characteristics of subduction and active continental margin rocks. Also, these diagrams show enrichment in the light rare earth elements (LREEs) compared to heavy rare earth elements (HREEs). This feature also is representative of the rocks of subduction zones and active continental margins. The geochemical and petrogenetic studies indicate unique origin of the intrusive rocks in the study area and the role of fractional crystallization with simultaneous crustal assimilation (AFC) and magma contamination with crustal rocks in the evolution of the magma forming these rocks. This magma is obtained from the low-degree partial melting of an enriched mantle source beneath the continental lithosphere with garnet lherzolite composition at a depth of 100 to 110 km in a post-collision extensional basin.
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Malavieille, Jacques, Stephane Dominguez, Chia-Yu Lu, Chih-Tung Chen, and Elena Konstantinovskaya. "Deformation partitioning in mountain belts: insights from analogue modelling experiments and the Taiwan collisional orogen." Geological Magazine 158, no. 1 (July 11, 2019): 84–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0016756819000645.
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AbstractMany orogens on the planet result from plate convergence involving subduction of a continental margin. The lithosphere is strongly deformed during mountain building involving subduction of a plate composed generally of accreted continental margin units and some fragments of downgoing oceanic crust and mantle. A complex deformation involving strong partitioning of deformation modes and kinematics produces crustal shortening, accompanied by crustal thickening. Partitioning depends on three main factors: (1) rheologic layering of the lithosphere; (2) interaction between tectonics and surface processes; (3) subduction kinematics and 3D geometry of continental margins (oblique convergence, shape of indenters). Here we present an original view and discussion on the impact of deformation partitioning on the structure and evolution of orogens by examining the Taiwan mountain belt as a case study. Major unsolved questions are addressed through geological observations from the Taiwan orogen and insights from analogue models integrating surface processes. Some of these questions include: What is the role played by décollements or weak zones in crustal deformation and what is the impact of structural heterogeneities inherited from the early extensional history of a rifted passive continental margin? What is the relationship between deep underplating, induced uplift and flow of crustal material during erosion (finite strain evolution during wedge growth)? Are syn-convergent normal faults an effect of deformation partitioning and erosion? What is the role of strain partitioning on the location of major seismogenic faults in active mountain belts? What can be learned about the long-term and the present-day evolution of Taiwan?
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García-Arias, Marcos, Nathalia Andrea Pineda-Rodríguez, Idael Francisco Blanco-Quintero, and Matthew Jason Mayne. "Generation of magmatism under active continental margins: A thermodynamic study of subduction and translithospheric diapirs." Lithos 430-431 (November 2022): 106881. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2022.106881.
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Angiboust, Samuel, Armel Menant, Taras Gerya, and Onno Oncken. "The rise and demise of deep accretionary wedges: A long-term field and numerical modeling perspective." Geosphere 18, no. 1 (November 22, 2021): 69–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/ges02392.1.
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Abstract Several decades of field, geophysical, analogue, and numerical modeling investigations have enabled documentation of the wide range of tectonic transport processes in accretionary wedges, which constitute some of the most dynamic plate boundary environments on Earth. Active convergent margins can exhibit basal accretion (via underplating) leading to the formation of variably thick duplex structures or tectonic erosion, the latter known to lead to the consumption of the previously accreted material and eventually the forearc continental crust. We herein review natural examples of actively underplating systems (with a focus on circum-Pacific settings) as well as field examples highlighting internal wedge dynamics recorded by fossil accretionary systems. Duplex formation in deep paleo–accretionary systems is known to leave in the rock record (1) diagnostic macro- and microscopic deformation patterns as well as (2) large-scale geochronological characteristics such as the downstepping of deformation and metamorphic ages. Zircon detrital ages have also proved to be a powerful approach to deciphering tectonic transport in ancient active margins. Yet, fundamental questions remain in order to understand the interplay of forces at the origin of mass transfer and crustal recycling in deep accretionary systems. We address these questions by presenting a suite of two-dimensional thermo-mechanical experiments that enable unravelling the mass-flow pathways and the long-term distribution of stresses along and above the subduction interface as well as investigating the importance of parameters such as fluids and slab roughness. These results suggest the dynamical instability of fluid-bearing accretionary systems causes either an episodic or a periodic character of subduction erosion and accretion processes as well as their topographic expression. The instability can be partly deciphered through metamorphic and strain records, thus explaining the relative scarcity of paleo–accretionary systems worldwide despite the tremendous amounts of material buried by the subduction process over time scales of tens or hundreds of millions of years. We finally stress that the understanding of the physical processes at the origin of underplating processes as well as the forearc topographic response paves the way for refining our vision of long-term plate-interface coupling as well as the rheological behavior of the seismogenic zone in active subduction settings.
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Dasgupta, Ritabrata, and Nibir Mandal. "Role of double-subduction dynamics in the topographic evolution of the Sunda Plate." Geophysical Journal International 230, no. 1 (January 27, 2022): 696–713. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggac025.
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SUMMARY The Sunda Plate has shaped itself in a complex tectonic framework, driven by the interactions of multiple subduction zones in its history. Using thermomechanical computational fluid dynamic models we show in this paper how the in-dip double-subduction dynamics has controlled the first-order 3-D topography of this plate, currently bounded by two major N–S trending active trenches: Andaman–Sumatra–Java and Philippines on its western and eastern margins, respectively. We consider six E–W transects to account for an along-trench variation of the subduction parameters: subduction rate (Vc), shallow-depth (200–300 km) slab dip (α) and intertrench distance (ITD, λ) in our 2-D numerical experiments. The deviatoric stress fields and the topographic patterns are found to strongly depend on λ. For large ITDs (λ = 2000–3000 km), the overriding plate develops dominantly tensile stresses in its central zone, forming low topographic elevations. Decreasing λ results in a transition from extensional to contractional deformation, and promotes topographic uplift in the southern part. We explain these effects of λ in terms of the sublithospheric flow vortex patterns produced by the subducting slabs. Large λ (> 2000 km) generates non-interacting flow vortices, located close to the two trenches, leaving the mantle region beneath the overriding plate weakly perturbed. In contrast, small λ results in their strong interaction to produce a single upwelling zone, which facilitates the overriding plate to gain a higher topographic elevation. The stress field predicted from our model is validated with the observed stress patterns. We also interpolate a 3-D topographic surface and vertical uplift rates from the serial model sections, and compare them with the observed surface topography of the Sunda Plate.
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Petrov, G. A., N. I. Tristan, G. N. Borozdina, and A. V. Maslov. "The final stage of the Acid Island Arc magmatism in the Northern Urals." Доклады Академии наук 489, no. 2 (November 20, 2019): 166–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.31857/s0869-56524892166-169.
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For the first time, the time of completion of the formation of calc-alkaline volcanic complexes of the Devonian Island Arc (Franian) in the Northern Urals was determined. It is shown that the late Devonian volcanic rocks of the Limka series have geochemical characteristics that bring them closer to the rocks of developed island arcs and active continental margins. The detected delay of the final episode of calc-alkaline volcanism in the Northern Urals in comparison with the similar event in the southern Urals may be due to the oblique nature of the subduction.
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Nokleberg, Warren J., David W. Scholl, Thomas K. Bundtzen, and David B. Stone. "Effects of Cenozoic subduction along the outboard margin of the Northern Cordillera: Derived from e-book on the Northern Cordillera (Alaska and Western Canada) and adjacent marine areas." Geosphere 16, no. 1 (December 11, 2019): 33–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/ges02045.1.
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Abstract This article describes the regional effects of Cenozoic subduction along the outboard margin of the Northern Cordillera (Alaska, USA, and Western Canada), and thereby acquaints the reader with several chapters of the e-book Dynamic Geology of the Northern Cordillera (Alaska, Western Canada, and Adjacent Marine Areas). This article and the e-book are written for earth-science students and teachers. The level of writing for the article and the source e-book is that of popular science magazines, and readers are encouraged to share this article with students and laypersons. The main thrust of the article is to present and describe a suite of ten regional topographic, bathymetric, and geologic maps, and two figures portraying deep-crustal sections that illustrate the regional effects of Cenozoic subduction along the outboard margin of the North American Cordillera. The regional maps and cross sections are described in a way that a teacher might describe a map to students. Cenozoic subduction along the margin of the Northern Cordillera resulted in the formation of the following: (1) underthrusting of terranes and oceanic lithosphere beneath Southern Alaska; (2) landscapes, including narrow continental shelves along Southern and Southeastern Alaska and Western Canada (the Canadian Cordillera) and continental-margin mountain ranges, including the Alaska Peninsula, Chugach Range, Saint Elias Mountains, and Cascade Mountains; (3) sedimentary basins; (4) an array of active continental strike-slip and thrust faults (inboard of subduction zones); (5) earthquake belts related to subduction of terranes and oceanic plates; (6) active volcanoes, including continental-margin arcs (the Aleutian, Wrangell, and Cascade Arcs) linked to subduction zones, and interior volcanic belts related to strike-slip faulting or to hot spots; (7) lode and placer mineral deposits related to continental margin arcs or subduction of oceanic ridges; (8) hot springs related to continental-margin arcs; (9) plate movements as recorded from GPS measurements; and (10) underthrusting of terranes and oceanic lithosphere beneath the Northern Cordillera.
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ROBERTSON, ALASTAIR H. F., GILLIAN A. McCAY, KEMAL TASLI, and AŞEGÜL YILDIZ. "Eocene development of the northerly active continental margin of the Southern Neotethys in the Kyrenia Range, north Cyprus." Geological Magazine 151, no. 4 (September 25, 2013): 692–731. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0016756813000563.
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AbstractWe focus on an active continental margin related to northwards subduction during the Eocene in which sedimentary melange (‘olistostromes’) forms a key component. Maastrichtian – Early Eocene deep-marine carbonates and volcanic rocks pass gradationally upwards into a thick succession (<800 m) of gravity deposits, exposed in several thrust sheets. The lowest levels are mainly siliciclastic turbidites and debris-flow deposits. Interbedded marls contain Middle Eocene planktonic/benthic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils. Sandstones include abundant ophiolite-derived grains. The higher levels are chaotic debris-flow deposits that include exotic blocks of Late Palaeozoic – Mesozoic neritic limestone and dismembered ophiolite-related rocks. A thinner sequence (<200 m) in one area contains abundant redeposited Paleogene pelagic limestone and basalt. Chemical analysis of basaltic clasts shows that some are subduction influenced. Basaltic clasts from unconformably overlying alluvial conglomerates (Late Eocene – Oligocene) indicate derivation from a supra-subduction zone ophiolite, including boninites. Taking account of regional comparisons, the sedimentary melange is interpreted to have formed within a flexurally controlled foredeep, floored by continental crust. Gravity flows including large limestone blocks, multiple debris flows and turbidites were emplaced, followed by southwards thrust imbrication. The emplacement was possibly triggered by the final closure of an oceanic basin to the north (Alanya Ocean). Further convergence between the African and Eurasian plates was accommodated by northwards subduction beneath the Kyrenia active continental margin. Subduction zone rollback may have triggered collapse of the active continental margin. Non-marine to shallow-marine alluvial fans prograded southwards during Late Eocene – Oligocene time, marking the base of a renewed depositional cycle that lasted until latest Miocene time.
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Rogers, Garry C. "An assessment of the megathrust earthquake potential of the Cascadia subduction zone." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 25, no. 6 (June 1, 1988): 844–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e88-083.
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The active tectonic setting of the southwest coast of Canada and the Pacific northwest coast of the United states is dominated by the Cascadia subduction zone. The zone can be divided into four segments where oceanic lithosphere is converging independently with the North American plate: the Winona and the Explorer segments in the north, the larger Juan de Fuca segment that extends into both Canada and the United States, and the Gorda segment in the south. The oceanic lithosphere entering the Cascadia subduction zone in all segments is extremely young, less than 10 Ma. Of the other six zones around the Pacific where young (< 20 Ma) lithosphere is being subducted, five have had major thrust earthquakes (megathrust events) on the subduction interface in historic time. An estimation based on potential area of rupture gives maximum possible earthquake magnitudes along the Cascadia subducting margin of 8.2 for the Winona segment, 8.5 for the Explorer segment, 9.1 for the Juan de Fuca segment, and 8.3 for the South Gorda segment. Repeat times for maximum earthquakes, based on the ratios of seismic slip to total slip observed in other subduction zones, are predicted to be up to several hundred years for each segment, well beyond recorded history of the west coast, which began about 1800. Thus the lack of historical seismicity information provides a few constraints on the assessment of the seismic potential of the subduction zone.
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Tamay, José, Jesús Galindo-Zaldivar, John Soto, and Antonio J. Gil. "GNSS Constraints to Active Tectonic Deformations of the South American Continental Margin in Ecuador." Sensors 21, no. 12 (June 10, 2021): 4003. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21124003.
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GNSS observations constitute the main tool to reveal Earth’s crustal deformations in order to improve the identification of geological hazards. The Ecuadorian Andes were formed by Nazca Plate subduction below the Pacific margin of the South American Plate. Active tectonic-related deformation continues to present, and it is constrained by 135 GPS stations of the RENAGE and REGME deployed by the IGM in Ecuador (1995.4–2011.0). They show a regional ENE displacement, increasing towards the N, of the deformed North Andean Sliver in respect to the South American Plate and Inca Sliver relatively stable areas. The heterogeneous displacements towards the NNE of the North Andean Sliver are interpreted as consequences of the coupling of the Carnegie Ridge in the subduction zone. The Dolores–Guayaquil megashear constitutes its southeastern boundary and includes the dextral to normal transfer Pallatanga fault, that develops the Guayaquil Gulf. This fault extends northeastward along the central part of the Cordillera Real, in relay with the reverse dextral Cosanga–Chingual fault and finally followed by the reverse dextral Sub-Andean fault zone. While the Ecuadorian margin and Andes is affected by ENE–WSW shortening, the easternmost Manabí Basin located in between the Cordillera Costanera and the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes, underwent moderate ENE–WSW extension and constitutes an active fore-arc basin of the Nazca plate subduction. The integration of the GPS and seismic data evidences that highest rates of deformation and the highest tectonic hazards in Ecuador are linked: to the subduction zone located in the coastal area; to the Pallatanga transfer fault; and to the Eastern Andes Sub-Andean faults.
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Shah, Anjana K., Jeffrey D. Phillips, Kristen A. Lewis, Richard G. Stanley, Peter J. Haeussler, and Christopher J. Potter. "Three-dimensional shape and structure of the Susitna basin, south-central Alaska, from geophysical data." Geosphere 16, no. 4 (June 5, 2020): 969–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/ges02165.1.
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Abstract We use gravity, magnetic, seismic reflection, well, and outcrop data to determine the three-dimensional shape and structural features of south-central Alaska’s Susitna basin. This basin is located within the Aleutian-Alaskan convergent margin region and is expected to show effects of regional subduction zone processes. Aeromagnetic data, when filtered to highlight anomalies associated with sources within the upper few kilometers, show numerous linear northeast-trending highs and some linear north-trending highs. Comparisons to seismic reflection and well data show that these highs correspond to areas where late Paleocene to early Eocene volcanic layers have been locally uplifted due to folding and/or faulting. The combined magnetic and seismic reflection data suggest that the linear highs represent northeast-trending folds and north-striking faults. Several lines of evidence suggest that the northeast-trending folds formed during the middle Eocene to early Miocene and may have continued to be active in the Pliocene. The north-striking faults, which in some areas appear to cut the northeast-trending folds, show evidence of Neogene and probable modern movement. Gravity data facilitate estimates of the shape and depth of the basin. This was accomplished by separating the observed gravity anomaly into two components—one representing low-density sedimentary fill within the basin and one representing density heterogeneities within the underlying crystalline basement. We then used the basin anomaly, seismic reflection data, and well data to estimate the depth of the basin. Together, the magnetic, gravity, and reflection seismic analyses reveal an asymmetric basin comprising sedimentary rock over 4 km thick with steep, fault-bounded sides to the southwest, west, and north and a mostly gentle rise toward the east. Relations to the broader tectonic regime are suggested by fold axis orientations within the Susitna basin and neighboring Cook Inlet basin, which are roughly parallel to the easternmost part of the Alaska-Aleutian trench and associated Wadati-Benioff zone as it trends from northeast to north-northeast to northeast. An alignment between forearc basin folds and the subduction zone trench has been observed at other convergent margins, attributed to strain partitioning generated by regional rheologic variations that are associated with the subducting plate and arc magmatism. The asymmetric shape of the basin, especially its gentle rise to the east, may reflect uplift associated with flat-slab subduction of the Yakutat microplate, consistent with previous work that suggested Yakutat influence on the nearby Talkeetna Mountains and western Alaska Range. Yakutat subduction may also have contributed to Neogene and later reverse slip along north-striking faults within the Susitna basin.
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Soldner, Jérémie, Chao Yuan, Karel Schulmann, Pavla Štípská, Yingde Jiang, Yunying Zhang, and Xinyu Wang. "Grenvillean evolution of the Beishan Orogen, NW China: Implications for development of an active Rodinian margin." GSA Bulletin 132, no. 7-8 (December 5, 2019): 1657–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/b35404.1.
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Abstract New geochemical and geochronological data are used to characterize the geodynamic setting of metasediments, felsic orthogneisses, and eclogite and amphibolite lenses forming the Beishan complex, NW China, at the southern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The metasediments correspond compositionally to immature greywackes receiving detritus from a heterogeneous source involving a magmatic arc and a Precambrian continental crust. Metagranitoids, represented by felsic orthogneisses, show both composition of greywacke-derived granitic melt with incompatible trace element patterns similar to the host metasediments. The eclogite lenses are characterized by high Nb contents (5.34–27.3 ppm), high (Nb/La)N (>1), and low Zr/Nb ratios (<4.5), which together with variable and negative whole-rock εNd(t) (–4.3 to –10.3) and zircon εHf(t) (–5.0 to + 2.3) values indicate an origin of enriched mantle source as commonly manifested by back-arc basalts at stretched continental margins. Combined with monazite rare earth element analysis, the in situ monazite U-Pb dating of metagraywacke (880.7 ± 7.9) suggests garnet growth during a high-temperature (HT) metamorphic event. Together with U-Pb dating of zircon metamorphic rims in amphibolite (910.9 ± 3.0 Ma), this indicates that the whole crustal edifice underwent a Grenvillian-age metamorphic event. The protolith ages of the eclogite (889.3 ± 4.8 Ma) and orthogneiss (867.5 ± 1.9 Ma) suggest that basalt underplating and sediment melting were nearly coeval with this HT metamorphism. Altogether, the new data allow placing the Beishan Orogen into a Grenvillean geodynamic scenario where: (1) The late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic was marked by deposition of the greywacke sequence coeval with formation of an early arc. (2) Subsequently, an asthenospheric upwelling generated basaltic magma underneath the thinned subcontinental mantle lithosphere that was responsible for HT metamorphism, melting of the back-arc basin greywackes and intrusion of granitic magmas. These events correspond to a Peri-Rodinian supra-subduction system that differs substantially from the Neoproterozoic ophiolite sequences described in the Mongolian part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, thus indicating important lateral variability of supra-subduction processes along the Rodinian margin.
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Archer, D. E., and B. A. Buffett. "A two-dimensional model of the methane cycle in a sedimentary accretionary wedge." Biogeosciences Discussions 9, no. 3 (March 14, 2012): 2967–3002. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bgd-9-2967-2012.
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Abstract. A two-dimensional model of sediment column geophysics and geochemistry has been adapted to the problem of an accretionary wedge formation, patterned after the margin of the Juan de Fuca plate as it subducts under the North American plate. Much of the model description was given in a companion paper about application of the model to a passive margin setting; here we build on that formulation to simulate the deformation of the sediment wedge as it approaches the subduction zone. The active margin configuration of the model shares sensitivities with the passive margin configuration, in that sensitivities to organic carbon deposition and respiration kinetics, and to vertical bubble transport and redissolution in the sediment, are stronger than the sensitivity to ocean temperature. The active margin simulation also shows a sensitivity to plate subduction velocity, with higher plate velocities producing less hydrate per meter of coastline than slower velocities or the passive margin configuration. However, the local hydrate concentrations, as pore volume saturation, are higher in the active setting than the passive, as generally observed in the field.
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Archer, D. E., and B. A. Buffett. "A two-dimensional model of the methane cycle in a sedimentary accretionary wedge." Biogeosciences 9, no. 8 (August 24, 2012): 3323–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-3323-2012.
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Abstract. A two-dimensional model of sediment column geophysics and geochemistry has been adapted to the problem of an accretionary wedge formation, patterned after the margin of the Juan de Fuca plate as it subducts under the North American plate. Much of the model description is given in a companion paper about the application of the model to an idealized passive margin setting; here we build on that formulation to simulate the impact of the sediment deformation, as it approaches the subduction zone, on the methane cycle. The active margin configuration of the model shares sensitivities with the passive margin configuration, in that sensitivities to organic carbon deposition and respiration kinetics, and to vertical bubble transport and redissolution in the sediment, are stronger than the sensitivity to ocean temperature. The active margin simulation shows a complex sensitivity of hydrate inventory to plate subduction velocity, with results depending strongly on the geothermal heat flux. In low heat-flux conditions, the model produces a larger inventory of hydrate per meter of coastline in the passive margin than active margin configurations. However, the local hydrate concentrations, as pore volume saturation, are higher in the active setting than in the passive, as generally observed in the field.
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Leat, Philip T., and Teal R. Riley. "Chapter 3.1b Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands: petrology." Geological Society, London, Memoirs 55, no. 1 (2021): 213–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/m55-2018-68.
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AbstractThe Antarctic Peninsula contains a record of continental-margin volcanism extending from Jurassic to Recent times. Subduction of the Pacific oceanic lithosphere beneath the continental margin developed after Late Jurassic volcanism in Alexander Island that was related to extension of the continental margin. Mesozoic ocean-floor basalts emplaced within the Alexander Island accretionary complex have compositions derived from Pacific mantle. The Antarctic Peninsula volcanic arc was active from about Early Cretaceous times until the Early Miocene. It was affected by hydrothermal alteration, and by regional and contact metamorphism generally of zeolite to prehnite–pumpellyite facies. Distinct geochemical groups recognized within the volcanic rocks suggest varied magma generation processes related to changes in subduction dynamics. The four groups are: calc-alkaline, high-Mg andesitic, adakitic and high-Zr, the last two being described in this arc for the first time. The dominant calc-alkaline group ranges from primitive mafic magmas to rhyolite, and from low- to high-K in composition, and was generated from a mantle wedge with variable depletion. The high-Mg and adakitic rocks indicate periods of melting of the subducting slab and variable equilibration of the melts with mantle. The high-Zr group is interpreted as peralkaline and may have been related to extension of the arc.
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Gordienko, I. V., and D. V. Metelkin. "The evolution of the subduction zone magmatism on the Neoproterozoic and Early Paleozoic active margins of the Paleoasian Ocean." Russian Geology and Geophysics 57, no. 1 (January 2016): 69–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2016.01.005.
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Farrar, Edward, and John M. Dixon. "Ridge subduction: kinematics and implications for the nature of mantle upwelling." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 30, no. 5 (May 1, 1993): 893–907. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e93-074.
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Ridge subduction follows the approach of an oceanic spreading centre towards a trench and subduction of the leading oceanic plate beneath the overriding plate. There are four possible kinematic scenarios: (1) welding of the trailing and overriding plates (e.g., Aluk–Antarctic Ridge beneath Antarctica); (2) slower subduction of the trailing plate (e.g., Nazca–Antarctic Ridge beneath Chile and Pacific–Izanagi Ridge beneath Japan); (3) transform motion between the trailing and overriding plates (e.g., San Andreas Transform); or (4) divergence between the overriding and trailing plates (e.g., Pacific – North America). In case 4, the divergence may be accommodated in two ways: the overriding plate may be stretched (e.g., Basin and Range Province extension, which has brought the continental margin into collinearity (and, therefore, transform motion) with the Pacific – North America relative motion); or divergence may occur at the continental margin and be manifest as a change in rate and direction of sea-floor spreading because the pair of spreading plates changes (e.g., from Pacific–Farallon to Pacific – North America), spawning a secondary spreading centre (i.e., Gorda – Juan de Fuca – Explorer ridge system) that migrates away from the overriding plate.Mantle upwelling associated with sea-floor spreading ridges is widely regarded as a passive consequence, rather than an active cause, of plate divergence. Geological and geophysical phenomena attendant to ridge–trench interaction suggest that regardless of the kinematic relations among the three plates, a thermal anomaly formerly associated with the ridge migrates beneath the overriding plate. The persistence of this thermal anomaly demonstrates that active mantle upwelling may continue for tens of millions of years after ridge subduction. Thus, regardless of whether the mantle upwelling was active or passive at its origin, it becomes active if the spreading continues for sufficient time and, thus, must contribute to the driving mechanism of plate tectonics.
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Storey, Bryan C., and Roi Granot. "Chapter 1.1 Tectonic history of Antarctica over the past 200 million years." Geological Society, London, Memoirs 55, no. 1 (2021): 9–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/m55-2018-38.
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AbstractThe tectonic evolution of Antarctica in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras was marked by igneous activity that formed as a result of simultaneous continental rifting and subduction processes acting during the final stages of the southward drift of Gondwana towards the South Pole. For the most part, continental rifting resulted in the progressive disintegration of the Gondwana supercontinent from Middle Jurassic times to the final isolation of Antarctica at the South Pole following the Cenozoic opening of the surrounding ocean basins, and the separation of Antarctica from South America and Australia. The initial rifting into East and West Gondwana was proceeded by emplacement of large igneous provinces preserved in present-day South America, Africa and Antarctica. Continued rifting within Antarctica did not lead to continental separation but to the development of the West Antarctic Rift System, dividing the continent into the East and West Antarctic plates, and uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains. Motion between East and West Antarctica has been accommodated by a series of discrete rifting pulses with a westward shift and concentration of the motion throughout the Cenozoic leading to crustal thinning, subsidence, elevated heat flow conditions and rift-related magmatic activity. Contemporaneous with the disintegration of Gondwana and the isolation of Antarctica, subduction processes were active along the palaeo-Pacific margin of Antarctica recorded by magmatic arcs, accretionary complexes, and forearc and back-arc basin sequences. A low in magmatic activity between 156 and 142 Ma suggests that subduction may have ceased during this time. Today, following the gradual cessation of the Antarctic rifting and surrounding subduction, the Antarctic continent is situated close to the centre of a large Antarctic Plate which, with the exception of an active margin on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, is surrounded by active spreading ridges.
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Martin, Craig R., Oliver Jagoutz, Rajeev Upadhyay, Leigh H. Royden, Michael P. Eddy, Elizabeth Bailey, Claire I. O. Nichols, and Benjamin P. Weiss. "Paleocene latitude of the Kohistan–Ladakh arc indicates multistage India–Eurasia collision." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 47 (November 4, 2020): 29487–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009039117.
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We report paleomagnetic data showing that an intraoceanic Trans-Tethyan subduction zone existed south of the Eurasian continent and north of the Indian subcontinent until at least Paleocene time. This system was active between 66 and 62 Ma at a paleolatitude of 8.1 ± 5.6 °N, placing it 600–2,300 km south of the contemporaneous Eurasian margin. The first ophiolite obductions onto the northern Indian margin also occurred at this time, demonstrating that collision was a multistage process involving at least two subduction systems. Collisional events began with collision of India and the Trans-Tethyan subduction zone in Late Cretaceous to Early Paleocene time, followed by the collision of India (plus Trans-Tethyan ophiolites) with Eurasia in mid-Eocene time. These data constrain the total postcollisional convergence across the India–Eurasia convergent zone to 1,350–2,150 km and limit the north–south extent of northwestern Greater India to <900 km. These results have broad implications for how collisional processes may affect plate reconfigurations, global climate, and biodiversity.
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Pall, Jodie, Sabin Zahirovic, Sebastiano Doss, Rakib Hassan, Kara J. Matthews, John Cannon, Michael Gurnis, Louis Moresi, Adrian Lenardic, and R. Dietmar Müller. "The influence of carbonate platform interactions with subduction zone volcanism on palaeo-atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> since the Devonian." Climate of the Past 14, no. 6 (June 21, 2018): 857–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-857-2018.
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Abstract. The CO2 liberated along subduction zones through intrusive/extrusive magmatic activity and the resulting active and diffuse outgassing influences global atmospheric CO2. However, when melts derived from subduction zones intersect buried carbonate platforms, decarbonation reactions may cause the contribution to atmospheric CO2 to be far greater than segments of the active margin that lacks buried carbon-rich rocks and carbonate platforms. This study investigates the contribution of carbonate-intersecting subduction zones (CISZs) to palaeo-atmospheric CO2 levels over the past 410 million years by integrating a plate motion and plate boundary evolution model with carbonate platform development through time. Our model of carbonate platform development has the potential to capture a broader range of degassing mechanisms than approaches that only account for continental arcs. Continuous and cross-wavelet analyses as well as wavelet coherence are used to evaluate trends between the evolving lengths of carbonate-intersecting subduction zones, non-carbonate-intersecting subduction zones and global subduction zones, and are examined for periodic, linked behaviour with the proxy CO2 record between 410 Ma and the present. Wavelet analysis reveals significant linked periodic behaviour between 60 and 40 Ma, when CISZ lengths are relatively high and are correlated with peaks in palaeo-atmospheric CO2, characterised by a 32–48 Myr periodicity and a ∼ 8–12 Myr lag of CO2 peaks following CISZ length peaks. The linked behaviour suggests that the relative abundance of CISZs played a role in affecting global climate during the Palaeogene. In the 200–100 Ma period, peaks in CISZ lengths align with peaks in palaeo-atmospheric CO2, but CISZ lengths alone cannot be determined as the cause of a warmer Cretaceous–Jurassic climate. Nevertheless, across the majority of the Phanerozoic, feedback mechanisms between the geosphere, atmosphere and biosphere likely played dominant roles in modulating climate. Our modelled subduction zone lengths and carbonate-intersecting subduction zone lengths approximate magmatic activity through time, and can be used as input into fully coupled models of CO2 flux between deep and shallow carbon reservoirs.
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Slovenec, Damir, and Branimir Šegvić. "Middle Triassic high-K calc-alkaline effusive and pyroclastic rocks from the Zagorje-Mid-Transdanubian Zone (Mt. Kuna Gora; NW Croatia): mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry and tectonomagmatic affinity." Geologica Acta 19 (March 4, 2021): 1–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1344/geologicaacta2021.19.2.
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This study uses mineralogical, petrological, geochemical, and Sr and Nd isotope data along with K-Ar ages to infer the petrogenesis and geodynamic evolution of Middle Triassic high-K calc-alkaline lavas and their associated pyroclastics of Mt. Kuna Gora in NW Croatia. Their analogue mineralogy and bulk-rock geochemistry testify to the coeval origin of both rock types. Sanidine and plagioclase accompanied by inor augite and Ti-bearing magnetite are the major phases found in a matrix of devitrified volcanic glass and plagioclase microlites. Hydrothermal anddiagenetic processes in the pyroclastics originated the formation of chlorite and white mica, and mixed-layer clay minerals, respectively. Petrography reveals the following crystallization order: spinel→clinopyroxene→plagioclase→alkali-feldspar±Fe-Ti oxides. Geochemical and isotopic data suggests that the studied rocks had a complex origin that included the contamination of subduction-generated magmas by lithospheric mantle melts. This presumes an interplay between fertile arc mantle, subducted continental crust, and depleted or ocean island basalts-like mantle. A low degree of crustal contamination stands as a last step in the formation of such “hybrid” magmas. The subducted Paleotethyan oceanic lithosphere went through processes of partial melting at depths of ~45-49km and pressures of ≤1.6GPa and fractionation that produced melts which gave rise to the studied rocks. In the model we are proposing herein such formed partial melts are related to the demise of the northward subduction of the Paleotethys oceanic lithosphere during the Early to Middle Triassic epoch, which is consistent with an active, ensialic mature volcanic arc developing along Laurussian southern active margins.
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Hosse, M., R. Pail, M. Horwath, N. Holzrichter, and B. D. Gutknecht. "Combined Regional Gravity Model of the Andean Convergent Subduction Zone and Its Application to Crustal Density Modelling in Active Plate Margins." Surveys in Geophysics 35, no. 6 (October 21, 2014): 1393–415. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10712-014-9307-x.
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Nicol, Andrew, Colin Mazengarb, Frank Chanier, Geoff Rait, Chris Uruski, and Laura Wallace. "Tectonic evolution of the active Hikurangi subduction margin, New Zealand, since the Oligocene." Tectonics 26, no. 4 (July 6, 2007): n/a. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006tc002090.
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Burtman, V. S., A. V. Dvorova, and S. G. Samygin. "Latitudes of the Eastern Ural microcontinent and Magnitogorsk island arc in the Paleozoic Ural Ocean." LITHOSPHERE (Russia) 20, no. 6 (December 29, 2020): 842–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.24930/1681-9004-2020-20-6-842-850.
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Research subject. Rocks of the Paleozoic Eastern Ural microcontinent and Magnitogorsk island arc occupy a significant part of the Southern Urals and some part of the Middle Urals. The Western Urals are composed of rocks of the ancient Baltic continent and overthrust oceanic rocks. In the Eastern Urals and Trans-Urals rocks of the accretion complexes, oceanic crust, island arcs, the Eastern Ural microcontinent and the Kazakhstan Paleozoic continent are widespread. Rocks are exposed in the Denisov tectonic zone. The Magnitogorsk simatic Island Arc originated in the Ural Ocean, near the Baltic continent, in the early Devonian, developing from the Emsian to the Famennian. A collision between the Magnitogorsk arc and the Baltic continent occurred in the Famennian century. In the pre-Carboniferous age, the Eastern Ural microcontinent was located in the Ural Ocean. In the Tournaisian period, the Eastern Ural microcontinent accreted with the Baltic continent. The Kazakhstan continental massif was located on the other side of the Ural Ocean. The volcanic belt above the subduction zone was active on the edge of the Kazakhstan continent in the Early–Middle Devonian and in the Early Carboniferous. A subduction under the Baltic and Kazakhstan continents consumed most of the crust of the Ural Ocean by the middle of the Bashkir century. As a result, the Baltic continent (together with the Eastern Ural microcontinent) came into contact with the Kazakhstan continent. The formation of folded orogen began in the Moscow century following the collision of sialic terrains.Materials and methods. The research was based on the relevant data obtained by several researchers in 2000–2018 on rock paleomagnetism. Results. The paleolatitudinal positions of the Eastern Ural microcontinent were determined, comprising 5.3 ± 7.4°) in the Middle Ordovician and 8.2 ± 7.2° in the Early–Middle Silurian. The respective paleolatitudinal positions for the Early–Middle Devonian comprised: the Ural margin of the Baltic paleocontinent (7.7 ± 3.7°), the Magnitogorsk island arc (3.2 ± 3.1°) and the Ural margin of the Kazakhstan paleocontinent (20.6 ± 3.8°).Conclusion. According to the analysed paleomagnetic data, in the Early–Middle Devonian, the distance between the latitudes of the margins of the Baltic and Kazakhstan continents was not less than 600 km provided they were in the same hemisphere, and more than 2,300 km provided they were in different hemispheres. The convergence of the terrains was associated with the subduction of the Ural Ocean crust before its closure, which occurred in the Tournaisian century.
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MEYER, G. B., T. GRENNE, and R. B. PEDERSEN. "Age and tectonic setting of the Nesåa Batholith: implications for Ordovician arc development in the Caledonides of Central Norway." Geological Magazine 140, no. 5 (September 2003): 573–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0016756803008069.
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New U–Pb zircon dating yields a crystallization age of 458±3 Ma for the largely gabbroic Grøndalsfjell Intrusive Complex in the Gjersvik Nappe of the Caledonian Upper Allochthon in Scandinavia. This is identical, within error, to the age of the adjacent Møklevatnet Complex that is dominated by quartz monzodiorite (456±2 Ma), and the two intrusive suites may be regarded as members of a composite intrusion here referred to as the Nesåa Batholith. Mafic members of this calc-alkaline batholith are characterized by slightly positive εNd–εSr values, marked enrichment of the light rare earth elements and high Th/Yb ratios suggestive of a subduction-modified mantle source. The I-type granitoids have similar isotope values and highly fractionated rare earth element patterns, and are interpreted as products from partial melting of garnet-bearing mafic rocks. The Nesåa Batholith intruded a previously deformed, 483 Ma or older, metavolcanic sequence of oceanic arc affinity. The margins of the pluton show evidence for synkinematic emplacement, which is tentatively interpreted in terms of magma ascent controlled by deep-seated shear zones. Further uplift and exhumation of the crystallized plutons was followed by rapid deposition of batholith-derived conglomerates and arkoses in a marginal basin represented by the Limingen Group. The age of the Nesåa Batholith fills the gap in reported ages for Caledonian magmatism, between the Early to Middle Ordovician, oceanic to continental margin type, arc sequences of Laurentian palaeotectonic affinity, and the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian batholith complexes of interpreted Laurentian margin affinity. It is interpreted as an early phase of the more extensive plutonism recorded in the Bindal Batholith of the Uppermost Allochthon to the west. Our model implies that the Early Ordovician oceanic arc sequences of the Gjersvik Nappe were deformed and accreted on to Laurentian margin lithologies prior to Late Ordovician times. This composite crustal assemblage was the source for the voluminous quartz monzodioritic intrusions of the Nesåa Batholith, which formed by partial melting due to ponding of subduction-related mantle derived mafic magmas either within or at the base of the active continental margin.
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He, Song, Hong Cheng, Shuangqing Li, Cong Cao, Jun He, and Fukun Chen. "Spatio-Temporal Evolution of the Crustal Uplift in Eastern NE China: Constraint from Detrital Zircon Ages of Late Mesozoic Clastic Rocks in the Boli Basin." Minerals 12, no. 9 (September 15, 2022): 1166. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/min12091166.
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Detrital zircon of clastic rocks has been widely recognized as a powerful tool for the study of crustal uplift, which is of great significance for understanding multi-sphere interaction. However, young detrital zircons can only roughly constrain the depositional time of the strata, and commonly used zircon age probability density and kernel density estimations cannot provide sufficient evidence to reveal spatio-temporal differences in tectonic uplift. The basins developed in active continental margins usually contain abundant magmatic rocks, which can provide insights into basin evolution and crustal deformation when combined with sedimentary characteristics. In this study, we report detrital zircon ages of Late Mesozoic clastic rocks from the Boli Basin, being part of the Great Sanjiang Basin Group in eastern NE China, which is strongly affected by the Paleo-Pacific subduction. In conjunction with the age data of coeval magmatic rocks and potential sedimentary sources of basement rocks adjacent to the basin, the geochronologic results of this study provide solid evidence for the formation of the Boli Basin and the spatio-temporal evolution of the crustal uplift in northeastern China. The Boli Basin went through multi-phase tectonic evolution of syn-rift and post-rift stages, based on the zircon age data of clastic and igneous rocks. When the geographical distribution characteristics of potential sedimentary sources and their percentages of contribution are taken into account, two stages of eastward migration of the crustal uplift and two episodes of basin destruction caused by the tectonic extension and subsequent compression can be proposed for the Boli Basin. These processes were caused successively by the rolling back of the subducted Paleo-Pacific slab, the docking of the Okhotomorsk block along the eastern continental margin of East Asia, and the transition of the subduction zone by the collision of the Okhotomorsk block.
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Collot, J., M. Patriat, R. Sutherland, S. Williams, D. Cluzel, M. Seton, B. Pelletier, et al. "Chapter 2 Geodynamics of the SW Pacific: a brief review and relations with New Caledonian geology." Geological Society, London, Memoirs 51, no. 1 (2020): 13–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/m51-2018-5.
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AbstractThe SW Pacific region consists of a succession of ridges and basins that were created by the fragmentation of Gondwana and the evolution of subduction zones since Mesozoic times. This complex geodynamic evolution shaped the geology of New Caledonia, which lies in the northern part of the Zealandia continent. Alternative tectonic models have been postulated. Most models agree that New Caledonia was situated on an active plate margin of eastern Gondwana during the Mesozoic. Extension affected the region from the Late Cretaceous to the Paleocene and models for this period vary in the location and nature of the plate boundary between the Pacific and Australian plates. Eocene regional tectonic contraction included the obduction of a mantle-derived Peridotite Nappe in New Caledonia. In one class of model, this contractional phase was controlled by an east-dipping subduction zone into which the Norfolk Ridge jammed, whereas and in a second class of model this phase corresponds to the initiation of the west-dipping Tonga–Kermadec subduction zone. Neogene tectonics of the region near New Caledonia was dominated by the eastwards retreat of Tonga–Kermadec subduction, leading to the opening of a back-arc basin east of New Caledonia, and the initiation and southwestwards advance of the New Hebrides–Vanuatu subduction zone towards New Caledonia.
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Kononov, M. V., and L. I. Lobkovsky. "Influence of the upper-mantle convective cell and related Pacific plate subduction on Arctic tectonics in the late Cretaceous–Cenozoic." Геотектоника, no. 6 (November 17, 2019): 27–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.31857/s0016-853x2019627-45.
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Abstract The paper considers the history of the spreading of the Eurasian basin. The sharp deceleration of the spreading rate in the Eocene about 46 million years ago, which is fixed by the distribution of linear magnetic anomalies, is noted. That jump in velocity is clarified from the perspective of the geodynamic model but shouldnt be explained by the northern motion of Greenland. The geodynamic processes of the Pacific subduction zone generate an upper mantle convective cell with return flow dragging the Arctic continental lithosphere in the direction of the Pacific subduction zone. The geodynamic mechanism is confirmed by seismic tomographic mantle sections of the northeastern margin of Asia and the numerical model of the upper mantle convection of the active continental margin. It is the activity of the upper mantle convective return cell, which is determined by the runoff volume and, ultimately, the speed and direction of the Kula plate and Pacific plate subduction vectors in the subduction zone, affects tectonics and kinematics of the plates of the Eurasian basin. In the Middle CretaceousMiddle Eocene and for about 73 Ma the return cell has been active, since the Kula and Pacific plates move north and submerged orthogonally beneath the Central Arctic. After the Middle Eocene geodynamic reorganization about 47.5 million years ago, oceanic plates in the Pacific Ocean begin to move to the northwest. As a result, the transport of the oceanic Pacific Ocean lithospheric substance to the arctic convective return cell has practically ceased. After the restructuring, the spreading of the Eurasian basin slowed down about 46 million years ago to an ultra-slow regime. The main tectonic and geodynamic consequences of applying the proposed geodynamic model for the Arctic in the Late CretaceousCenozoic are considered.
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Hopkins, Jenni L., Richard J. Wysoczanski, Alan R. Orpin, Jamie D. Howarth, Lorna J. Strachan, Ryan Lunenburg, Monique McKeown, Aratrika Ganguly, Emily Twort, and Sian Camp. "Deposition and preservation of tephra in marine sediments at the active Hikurangi subduction margin." Quaternary Science Reviews 247 (November 2020): 106500. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106500.
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Kurnio, Hananto, and Ulrich Schwarz Schampera. "STRUCTURAL GEOLOGICAL CONTROL ON THE MINERALIZATION ON TABUAN ISLAND,SEMANGKO BAY, SOUTH SUMATERA, INDONESIA." BULLETIN OF THE MARINE GEOLOGY 23, no. 1 (February 15, 2016): 18. http://dx.doi.org/10.32693/bomg.23.1.2008.7.
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Mineralization have been discovered on Tabuan Island, Semangko Bay, South Sumatera, Indonesia. Tabuan Island belongs to the Neogene Sunda-Banda magmatic arc system. Tabuan Island is a tectonic horst structure which belongs to the subduction-related, magmatically active Barisan zone along the active continental margin of western Sumatera. Basaltic-andesitic volcanics of the late Oligocene to earliest Miocene Hulusimpang Formation are distributed in a broad zone along and subparallel to the regional Semangko Fault and are hosts for several epithermal-style auriferous deposits. The occurrence of hydrothermal mineralization was first suggested from seismic identification of small intrusive bodies which form elongated northwest-southeast ridges passing through the island. Surface sampling campaigns on the island revealed significant hydrothermal alteration and mineralization with pervasive occurrences of sulphide minerals. Detailed mineralogical and geochemical studies at the Federal Institute for Geoscience and Natural Resources show pronounced disseminations and vein-type mineralization. Mineralization shows moderate enrichments in Au, Ag, Zn, Pb, Cu, As, Sb, Ba, and Mn. The association of subaerial island arc volcanism and subvolcanic intrusive bodies, the regional extensional and strike-slip structural regime, and the occurrence of epithermal-style alteration and mineralization in the same volcanic sequence along the coastal zone of Semangko Bay and on Tabuan Island reveal the great potential of this region for epithermal type Au-Ag and base metal deposits. On Tabuan Island, delineation of structural blocks and fault systems suggests that normal faults and margins of grabens may have acted as fluid channelling structures.
Key words: structural geology, mineralization, Tabuan Island, Semangko Bay
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Albers, Elmar, Wolfgang Bach, Frieder Klein, Catriona D. Menzies, Friedrich Lucassen, and Damon A. H. Teagle. "Fluid–rock interactions in the shallow Mariana forearc: carbon cycling and redox conditions." Solid Earth 10, no. 3 (June 24, 2019): 907–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/se-10-907-2019.
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Abstract. Few data exist that provide insight into processes affecting the long-term carbon cycle at shallow forearc depths. To better understand the mobilization of C in sediments and crust of the subducting slab, we investigated carbonate materials that originate from the subduction channel at the Mariana forearc (< 20 km) and were recovered during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 366. Calcium carbonates occur as vein precipitates within metavolcanic and metasedimentary clasts. The clasts represent portions of the subducting lithosphere, including ocean island basalt, that were altered at lower blueschist facies conditions and were subsequently transported to the forearc seafloor by serpentinite mud volcanism. Euhedral aragonite and calcite and the lack of deformation within the veins suggest carbonate formation in a stress-free environment after peak metamorphism affected their hosts. Intergrowth with barite and marked negative Ce anomalies in carbonate attest the precipitation within a generally oxic environment, that is an environment not controlled by serpentinization. Strontium and O isotopic compositions in carbonate (87Sr∕86Sr = 0.7052 to 0.7054, δ18OVSMOW = 20 to 24 ‰) imply precipitation from slab-derived fluids at temperatures between ∼130 and 300 ∘C. These temperature estimates are consistent with the presence of blueschist facies phases such as lawsonite coexisting with the carbonates in some veins. Incorporated C is inorganic (δ13CVPDB = −1 ‰ to +4 ‰) and likely derived from the decarbonation of calcareous sediment and/or oceanic crust. These findings provide evidence for the mobilization of C in the downgoing slab at depths of < 20 km. Our study shows for the first time in detail that a portion of this C forms carbonate precipitates in the subduction channel of an active convergent margin. This process may be an important asset in understanding the deep carbon cycle since it highlights that some C is lost from the subducting lithosphere before reaching greater depths.
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Yan, Zhen, Wenjiao Xiao, Zongqi Wang, and Jilian Li. "Integrated analyses constraining the provenance of sandstones, mudstones, and conglomerates, a case study: the Laojunshan conglomerate, Qilian orogen, northwest China." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 44, no. 7 (July 1, 2007): 961–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e07-010.
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The Qilian orogenic belt in the northern Tibetan plateau connects the Altaids to the north with the Tethyan orogenic system to the south and occupies a key tectonic position in the evolution and assembly of Asia. The belt contains a wide range of subduction–accretion-related petrotectonic units. The Early–Middle Devonian Laojunshan conglomerate, deposited unconformably upon Cambrian–Silurian strata along the northern margin of the North Qilian terrane, contains a record of the late Paleozoic tectonism of the Qilian orogen. Its provenance and tectonic setting are critical in understanding not only the tectonic evolution of Tibetan plateau, but Paleozoic global reconstructions as well. The composition of clastic conglomerates and heavy mineral assemblages of sandstones suggests that coeval mafic, felsic, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks were the main sources. The geochemistry of volcanic clasts and paleocurrent and paleogeographic data suggest derivation from subduction–accretion complexes in the North Qilian terrane. The geochemistry of siltstones and mudstones indicates that the Laojunshan conglomerate was derived from an arc and accumulated in an active continental margin. Geochemical data of granitoid clasts suggest that they were derived from Ordovician–Silurian subduction-related magmatic rocks. Mafic and ultramafic clasts, chromite, and magnetite decrease upwards in the stratigraphy whereas metamorphic, sedimentary and granitoid clasts, and garnet increase. These data imply that mafic rocks were the predominant source during initial deposition. Regional studies suggest that the North China plate subducted southwards and produced subduction-related arc magmatism along the southern margin of the North Qilian terrane during the Early–Middle Devonian. Therefore, we interpret the Laojunshan conglomerate as a fore-arc basin fill.
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VAIDA, M., H. P. HANN, G. SAWATZKI, and W. FRISCH. "Ordovician and Silurian protolith ages of metamorphosed clastic sedimentary rocks from the southern Schwarzwald, SW Germany: a palynological study and its bearing on the Early Palaeozoic geotectonic evolution." Geological Magazine 141, no. 5 (September 2004): 629–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0016756804009641.
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Sedimentation ages of metamorphosed clastic sedimentary rocks in the southern Schwarzwald were determined by associations of palynomorphs. In the northern subunit of the Badenweiler–Lenzkirch Zone, two lithostratigraphic assemblages could be discerned in low-grade metamorphic units by their facies and age, thus revealing a more complex internal structure of this zone than previously assumed. Lower Ordovician metagreywackes and metapelites were discerned from Silurian metasiltstones. In the cataclastically overprinted metasiltstones and phyllites of the southern subunit of the Badenweiler–Lenzkirch Zone, only poorly preserved microfossil remains could be detected. These show that the sedimentation ages must be Ordovician or younger, but still probably Early Palaeozoic. High-grade metapelitic rocks of the South Schwarzwald Gneiss Complex contain chitinozoans in lenses and layers of schists, that are rich in biotite and graphite. They yielded mid-Silurian ages and show that this crystalline complex does not represent an older basement unit but was the result of marine sedimentation at that time. The new age determinations have a bearing on geodynamic reconstructions of the internal Variscides in Early Palaeozoic time. They show that sedimentation in the oceanic realm of the Badenweiler–Lenzkirch Zone or its margins did not occur before the Ordovician. After transformation of the northern passive into an active continental margin, younger greywackes not older than Middle Devonian received detritus from a volcanic arc, forming above the subduction zone.
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Polonia, A., L. Torelli, L. Gasperini, and P. Mussoni. "Active faults and historical earthquakes in the Messina Straits area (Ionian Sea)." Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 12, no. 7 (July 24, 2012): 2311–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-12-2311-2012.
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Abstract. The Calabrian Arc (CA) subduction complex is located at the toe of the Eurasian Plate in the Ionian Sea, where sediments resting on the lower plate have been scraped off and piled up in the accretionary wedge due to the African/Eurasian plate convergence and back arc extension. The CA has been struck repeatedly by destructive historical earthquakes, but knowledge of active faults and source parameters is relatively poor, particularly for seismogenic structures extending offshore. We analysed the fine structure of major tectonic features likely to have been sources of past earthquakes: (i) the NNW–SSE trending Malta STEP (Slab Transfer Edge Propagator) fault system, representing a lateral tear of the subduction system; (ii) the out-of-sequence thrusts (splay faults) at the rear of the salt-bearing Messinian accretionary wedge; and (iii) the Messina Straits fault system, part of the wide deformation zone separating the western and eastern lobes of the accretionary wedge. Our findings have implications for seismic hazard in southern Italy, as we compile an inventory of first order active faults that may have produced past seismic events such as the 1908, 1693 and 1169 earthquakes. These faults are likely to be source regions for future large magnitude events as they are long, deep and bound sectors of the margin characterized by different deformation and coupling rates on the plate interface.
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Hole, Malcolm J. "Chapter 4.1b Antarctic Peninsula: petrology." Geological Society, London, Memoirs 55, no. 1 (2021): 327–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/m55-2018-40.
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AbstractScattered occurrences of Miocene–Recent volcanic rocks of the alkaline intraplate association represent one of the last expressions of magmatism along the Antarctic Peninsula. The volcanic rocks were erupted after the cessation of subduction which stopped following a series of northward-younging ridge crest–trench collisions. Volcanism has been linked to the development of a growing slab window beneath the extinct convergent margin. Geochemically, lavas range from olivine tholeiite through to basanite and tephrite. Previous studies have emphasized the slab-window tectonic setting as key to allowing melting of peridotite in the asthenospheric void caused by the passage of the slab beneath the locus of volcanism. This hypothesis is revisited in the light of more recent petrological research, and an origin from melting of subducted slab-hosted pyroxenite is considered here to be a more viable alternative for their petrogenesis. Because of the simple geometry of ridge subduction, and the well-established chronology of ridge crest–trench collisions, the Antarctic Peninsula remains a key region for understanding the transition from active to passive margin resulting from cessation of subduction. However, there are still some key issues relating to their tectonomagmatic association, and, principally, the poor geochronological control on the volcanic rocks requires urgent attention.
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Styron, Richard, Julio García-Pelaez, and Marco Pagani. "CCAF-DB: the Caribbean and Central American active fault database." Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 20, no. 3 (March 25, 2020): 831–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-831-2020.
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Abstract. A database of ∼250 active fault traces in the Caribbean and Central American regions has been assembled to characterize the seismic hazard and tectonics of the area, as part of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation's Caribbean and Central American Risk Assessment (CCARA) project. The dataset is available in many vector GIS formats and contains fault trace locations as well as attributes describing fault geometry and kinematics, slip rates, data quality and uncertainty, and other metadata as available. The database is public and open source (available at: https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/central_am_carib_faults, last access: 23 March 2020), will be updated progressively as new data become available, and is open to community contribution. The active fault data show deformation in the region to be centered around the margins of the Caribbean plate. Northern Central America has sinistral and reverse faults north of the sinistral Motagua–Polochic fault zone, which accommodates sinistral Caribbean–North American relative motion. The Central Highlands in Central America extend east–west along a broad array of normal faults, bound by the Motagua–Polochic fault zone in the north and trench-parallel dextral faulting in the southwest between the Caribbean plate and the Central American forearc. Faulting in southern Central America is complicated, with trench-parallel reverse and sinistral faults. The northern Caribbean–North American plate boundary is sinistral off the shore of Central America, with transpressive stepovers through Jamaica, southern Cuba and Hispaniola. Farther east, deformation becomes more contractional closer to the Lesser Antilles subduction zone, with minor extension and sinistral shear throughout the upper plate, accommodating oblique convergence of the Caribbean and North American plates.
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Karymbalis, Efthimios, Konstantinos Tsanakas, Ioannis Tsodoulos, Kalliopi Gaki-Papanastassiou, Dimitrios Papanastassiou, Dimitrios-Vasileios Batzakis, and Konstantinos Stamoulis. "Late Quaternary Marine Terraces and Tectonic Uplift Rates of the Broader Neapolis Area (SE Peloponnese, Greece)." Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 10, no. 1 (January 12, 2022): 99. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse10010099.
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Marine terraces are geomorphic markers largely used to estimate past sea-level positions and surface deformation rates in studies focused on climate and tectonic processes worldwide. This paper aims to investigate the role of tectonic processes in the late Quaternary evolution of the coastal landscape of the broader Neapolis area by assessing long-term vertical deformation rates. To document and estimate coastal uplift, marine terraces are used in conjunction with Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating and correlation to late Quaternary eustatic sea-level variations. The study area is located in SE Peloponnese in a tectonically active region. Geodynamic processes in the area are related to the active subduction of the African lithosphere beneath the Eurasian plate. A series of 10 well preserved uplifted marine terraces with inner edges ranging in elevation from 8 ± 2 m to 192 ± 2 m above m.s.l. have been documented, indicating a significant coastal uplift of the study area. Marine terraces have been identified and mapped using topographic maps (at a scale of 1:5000), aerial photographs, and a 2 m resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM), supported by extensive field observations. OSL dating of selected samples from two of the terraces allowed us to correlate them with late Pleistocene Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) sea-level highstands and to estimate the long-term uplift rate. Based on the findings of the above approach, a long-term uplift rate of 0.36 ± 0.11 mm a−1 over the last 401 ± 10 ka has been suggested for the study area. The spatially uniform uplift of the broader Neapolis area is driven by the active subduction of the African lithosphere beneath the Eurasian plate since the study area is situated very close (~90 km) to the active margin of the Hellenic subduction zone.
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El Kadiri, Khalil, Carlos Sanz de Galdeano, Antonio Pedrera, Ahmed Chalouan, Jesús Galindo-Zaldívar, Ramón Julià, Mustafa Akil, Rachid Hlila, and Mfedal Ahmamou. "Eustatic and tectonic controls on Quaternary Ras Leona marine terraces (Strait of Gibraltar, northern Morocco)." Quaternary Research 74, no. 2 (September 2010): 277–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2010.06.008.
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AbstractWell-preserved Quaternary staircased marine terraces appear on Ras Leona limestone relief. This is a peculiar sector of the Betic-Rif Cordillera, lying in the four-way junction between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and Europe and Africa. The age and altitude correlation of the Ras Leona terraces with travertine-covered lateral equivalent terraces fashioned in the neighbouring Beni Younech area, and comparison with those along the Moroccan Atlantic coasts, would suggest that the Ras Leona terraces were mainly formed by eustatic factors. The importance of the eustasy is supported by further comparisons with Spanish and Moroccan Mediterranean terraces and with different marine terraces developed on passive-margin coasts around the world. A tectonic event occurred mainly during the period between the formation of the Maarifian and the Ouljian terraces (i.e., between 370 and 150 ka). The moderate Quaternary tectonic uplift deduced from the marine terraces and its comparison with uplifted marine terraces developed in active subduction setting disagrees with the model of an active eastwards subduction below the Gibraltar tectonic arc.
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Klein, Frieder, Susan E. Humphris, Weifu Guo, Florence Schubotz, Esther M. Schwarzenbach, and William D. Orsi. "Fluid mixing and the deep biosphere of a fossil Lost City-type hydrothermal system at the Iberia Margin." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 39 (August 31, 2015): 12036–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1504674112.
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Subseafloor mixing of reduced hydrothermal fluids with seawater is believed to provide the energy and substrates needed to support deep chemolithoautotrophic life in the hydrated oceanic mantle (i.e., serpentinite). However, geosphere-biosphere interactions in serpentinite-hosted subseafloor mixing zones remain poorly constrained. Here we examine fossil microbial communities and fluid mixing processes in the subseafloor of a Cretaceous Lost City-type hydrothermal system at the magma-poor passive Iberia Margin (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 149, Hole 897D). Brucite−calcite mineral assemblages precipitated from mixed fluids ca. 65 m below the Cretaceous paleo-seafloor at temperatures of 31.7 ± 4.3 °C within steep chemical gradients between weathered, carbonate-rich serpentinite breccia and serpentinite. Mixing of oxidized seawater and strongly reducing hydrothermal fluid at moderate temperatures created conditions capable of supporting microbial activity. Dense microbial colonies are fossilized in brucite−calcite veins that are strongly enriched in organic carbon (up to 0.5 wt.% of the total carbon) but depleted in 13C (δ13CTOC = −19.4‰). We detected a combination of bacterial diether lipid biomarkers, archaeol, and archaeal tetraethers analogous to those found in carbonate chimneys at the active Lost City hydrothermal field. The exposure of mantle rocks to seawater during the breakup of Pangaea fueled chemolithoautotrophic microbial communities at the Iberia Margin, possibly before the onset of seafloor spreading. Lost City-type serpentinization systems have been discovered at midocean ridges, in forearc settings of subduction zones, and at continental margins. It appears that, wherever they occur, they can support microbial life, even in deep subseafloor environments.
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Robertson, Alastair H. F., Osman Parlak, and Timur Ustaömer. "Late Palaeozoic extensional volcanism along the northern margin of Gondwana in southern Turkey: implications for Palaeotethyan development." International Journal of Earth Sciences 110, no. 6 (July 7, 2021): 1961–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00531-021-02051-7.
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AbstractThe Late Palaeozoic–Early Mesozoic Tethyan development of the Eastern Mediterranean region remains debatable, especially in Turkey, where alternative northward and southward subduction hypotheses are proposed. Relevant to this debate, new whole-rock geochemical data are provided here for early Carboniferous (Late Tournaisian-Late Visean; c. 340–350 Ma) tuffaceous sedimentary rocks within the Çataloturan thrust sheet (Aladağ nappe), eastern Taurides. The tuffs accumulated from evolved alkaline volcanism, variably mixed with terrigenous and radiolarian-rich sediments. In addition, Late Palaeozoic meta-volcanic rocks, c. 150 km farther NE, within the Binboğa (= Malatya) metamorphics (a low-grade high-pressure unit), are indicative of a within-plate setting. An impersistent geochemical subduction signature in these volcanics may represent an inherited, rather than contemporaneous, subduction influence, mainly because of the absence of a continental margin arc or of arc-derived tuff. Both the Binboğa metamorphics and the Çataloturan thrust sheet (Aladağ nappe) restore generally to the north of the relatively autochthonous Tauride carbonate platform (Geyik Dağ), within the carbonate platform bordering north-Gondwana. The Çataloturan thrust sheet is interpreted, specifically, as a c. E–W, deep-water, volcanically active rift that progressively infilled. Regional geological evidence suggests that melange units (Konya Complex, Afyon zone), Teke Dere unit, Lycian nappes), and Chios–Karaburun melange, E Aegean) accreted to the north-Gondwana continental margin during the late Carboniferous; this was coupled with localised calc-alkaline granitic magmatism (Afyon zone of Anatolide crustal block). We propose an interpretation in which Late Devonian–Carboniferous alkaline intra-plate volcanism relates to extension/rifting along the north-Gondwana margin. In contrast, the melange accretion and granitic magmatism could relate to short-lived late Carboniferous southward subduction that accompanied the diachronous closure of Palaeotethys.