Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Yiming Liu, Lijun Liu, Yanchong Li, Diandian Peng, Zhiping Wu, Zebin Cao, Sanzhong Li, Qizhen Du
Summary: The subduction of young seafloors along mid-ocean ridges often leads to prolonged back-arc extension, and the East China Sea Basin serves as a typical example. By analyzing the tectonic history of the ECSB, it was found that this phenomenon is driven by the removal of the subducting slab, which triggers a mantle wind pushing the upper plate landward and causing slow subduction of young seafloors. This enduring back-arc extension plays an important role in the continental evolution during the closure of major ocean basins.
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Salviano da Silva, Andres Bustamante, Camilo Bustamante, Agustin Cardona, Caetano Juliani
Summary: The origin of the Raspas Metamorphic Complex and its metamorphic conditions have been unclear. This study provides new data on the geochemistry, metamorphism, and cooling age, shedding light on the protolith, metamorphic conditions, and tectonic implications for the Northern Andes.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Zoltan Erdos, Ritske S. Huismans, Claudio Faccenna, Sebastian G. Wolf
Summary: The research highlights the importance of back-arc rheology and subduction interface strength in influencing the deformation style of the overriding plate, demonstrating that a weak mantle-lithospheric domain can lead to back-arc breakup even during subduction of narrow oceanic basins. The convective thinning at the subduction interface reduces the length of the interface, decreasing energy dissipation and initiating earlier extension. The study also found that slab-pull force transmission plays a predominant role in shaping the stress field of the overriding plate, while viscous basal drag has a negligible effect.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Gautam Kumar Deb, Dilip Saha, Sarbani Patranabis-Deb, Amlan Banerjee
Summary: The Sonakhan greenstone belt in central India, previously interpreted to have arc-like affinity, is now reinterpreted based on new data. Three distinct domains in the belt represent an oceanic back-arc system, an ancient magmatic arc, and a conglomerate-sandstone intercalation, indicating past tectonic processes related to subduction rollback and oceanic back-arc spreading.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Zoltan Erdos, Ritske S. Huismans, Claudio Faccenna
Summary: Back-arc basins are extensional structures that can exhibit narrow or wide-rift extension. The style of back-arc rifting is controlled by the relative rates of slab-pull force and convective thinning and thermal weakening of the overriding plate. A high subducting plate velocity leads to narrow back-arc rift, while a low subducting plate velocity allows for wide rifting.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
A. Schaarschmidt, K. M. Haase, P. C. Voudouris, V Melfos, R. Klemd
Summary: Compiled data shows the age progression and migration of arc magmatic activity from Oligocene to present along two linear profiles in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc. The geochemical data along the profiles reveal the variable contribution of sediments to the arc magmas, with different compositions reflecting different subduction rates and sediment types. The ascent of mixed material from the subducted slab into the mantle wedge is suggested to be focused and controlled by the subduction of large volumes of sediments.
GEOCHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS GEOSYSTEMS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tiziana Sgroi, Alina Polonia, Graziella Barberi, Andrea Billi, Luca Gasperini
Summary: By studying low-to-moderate magnitude earthquakes and integrating data from a seafloor observatory, researchers have identified a major lithospheric boundary constituted by the Ionian Fault in the western Ionian Sea. This boundary separates two regions with varying thickness of the seismogenic layer, suggesting a complex tectonic setting involving arc-orthogonal extension and plate convergence.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Yu Zhu, Shao-Cong Lai, Wan-li Xie, Jiang-feng Qin, Ren-zhi Zhu, Shao-wei Zhao, Min Liu, Fang-yi Zhang, Ze-Zhong Zhang, Hang Yang
Summary: Identifying the tectonic transition process from persistent slab subduction to back-arc extension is important for studying the arc magmatic evolution. This study examines the Neoproterozoic rocks from the western Yangtze Block and provides evidence for the tectonic transition from subduction to back-arc extension. The coexistence of Nb-enriched rocks and normal arc-type rocks suggests a back-arc extension background under the subduction setting.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nicholas Schliffke, Jeroen van Hunen, Mark B. Allen, Valentina Magni, Frederic Gueydan
Summary: Spreading centre jumps are a common feature of oceanic back-arc basins. This study presents 3D numerical models showing that these jumps can occur naturally in a homogeneous subduction system without any trigger event. The distance between the trench and spreading centre plays a key role in determining when and where the jumps occur, with the ratio of transform fault strength to overriding plate strength controlling the process.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Dong Fu, Bo Huang, Simon A. Wilde, Tim E. Johnson, Ali Polat, Brian F. Windley, Zhaochu Hu, Zhipeng Zhou, Timothy M. Kusky
Summary: The study reveals that the North Qilian back-arc basin in the northeastern region of the North Qilian orogenic belt underwent an early spreading phase and subsequent closure through two subduction episodes. The findings highlight the crucial role of back-arc oceanic crust subduction in the closure of back-arc basins, and the complex evolutionary tempo of such basins in Earth history.
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Fansheng Kong, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Jiabiao Li
Summary: By analyzing the mantle flow fields in Central Java, we have identified four distinct flow systems, including subslab trench normal flow, trench normal flow entering the mantle wedge through a slab window, trench-parallel subslab flow near the trench, and dominantly trench-parallel flow system in the mantle wedge. The vertical component of the escaped flow system may play a crucial role in the formation of potassic volcanism in the adjacent oceanic area.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Jialiang Li, Jingao Liu, Yujian Wang, Di-Cheng Zhu, Chen Wu
Summary: Late Paleozoic igneous rocks from Xilinhot in the southeastern CAOB exhibit two magmatic arc systems with two magmatic flare-ups, likely related to re-melting of the juvenile lower crust beneath a continental arc induced by Paleo-Asian oceanic ridge subduction, followed by magmatic migration due to slab rollback.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Hadi Shafaii Moghadam, Robert J. Stern
Summary: Subduction initiation leads to plate sinking and extensional stress on the overriding plate. The Late Cretaceous forearc ophiolites in Iran demonstrate that subduction initiation can cause strong extension over a wider region than previously thought.
Article
Geology
Lisard Torro, Joaquin A. Proenza, Julia Farre-de-Pablo, Carl Nelson, Manuel Jesus Roman-Alpiste, Antonio Garcia-Casco
Summary: This article discusses the uplift and unroofing of crust and mantle rock units in the Median Belt of the Dominican Republic, providing insight into the evolution of the northern edge of the Caribbean plate. It focuses on crustal rock units in the northeastern half of the Median Belt. The dating of metamorphic ferri-winchite and albite in metabasites of boninitic photolith from the Maimon Formation suggests a tectono-metamorphic event during the Upper Cretaceous.
INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGY REVIEW
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Kun Guo, Xiaoyuan Wang, Shuai Chen, Luning Shang, Bingquan Liu, Xia Zhang, Zhiqing Lai
Summary: The Kueishantao (KST) area, located at the tectonic junction of the Okinawa Trough and the Ryukyu arc, is an ideal location to study the influence of the lower crust on the generation of back-arc magmas. Research shows that the KST andesitic magma is likely sourced from the lower continental crust.