Search results for "subduction"

Geochemistry and early Palaeogene SHRIMP zircon ages for island arc granitoids of the Sierra Maestra, southeastern Cuba

2004

The Palaeogene volcanic arc successions of the Sierra Maestra, southeastern Cuba, were intruded by calc-alkaline, low- to medium-K tonalites and trondhjemites during the final stages of subduction and subsequent collision of the Caribbean oceanic plate with the North American continental plate. U‐Pb SHRIMP zircon dating of five granitoids yielded 206 Pb/ 238 U emplacement ages between 60.5F2.2 and 48.3F0.5 Ma. The granitoids are the result of subduction-related magmatism and have geochemical characteristics similar to those of magmas from intra-oceanic island-arcs such as the Izu Bonin‐Mariana arc and the New Britain island arc, Lesser Antilles. Major and trace element patterns suggest evol…

Rapid onset of mafic magmatism facilitated by volcanic edifice collapse: MAFIC MAGMATISM FACILITATED BY VOLCANIC EDIFICE COLLAPSE

2015

Volcanic edifice collapses generate some of Earth's largest landslides. How such unloading affects the magma storage systems is important for both hazard assessment and for determining long-term controls on volcano growth and decay. Here we present a detailed stratigraphic and petrological analyses of volcanic landslide and eruption deposits offshore Montserrat, in a subduction zone setting, sampled during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 340. A large (6–10 km3) collapse of the Soufriere Hills Volcano at ~130 ka was followed by explosive basaltic volcanism and the formation of a new basaltic volcanic center, the South Soufriere Hills, estimated to have initiated <100 years after…

Large- and Fine-Scale Geochemical Variations Along the Andean Arc of Northern Chile (17.5°– 22°S)

1994

Geochemical data from 37 volcanic centres from the active volcanic front in the Central Andes between 17.5° and 22°S of northern Chile provide constraints on crustal contributions to arc magma genesis in that region. Crustal thickness, distance from the trench, height above the seismically active subduction zone, and sediment supply to the trench are all constant along this segment of the arc. The only significant variable along the current arc segment is in mean crustal age (Palaeozoic in the south to Proterozoic in the north). In addition, the crustal thickness has varied through time from around 40 km in the Lower Miocene to about 70 km today. Variations along the N-S chain of the volcan…

Zircon dating of Neoproterozoic and Cambrian ophiolites in West Mongolia and implications for the timing of orogenic processes in the central part of…

2014

Abstract We present new isotopic and trace element data to review the geochronological/geochemical/geological evolution of the central part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), and find a fundamental geological problem in West Mongolia, which has traditionally been subdivided into northwestern early Paleozoic (formerly Caledonian) and southerly late Paleozoic (formerly Hercynian) belts by the Main Mongolian Lineament (MML). We resolve this problem with SHRIMP zircon dating of ophiolites and re-evaluation of much published literature. In Northwest Mongolia the Dariv–Khantaishir ophiolite marks the boundary between the Lake arc in the west and the Dzabkhan–Baydrag microcontinent in the …

Emergence of blueschists on Earth linked to secular changes in oceanic crust composition

2015

The oldest blueschists—metamorphic rocks formed during subduction—are of Neoproterozoic age1, and 0.7–0.8 billion years old. Yet, subduction of oceanic crust to mantle depths is thought to have occurred since the Hadean, over 4 billion years ago2. Blueschists typically form under cold geothermal gradients of less than 400 °C GPa−1, so their absence in the ancient rock record is typically attributed to hotter pre-Neoproterozoic mantle prohibiting such low-temperature metamorphism; however, modern analogues of Archaean subduction suggest that blueschist-facies metamorphic conditions are attainable at the slab surface3. Here we show that the absence of blueschists in the ancient geological rec…

Early exhumation of high-pressure rocks in extrusion wedges: Cycladic blueschist unit in the eastern Aegean, Greece, and Turkey

2007

Structural, metamorphic, and geochronologic work shows that the Ampelos/Dilek nappe of the Cycladic blueschist unit in the eastern Aegean constitutes a wedge of high-pressure rocks extruded during early stages of orogeny. The extrusion wedge formed during the incipient collision of the Anatolian microcontinent with Eurasia when subduction and deep underthrusting ceased and the Ampelos/Dilek nappe was thrust southward over the greenschist-facies Menderes nappes along its lower tectonic contact, the Cycladic-Menderes thrust, effectively cutting out a ∼30- to 40-km-thick section of crust. The upper contact of the Ampelos/Dilek extrusion wedge is the top-to-the-NE Selcuk normal shear zone, alon…

Timing of deformational events in the Río San Juan complex: implications for the tectonic controls on the exhumation of high-P rocks in the northern …

2013

An integrated structural, petrological and geochronological study was undertaken to constrain the tectonic history and controls on the exhumation of the high-P rocks of the Río San Juan complex in the northern Caribbean subduction–accretionary wedge. In the main structural units of the complex, microtextural analyses were performed to identify the fabrics formed at peak ofmetamorphismin eclogite-facies conditions and during the main retrogressive event toward the low-P amphibolite or blueschist/greenschist-facies conditions. U–Pb SHRIMP dating on zircon rims (71.3 ± 0.7 Ma) coupled with 40Ar–39Ar analyses on phengite (~70– 69 Ma) in felsic sills placed temporal constraints on the exhumation…

How to resist subduction: evidence for large-scale out-of-sequence thrusting during Eocene collision in western Turkey

2001

Significant along-strike variations have locked large parts of the Alpine subduction complex in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Eocene, and defined the end of high-pressure accretion in western Turkey. Structural analysis reveals that the Anatolide belt in western Turkey formed under greenschist facies metamorphic conditions in the Eocene when a high-pressure metamorphic fragment of the Adriatic plate (the Cycladic blueschist unit) was thrust onto the imbricated mid-crustal units of the Anatolian microcontinent (the Menderes nappes). The contact between the Cycladic blueschist unit and the Menderes nappes, the Cyclades–Menderes thrust, represents an out-of-sequence ramp which cuts up-sect…

2001

The roles of volume loss, coaxial versus noncoaxial flow, and blueschist exhumation in subduction-related accretionary wedges are still poorly understood. In our study at Leech Lake Mountain in the Eastern belt of the Franciscan subduction complex, we focus on these subjects. In the specific example of the Franciscan, the tectonic significance of the boundary between the Eastern and Central belts remains controversial. The Leech Lake Mountain area in northern California is situated immediately above this boundary and, therefore, appears to be of crucial importance for understanding aspects of the tectonic evolution of the Franciscan. The structural development at Leech Lake Mountain is char…

Miocene high-pressure metamorphism in the Cyclades and Crete, Aegean Sea, Greece: Evidence for large-magnitude displacement on the Cretan detachment

2001

The Cyclades in the backarc region of the present Hellenic subduction zone are known for widespread Late Cretaceous to Eocene high-pressure metamorphism in the Cycladic blueschist unit. We report 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and Rb/Sr phengite ages of 24–21 Ma for high- pressure metamorphism (8–10 kbar, 350–400 °C) in the lowest tectonic unit in the Cyclades, the Basal unit, which structurally underlies the Cycladic blueschist unit. The Basal unit is correlated with the Tripolitza unit of the External Hellenides in the forearc region of the Hellenic subduction zone. The Tripolitza unit is unmetamorphosed on Crete, where it is separated from the underlying high-pressure (8–10 kbar, 300–400 °C) Plattenkalk a…