Search results for "subduction"
showing 10 items of 166 documents
Shear heating induced lithospheric-scale localization: Does it result in subduction?
2012
Abstract Even though it is a well-established fact that the Earth is currently in a plate-tectonics mode, the question on how to “break” lithospheric plates and initiate subduction remains a matter of debate. Here we focus on shear heating as a potential mechanism to cause lithospheric shear localization and subsequent subduction initiation in oceanic plates. It is shown that shear heating under some conditions (i) facilitates the formation of a lithospheric-scale shear zone and (ii) is capable of stabilizing a lithospheric-scale shear zone, thus creating the necessary condition for subduction initiation to occur. Furthermore, we demonstrate that not only the localization process is of impo…
Modelo de cabalgamiento profundo para el Alto Atlas (Marruecos). Implicaciones sísmicas en la zona de colisión entre Eurasia y Africa
2007
Previous crustal models of the High Atlas suppose the existence of a mid-crustal detachment where all the surface thrusts merged and below which the lower crust was continuous. However, both seismic refraction data and gravity modeling detected a jump in crustal thickness between the High Atlas and the northern plains. Here we show that this rapid and vertical jump in the depth of Moho discontinuity suggests that a thrust fault may penetrate the lower crust and offset the Moho (deep-rooted “thick skinned” model). The distribution of Neogene and Quaternary volcanisms along and at the northern part of the High Atlas lineament can be related to the beginning of a partial continental subduction…
Trench-parallel spreading ridge subduction and its consequences for the geological evolution of the overriding plate: Insights from analogue models a…
2018
A series of 3-D asthenospheric-scale analogue models have been conducted in the laboratory in order to simulate the arrival of a spreading ridge at the trench and understand its effect on plate kinematics, slab geometry, and on the deformation of the overriding plate. These models are made of a two-layered linearly viscous system simulating the lithosphere and asthenosphere. We reproduce the progressive decrease in thickness of the oceanic lithosphere at the trench. We measure plate kinematics, slab geometry and upper plate deformation. Our experiments reveal that the subduction of a thinning plate beneath a freely moving overriding continent favors a decrease of the subduction velocity and…
Os-isotope constraints on the dynamics of orogenic mantle: The case of the Central Balkans
2015
Abstract We used Os isotopic systematics to assess the geochemical relationship between the lithospheric mantle beneath the Balkans (Mediterranean), ophiolitic peridotites and lavas derived from the lithospheric mantle. In our holistic approach we studied samples of Tertiary post-collisional ultrapotassic lavas sourced within the lithospheric mantle, placer Pt alloys from Vardar ophiolites, peridotites from nearby Othris ophiolites, as well as four mantle xenoliths representative for the composition of the local mantle lithosphere. Our ultimate aim was to monitor lithospheric mantle evolution under the Balkan part of the Alpine-Himalayan belt. The observations made on Os isotope and highly …
Evidence for boron incorporation into the serpentine crystal structure
2011
Serpentinite mud volcanoes from the Mariana forearc comprise B-rich mantle wedge peridotites serpentinized by slab fluids. The major component of these rocks are serpentine group minerals [Mg 3 Si 2 O 5 (OH) 4 ], showing highly variable textural and geochemical features. Micro-Raman spectroscopy reveals that the serpentine minerals are well-crystallized lizardite and chrysotile. In situ SIMS spot analyses and element mapping via ToF-SIMS show that B is evenly distributed across serpentine grains, suggesting that serpentine, both lizardite and chrysotile in different textural regions, can host significant amounts of B (up to ~200 μg/g) into its crystal structure. As such structurally bound B…
Degassing vs. eruptive styles at Mt. Etna volcano (Sicily, Italy). Part I: Volatile stocking, gas fluxing, and the shift from low-energy to highly ex…
2018
International audience; Basaltic magmas can transport and release large amounts of volatiles into the atmosphere, especially in subduction zones, where slab-derived fluids enrich the mantle wedge. Depending on magma volatile content, basaltic volcanoes thus display a wide spectrum of eruptive styles, from common Strombolian-type activity to Plinian events. Mt. Etna, in Sicily, is a typical basaltic volcano where the volatile control on such a variable activity can be investigated. Based on a melt inclusion study in products from Strombolian or lava-fountain activity to Plinian eruptions, here we show that for the same initial volatile content, different eruptive styles reflect variable dega…
Noble gas and CO2 isotopic signatures of the lithospheric mantle underneath Mexico and the Canary Islands: clues from mantle xenoliths and arc lavas
2022
Studying the isotopic composition of fluids trapped in mantle xenoliths opens avenues to understand the origin and cycling of volatiles in the Earth’s upper mantle. In this PhD dissertation, new and in most cases the very first data regarding the isotopic (noble gases and CO2) characterization of the lithospheric mantle portions of three different geodynamic environments are presented: (i) Central and NW Mexico, a continental setting dominated by extension; (ii) the Transmexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) a subduction setting, and (iii) the Canary Islands, particularly El Hierro and Lanzarote, two oceanic islands formed by mantle plume-derived intraplate volcanism. In total 32 peridotites (includ…
Fluid migration above a subducted slab - Thermodynamic and trace element modelling of fluid-rock interaction in partially overprinted eclogite-facies…
2011
Abstract The amount and composition of subduction zone fluids and the effect of fluid–rock interaction at a slab–mantle interface have been constrained by thermodynamic and trace element modelling of partially overprinted blueschist-facies rocks from the Sesia Zone (Western Alps). Deformation-induced differences in fluid flux led to a partial preservation of pristine mineral cores in weakly deformed samples that were used to quantify Li, B, Sr and Pb distribution during mineral growth, -breakdown and modification induced by fluid–rock interaction. Our results show that Li and B budgets are fluid-controlled, thus acting as tracers for fluid–rock interaction processes, whereas Sr and Pb budge…
Detection of a Ca-rich lithology in the Earth's deep (>300 km) convecting mantle
2005
Earth's deep convecting upper mantle is believed to represent a rather homogenous geochemical reservoir of spinel or garnet lherzolite with primitive major element and moderately depleted trace element composition. Only where subduction occurs is this homogeneity disrupted by a suite of rocks ranging from eclogites/garnet pyroxenites (former oceanic crust) to residual harzburgites. In addition to these well documented peridotitic and metabasaltic rocks we have now discovered the presence of a chemically distinct reservoir in the deep convecting upper mantle. In situ structural analyses (micro X-ray diffraction and micro Raman spectroscopy) and three-dimensional trace element mapping (confoc…