Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:03:18.184Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seismic imaging evidence that forearc underplating built the accretionary rock record of coastal North and South America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2019

David W. Scholl Open the ORCID record for David W. Scholl [Opens in a new window]
David W. Scholl*
Affiliation:
University of Alaska Fairbanks, Emeritus, Los Gatos, CA, USA
*
Author for correspondence: David W. Scholl, Email: dscholl1934@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The submerged forearcs of Pacific subduction zones of North and South America are underlain by a coastally exposed basement of late Palaeozoic to early Tertiary age. Basement is either an igneous massif of an accreted intra-oceanic arc or oceanic plateau (e.g. Cascadia(?), Colombia), an in situ formed arc massif (e.g. Aleutian Arc) or an exhumed accretionary complex of low and high P/T metamorphic facies of late Palaeozoic (e.g. southern Chile, Patagonia) and Mesozoic age (e.g. Alaska). Seismic studies at Pacific forearcs image frontal prisms of trench sediment accreted to the seaward edge of forearc basement. Frontal prisms tend to be narrow (10–40 km), weakly consolidated and volumetrically small (∼35–40 km3/km of trench). In contrast, deep seismic imaging of submerged forearcs commonly reveals large volumes (∼2000 km3/km of trench) of underplated material accreted at subsurface depths of ∼10–30 km to the base of forearc basement. Underplates have been imaged below the southern Chile, Ecuador–Colombia, north Cascade, Alaska, and possibly the eastern Aleutian forearcs. Deep underplates have also been observed below the Japan and New Zealand forearcs. Seismic imaging of northern and eastern Pacific forearcs supports the conclusion drawn from field and laboratory studies that exposed low and high P/T accretionary complexes accumulated in the subsurface at depths of 10–30 km. It seems significant that imaged underplated bodies are characteristic of modern well-sedimented subduction zones. It also seems likely that large Pacific-rim underplates store a significant fraction of sediment subducted in Cenozoic time.

Keywords

Subductionaccretionunderplatingsubduction complex
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 158 , Special Issue 1: Subduction zone processes and crustal growth mechanisms at Pacific-Rim continental margins: modern and ancient analogues , January 2021 , pp. 104 - 117
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aguirre, L, Herve, F and Godoy, E (1972) Distribution of metamorphic facies in Chile – an outline. Krystalinikum 9, 7–19.Google Scholar
Angiboust, S, Cambeses, A, Hyppolito, T, Glodny, J, Monié, P, Calderón, M and Caetano, J (2018) A 100-m.y.-long window onto mass-flow processes in the Patagonian Mesozoic subduction zone (Diego de Almagro Island, Chile). Geological Society of America Bulletin 130, 1439–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atwater, T and Severinghaus, J (1989) Tectonic maps of the northeast Pacific. In The Geology of North America, vol. N, The Eastern Pacific Ocean and Hawaii (eds Winterer, EL, Hussong, DM and Decker, RW), pp. 15–20. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America.Google Scholar
Bailey, EH, Irwin, WP and Jones, DL (1964) Franciscan and related rocks and their significance in the geology of western California. California Division of Mines Bulletin 183, 171 pp.Google Scholar
Bangs, NL and Cande, SC (1997) Episodic development of a convergent margin inferred from structures and processes along the southern Chile margin. Tectonics 16, 489–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bassett, D, Sutherland, R, Henrys, S, Stern, T, Scherwath, M, Benson, A, Toulmin, S and Henderson, M (2010) Three-dimensional velocity structure of the northern Hikurangi margin, Raukumara, New Zealand: implications for the growth of continental crust by subduction erosion and tectonic underplating. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 11, Q10013. doi: 10.1029/2010GC003137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandon, MT, Roden-Tice, MK and Garver, JL (1998). Late Cenozoic exhumation of the Cascadia accretionary wedge in the Olympic Mountains, northwest Washington State. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 110, 985–1009.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandon, MT and Vance, JA (1992) Tectonic evolution of the Cenozoic Olympic subduction complex, Washington State, as deduced from fission track ages for detrital zircons. American Journal of Science 292, 565–636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, T (1986) Eocene underplating along the Kodiak Shelf, Alaska: implications and regional correlations. Tectonics 5, 403–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, AJ (2004) Seismic reflection imaging of two megathrust shear zones in the northern Cascadia subduction zone. Nature 428 163–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calvert, AJ, Fisher, MA, Ramachandran, K and Tre´hu, AM (2003) Possible emplacement of crustal rocks into the forearc mantle of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Geophysical Research Letters 30, 2196. doi: 10.1029/2003GL018541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, AJ and McGeary, SE (2013) Seismic reflection imaging of ultradeep roots beneath the eastern Aleutian island arc. Geology 41, 203–6. doi: 10.1130/G33683.1. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, AJ, Preston, LA and Farahbod, AM (2011) Sedimentary underplating at the Cascadia mantle-wedge corner revealed by seismic imaging. Nature Geoscience 4, 545–8. doi: 10.1038/NGEO1195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chase, RL and Bunce, ET (1969) Underthrusting of the eastern margin of the Antilles by the floor of the western North Atlantic Ocean, and origin of the Barbados Ridge. Journal of Geophysical Research 74, 1413–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clift, P and Hartley, A (2007) Slow rates of subduction erosion and coastal underplating along the Andean margin of Chile and Peru. Geology 35, 503–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clowes, RM, Brandon, MT, Green, AG, Yorath, CJ, Brown, AS, Kanesewich, ER and Spencer, C (1987) LITHOPROBE – southern Vancouver Island: Cenozoic subduction complex imaged by deep seismic reflections. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 28, 542–56.Google Scholar
Collot, J-Y, Agudelo, W, Ribodetti, A and Marcaillou, B (2008) Origin of a crustal splay fault and its relation to the seismogenic zone and underplating at the erosional north Ecuador–south Colombia oceanic margin. Journal of Geophysical Research 113, B12102. doi: 10.1029/2008JB005691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connelly, W (1978) Uyak Complex, Kodiak Islands, Alaska: a Cretaceous subduction complex. Geological Society of America Bulletin 89, 755–69.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ducea, MN and Chapman, AD (2018) Sub-magmatic arc underplating by trench and forearc materials in shallow subduction systems: a geologic perspective and implications. Earth Science Reviews 185, 763–79. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.08.001. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ducea, MN, Kidder, S, Chesley, JT and Sleepy, JB (2009) Tectonic underplating of trench sediments beneath magmatic arcs: the central California example. International Geology Review 51, 1–26. doi: 10.1080/00206810802602767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ernst, WG (1965) Mineral parageneses in Franciscan Metamorphic rocks, Panache Pass, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 76, 879–914.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ernst, WG (1971a) Do mineral parageneses reflect unusually high-pressure conditions of Franciscan metamorphism. American Journal of Science 270, 81–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ernst, WG (1971b) Metamorphic zonations on presumably subducted lithospheric plates from Japan, California and the Alps. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 34, 43–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ernst, WG (1975) Systematics of large-scale tectonics and age progressions in Alpine and circum-Pacific blueschist belts. Tectonophysics 26, 229–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ernst, WG and McLaughlin, RJ (2012) Mineral parageneses, regional architecture, and tectonic evolution of Franciscan metagraywackes, Cape Mendocino-Garberville-Covelo 30′ × 60′ quadrangles, northwest California. Tectonics 31, TC1001. doi: 10.1029/2011TC002987.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eyles, CH, Eyles, N and Lagoe, MB (1991) The Yakataga Formation: a late Miocene to Pleistocene record of temperate glacial marine sedimentation in the Gulf of Alaska. In Glacial marine sedimentation: Paleoclimatic significance (eds Anderson, JB and Ashley, GM), pp 159–80. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, Special Paper 261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, MA, von Huene, R and Smith, GL (1987) Reflections from mid-crustal rocks with the Mesozoic subduction complex near the eastern Aleutian Trench. Journal of Geophysical Research 92, 7907–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, MA, von Huene, R, Smith, GL and Bruns, TR (1983) Possible seismic reflections from the downgoing Pacific Plate, 275 kilometers arcward from the eastern Aleutian trench. Journal of Geophysical Research 88, 5835–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flueh, ER, Fisher, MA, Bialys, J, Childs, JR, Klaeschen, D, Kukowski, N, Parsons, T, Scholl, DW, ten Brink, U, Trehu, AM and Vidal, N (1998) New seismic images of the Cascadia subduction zone from cruise SO108 – ORWELL. Tectonophysics 293, 69–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, R, Turner, S, Hawkesworth, C, Morris, J, Nye, C, Ryan, J and Zhen, S-H (2003) Melting processes and fluid and sediment transport rates along the Alaska-Aleutian arc from an integrated U-Th-Ra-Be isotope study. Journal of Geophysical Research 108, 2252. doi: 10.1029/2002JB001916.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glodny, J, Esther, H, Figueroa, O, Franz, G, Gräfe, K, Kemnitz, H, Kramer, W, Krawczyk, C, Lehmann, J, Lucassen, F, Melnick, D, Matthias Roseau, M and Seifert, W (2006) Long-term geological evolution and mass-flow balance of the South-Central Andes. In The Andes. Frontiers in Earth Sciences (eds Once, O, Chong, G, Franz, G, Giese, P, Goetz, H-J, Ramos, VA, Strecker, MR and Wiggery, P), pp. 401–28. Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer.Google Scholar
Gonzalez, B-F and Aguirre, L (1970) Metamorphic facies series of the crystalline basement of Chile. Geologist Rundschau 59, 979–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goss, AR, Kay, SM and Apodosis, C (2013) Andean adakite-like high-Mg andesites on the northern margin of the Chilean Pampean flat-slab (27°28.58′ S) associated with frontal arc migration and fore-arc subduction erosion. Journal of Petrology 54, 2193–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, AG, Clowes, RM, Yorath, CJ, Spencer, C, Kanesewich, ER, Brandon, MT and Brown, AS (1986) Seismic reflection imaging of the subducting Juan de Fuca plate. Nature 319, 210–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartley, AJ, May, G, Chong, G, Turner, P, Kape, SJ and Jolly, EJ (2000) Development of a continental forearc: a Cenozoic example from the central Andes, northern Chile. Geology 28, 331–4. doi: 10.1130/0091–7613(2000)028<0331:DOACFA>2.3.CO;2.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, SM, Godoy, E and Kurtz, A (2005) Episodic arc migration, crustal thickening, subduction erosion, and magmatism in the south-central Andes. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 67–88. doi: 10.1130/B25431.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, SM, Goss, AR and Mulcahy, P (2012) Seismological and geochemical evidence for forearc crust and mantle removed by late Neogene Andean forearc subduction erosion entering the mantle wedge and the Andean arc magma source. Congreso Geológico Chileno 13, 215–17.Google Scholar
Kelemen, PB, Yogodzinski, GM and Scholl, DW (2003) Along strike variation in the Aleutian Island arc: genesis of high Mg# andesite and implications for continental crust. In The Subduction Factory (ed. Eiler, J), pp. 223–76. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph Series no. 138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimura, H, Takeda, T, Obara, K and Kasahara, K (2010) Seismic evidence for active underplating below the megathrust earthquake zone in Japan. Science 329, 210–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Melnick, D, Bookhagen, B, Esther, HP and Strecker, MR (2006) Coastal deformation and great subduction earthquakes, Isla Santa María, Chile (37°S). Geological Society of America Bulletin 118, 1463–80. doi: 10.1130/B25865.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, JC, Diebold, J, Fisher, MA, Sample, J, Broacher, T, Talwani, M, Ewing, J, von Huene, R, Rowe, C, Stone, D, Stevens, C and Sawyer, D (1991) EDGE deep seismic reflection transect of the eastern Aleutian arc-trench layered lower crust reveals underplating and continental growth. Geology 19, 420–4.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, JC and Karig, DE (1976) Sedimentology, structural geology, and tectonics of the Shikoku subduction zone, southwestern Japan. Geological Society of America Bulletin 87, 1259–68.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, J-O, Tsuru, T, Takahashi, N, Hori, T, Kodaira, S, Nakanishi, A, Miura, S and Kaneda, Y (2002) A deep strong reflector in the Nankai accretionary wedge from multichannel seismic data: implications for underplating and interseismic shear stress release. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 107, 2061. doi: 10.1029/2001JB000262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parlor, M, Gómez-Tuena, A, Cavazos-Tovar, JG and Hernández-Quevedo, G (2018) A balancing act of crust creation and destruction along the western Mexican convergent margin. Geology 46, 455–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plafker, G, Moore, JC and Winkler, G (1994) Geology of the southern Alaska margin. In The Geology of Alaska (eds Plafker, G and Berg, HC), pp. 389–449. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America. The Geology of North America (DENAG), G-1.Google Scholar
Polonia, A, Torelli, L, Francolin, G and Loreto, M-F (2007) Tectonic accretion versus erosion along the southern Chile trench: oblique subduction and margin segmentation. Tectonics 26, TC3005. doi: 10.1029/2006TC001983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ranero, CR, von Huene, R, Weinrebe, W and Reichert, C (2006) Tectonic processes along the Chile convergent margin. In The Andes. Frontiers in Earth Sciences (eds Once, O, Chong, G, Franz, G, Giese, P, Goetz, H-J, Ramos, VA, Strecker, MR and Wiggery, P), pp. 91–121. Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer.Google Scholar
Ryan, HF, Draut, AE, Keranen, K and Scholl, DW (2012) Influence of the Amelia fracture zone on the evolution of the Aleutian Terrace forearc basin, central Aleutian subduction zone. Geosphere 8, 1231–53. doi: 10.1130/GES00815.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, HF and Scholl, DW (1993) Geologic implications of great interplate earthquakes along the Aleutian Arc. Journal of Geophysical Research 98, 22135–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, JG and Langmuir, CH (1988) Beryllium systematics in young volcanic rocks: implications for 10Be. Geochimica et Cosmochemica Acta 52, 237–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sample, JC and Moore, JC (1987) Structural style and kinematics of an underplated slate belt, Kodiak and adjacent islands, Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 99, 7–20.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholl, DW (1974) Sedimentary sequences in north Pacific trenches. In The Geology of Continental Margins (eds Burk, CA and Drake, CL), pp. 493–504. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholl, DW, Christensen, MN, von Huene, R and Marlow, MS (1970) Peru-Chile Trench Sediment and sea-floor spreading. Geological Society of America Bulletin 81, 1339–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholl, DW, Kirby, SH, von Huene, R, Ryan, H, Wells, RE and Gist, EL (2015) Great (≥Mw8.0) megathrust earthquakes and the subduction of excess sediment and bathymetrically smooth seafloor. Geosphere 11, 236–65. doi: 10.1130/GES01079.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholl, DW, Vallier, TL and Stevenson, AJ (1987) Geology evolution and petroleum geology of the Aleutian ridge. In Geology and Resource Potential of the Continental Margin of Western North America and Adjacent Ocean Basins – Beaufort Sea to Baja California (eds Scholl, DW, Grants, A and Vader, JG), pp. 123–55. Houston, TX: Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources. Earth Science Series, 6. Google Scholar
Scholl, DW and von Huene, R (2007) Crustal recycling at modern subduction zones applied to the past: issues of growth and preservation of continental basement crust, mantle geochemistry, and supercontinent reconstruction. In 4-D Framework of Continental Crust (eds Hatcher, RD, Carlson, MP, McBride, JH and Martínez, C), pp. 9–32. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America Memoir 200. doi: 10.1130/2007.1200(02).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silver, EA (1972) Pleistocene tectonic accretion of the continental slope off Washington. Marine Geology 13, 239–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, BS, Jicha, BR, Leman, WP, Rogers, NW, Thirlwall, MF, Ryan, J and Nicolaysen, KE (2007) Along strike trace element and isotopic variation in Aleutian Island arc basalt: subduction melts sediments and dehydrates serpentine. Journal of Geophysical Research 112, B06206. doi: 10.1029/2006JB004897.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snavely, PD , Jr (1987) Tertiary geologic framework, neotectonics, and petroleum potential of the Oregon–Washington continental margin. In Geology and Resource Potential of the Continental Margin of Western North American and Adjacent Ocean Basins (eds Scholl, DW, Grants, A and Vedder, JG), pp. 305–35. Houston, TX: Circum-Pacific Council of Energy and Mineral Resources, Earth Science Series 6.Google Scholar
Stern, RJ and Dumitru, TA (2019) Eocene initiation of the Cascadia subduction zone: a second example of plume-induced subduction initiation? Geophysics, 15, 659–81. doi: 10.1130/GES02050.1.Google Scholar
Straub, SM, Gomez-Tuna, A, Bindeman, IN, Bolge, LL, Brandl, PA, Espinasa-Perena, R, Solaria, L, Stuart, FM, Vannucchi, P and Zellmer, GF (2015). Crustal recycling by subduction erosion in the central Mexican Volcanic Belt. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 166, 29–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, R, Stagpoole, V, Ruska, C, Kennedy, C, Bassett, D, Henrys, S, Scherwath, M, Kopp, H, Field, B, Tooling, S, Barker, D, Bannister, S, Davey, F, Stern, T and Flueh, ER (2009) Reactivation of tectonics, crustal underplating, and uplift after 60 Myr of passive subsidence, Raukumara Basin, Hikurangi‐Kermadec forearc, New Zealand: implications for global growth and recycling of continents. Tectonics 28, TC5017. doi: 10.1029/2008TC002356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volker, D, Geersen, J, Contreras-Reyes, E, Sellanes, J, Pandora, S, Rabbel, W, Thrower, M, Reichert, C, Block, M and Weinrebe, WR (2012) Morphology and geology of the continental shelf and upper slope of south central Chile (33°S–42°S). International Journal of Earth Sciences 103, 1765–87. doi: 10.1007/s00531-012-0795-y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Huene, R, Kirby, S, Miller, J and Darnell, P (2014) The destructive 1946 Unimak near-field tsunami: new evidence for a submarine slide source from reprocessed marine geophysical data. Geophysical Research Letters 41, 6811–18. doi: 10.1002/2014GL061759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Huene, R, Miller, J, Klaeschen, D and Darnell, P (2017) A possible source mechanism of the 1946 Unimak Alaska far-field tsunami: uplift of the mid-slope terrace above a splay fault zone. Pure and Applied Geophysics 173, 4189–201. doi: 10.1007/s00024-016-1393-x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Huene, R, Miller, J and Weinrebe, W (2012) Subducting plate geology in three great earthquake ruptures on the western Alaska margin, Kodiak to Unimak. Geosphere 8, 628–44. doi: 10.1130/GES00715.1. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Huene, R, Miller, JJ and Krabbenhoeft, A (2019) The Shumagin seismic gap structure and associated tsunami hazards, Alaska convergent margin. Geosphere, 15, 324–41, doi: 10.1130/GES01657.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Huene, R and Scholl, DW (1991) Observations at convergent margins concerning sediment subduction, subduction erosion, and the growth of continental crust. Reviews of Geophysics 29, 279–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ye, S, Flueh, ER, Klaeschen, D and von Huene, R (1997) Crustal structure along the EDGE transect beneath the Kodiak shelf off Alaska derived from OBH seismic refraction data. Geophysical Journal International 130, 283–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yorath, CJ, Green, AG, Clowes, RM, Sutherland Brown, A, Brandon, MT, Kanesewich, ER, Hyndman, RD and Spencer, C (1985) Lithoprobe, southern Vancouver Island: seismic reflection sees through Wrangellia to the Juan de Fuca plate. Geology 13, 759–62.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, E, Trehu, AM, Bangs, NL and Contreras-Reyes, E (2018) Investigation of deep seismic reflections beneath the accretionary prism of the Chile subduction zone in south-central Chile. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, 10–14 December 2018, Abstract no. 413683.Google Scholar