Numerical modeling of subduction and evaluation of Philippine Sea Plate tectonic history along the Nankai Trough

The subduction of the Philippine Sea (PHS) plate along the Nankai Trough in in southwest Japan is a relatively recent process compared with subduction along the Japan Trench in northeast Japan. However, the tectonic evolution of the PHS plate along the Nankai Trough is still controversial and not fully understood. There are several competing hypotheses based on different estimates for the time variations of convergence rate and plate age. Our study employs numerical modelling of subduction in order to evaluate the slab evolution for the last 15 Myr and aims to evaluate each tectonic scenario against the present-day slab geometry along a profile passing through the Shikoku and Chugoku regions. The modelling strategy involves a parameter study where subduction initiation and various subduction parameters are analyzed in terms of subduction geometry evolution. Two-dimensional visco-elasto-plastic numerical simulations of spontaneous bending subduction predict that convergence rate and plate age variations play an important role in the evolution of subduction geometry. Modeling results after 15 Myr of evolution reveal that the tectonic model based on a high convergence rate between ~ 15 Ma and ~ 3 Ma produces a slab geometry that agrees well with the observed present-day slab shape specific for the Shikoku and Chugoku regions.

Contrasting volcano spacing along SW Japan arc caused by difference in age of subducting lithosphere

The SW Japan arc built by subduction of the Philippine Sea (PHS) plate exhibits uneven distribution of volcanoes: thirteen Quaternary composite volcanoes form in the western half of this arc, Kyushu Island, while only two in the eastern half, Chugoku district. Reconstruction of the PHS plate back to 14 Ma, together with examinations based on thermal structure models constrained by high-density heat flow data and a petrological model for dehydration reactions suggest that fluids are discharged actively at depths of 90–100 km in the hydrous layer at the top of the old (> 50 Ma), hence, cold lithosphere sinking beneath Kyushu Island. In contrast, the young (15–25 Ma) oceanic crust downgoing beneath Chugoku district releases fluids largely at shallower depths, i.e. beneath the non-volcanic forearc, to cause characteristic tectonic tremors and low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs) and be the source of specific brine springs. Much larger amounts of fluids supplied to the magma source region in the western SW Japan arc could build more densely-distributed volcanoes.

Abyssal Peridotite as a Component of Forearc Mantle: Inference from a New Mantle Xenolith Suite of Bankawa in the Southwest Japan Arc

Lithology and petrologic nature of the forearc mantle have been left unclear due to the very limited sampling to date. Here, we present petrological data on a forearc peridotite suite obtained as xenoliths in an alkali basalt dike (7.5 Ma) from the Bankawa area in the Southwest Japan arc for our better understanding of the forearc mantle. The host alkali basalt is of asthenosphere origin, and passed through a slab window with slight chemical modification by the slab-derived component. The Bankawa peridotite suite is comprised of lherzolites, which contain various amounts of secondary phlogopite and were metasomatized to various degrees. The least metasomatized lherzolite exhibits Fo91 of olivine, Cr/(Cr + Al) = 0.3 of chromian spinel, and depletion of middle to light rare-earth elements in clinopyroxene, and is overall similar to an abyssal lherzolite. It had originally formed at the proto-Pacific Ocean and then was trapped at a eastern margin of Eurasian continent by initiation of subduction. The forearc mantle peridotite formed as a residue of proto-arc magma formation is depleted harzburgite as represented by the peridotites obtained from the forearc seafloor, but can be less depleted abyssal peridotite if being devoid of partial melting or reaction with magmas after entrapment.