Slab to back-arc to arc: Fluid and melt pathways through the mantle wedge beneath the Lesser Antilles

Volatiles expelled from subducted plates promote melting of the overlying warm mantle, feeding arc volcanism. However, debates continue over the factors controlling melt generation and transport, and how these determine the placement of volcanoes. To broaden our synoptic view of these fundamental mantle wedge processes, we image seismic attenuation beneath the Lesser Antilles arc, an end-member system that slowly subducts old, tectonized lithosphere. Punctuated anomalies with high ratios of bulk-to-shear attenuation (Q_κ^-1/Q_μ^-1 > 0.6) and V_P/V_S (>1.83) lie 40 km above the slab, representing expelled fluids that are retained in a cold boundary layer, transporting fluids toward the back-arc. The strongest attenuation (1000/Q_S ~ 20), characterizing melt in warm mantle, lies beneath the back-arc, revealing how back-arc mantle feeds arc volcanoes. Melt ponds under the upper plate and percolates toward the arc along structures from earlier back-arc spreading, demonstrating how slab dehydration, upper-plate properties, past tectonics, and resulting melt pathways collectively condition volcanism.

Kinematic variables and water transport control the formation and location of arc volcanoes

The processes that give rise to arc magmas at convergent plate margins have long been a subject of scientific research and debate. A consensus has developed that the mantle wedge overlying the subducting slab and fluids and/or melts from the subducting slab itself are involved in the melting process. However, the role of kinematic variables such as slab dip and convergence rate in the formation of arc magmas is still unclear. The depth to the top of the subducting slab beneath volcanic arcs, usually approximately 110 +/- 20 km, was previously thought to be constant among arcs. Recent studies revealed that the depth of intermediate-depth earthquakes underneath volcanic arcs, presumably marking the slab-wedge interface, varies systematically between approximately 60 and 173 km and correlates with slab dip and convergence rate. Water-rich magmas (over 4-6 wt% H(2)O) are found in subduction zones with very different subduction parameters, including those with a shallow-dipping slab (north Japan), or steeply dipping slab (Marianas). Here we propose a simple model to address how kinematic parameters of plate subduction relate to the location of mantle melting at subduction zones. We demonstrate that the location of arc volcanoes is controlled by a combination of conditions: melting in the wedge is induced at the overlap of regions in the wedge that are hotter than the melting curve (solidus) of vapour-saturated peridotite and regions where hydrous minerals both in the wedge and in the subducting slab break down. These two limits for melt generation, when combined with the kinematic parameters of slab dip and convergence rate, provide independent constraints on the thermal structure of the wedge and accurately predict the location of mantle wedge melting and the position of arc volcanoes.

The role of fluids in lower-crustal earthquakes near continental rifts

The occurrence of earthquakes in the lower crust near continental rifts has long been puzzling, as the lower crust is generally thought to be too hot for brittle failure to occur. Such anomalous events have usually been explained in terms of the lower crust being cooler than normal. But if the lower crust is indeed cold enough to produce earthquakes, then the uppermost mantle beneath it should also be cold enough, and yet uppermost mantle earthquakes are not observed. Numerous lower-crustal earthquakes occur near the southwestern termination of the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), an active continental rift in New Zealand. Here we present three-dimensional tomographic imaging of seismic velocities and seismic attenuation in this region using data from a dense seismograph deployment. We find that crustal earthquakes accurately relocated with our three-dimensional seismic velocity model form a continuous band along the rift, deepening from mostly less than 10 km in the central TVZ to depths of 30-40 km in the lower crust, 30 km southwest of the termination of the volcanic zone. These earthquakes often occur in swarms, suggesting fluid movement in critically loaded fault zones. Seismic velocities within the band are also consistent with the presence of fluids, and the deepening seismicity parallels the boundary between high seismic attenuation (interpreted as partial melt) within the central TVZ and low seismic attenuation in the crust to the southwest. This linking of upper and lower-crustal seismicity and crustal structure allows us to propose a common explanation for all the seismicity, involving the weakening of faults on the periphery of an otherwise dry, mafic crust by hot fluids, including those exsolved from underlying melt. Such fluids may generally be an important driver of lower-crustal seismicity near continental rifts.

Trace element signature of subduction-zone fluids, melts and supercritical liquids at 120–180 km depth

Fluids and melts liberated from subducting oceanic crust recycle lithophile elements back into the mantle wedge, facilitate melting and ultimately lead to prolific subduction-zone arc volcanism. The nature and composition of the mobile phases generated in the subducting slab at high pressures have, however, remained largely unknown. Here we report direct LA-ICPMS measurements of the composition of fluids and melts equilibrated with a basaltic eclogite at pressures equivalent to depths in the Earth of 120-180 km and temperatures of 700-1,200 degrees C. The resultant liquid/mineral partition coefficients constrain the recycling rates of key elements. The dichotomy of dehydration versus melting at 120 km depth is expressed through contrasting behaviour of many trace elements (U/Th, Sr, Ba, Be and the light rare-earth elements). At pressures equivalent to 180 km depth, however, a supercritical liquid with melt-like solubilities for the investigated trace elements is observed, even at low temperatures. This mobilizes most of the key trace elements (except the heavy rare-earth elements, Y and Sc) and thus limits fluid-phase transfer of geochemical signatures in subduction zones to pressures less than 6 GPa.

Laboratory models of the thermal evolution of the mantle during rollback subduction

The subduction of oceanic lithosphere plays a key role in plate tectonics, the thermal evolution of the mantle and recycling processes between Earth's interior and surface. Information on mantle flow, thermal conditions and chemical transport in subduction zones come from the geochemistry of arc volcanoes, seismic images and geodynamic models. The majority of this work considers subduction as a two-dimensional process, assuming limited variability in the direction parallel to the trench. In contrast, observationally based models increasingly appeal to three-dimensional flow associated with trench migration and the sinking of oceanic plates with a translational component of motion (rollback). Here we report results from laboratory experiments that reveal fundamental differences in three-dimensional mantle circulation and temperature structure in response to subduction with and without a rollback component. Without rollback motion, flow in the mantle wedge is sluggish, there is no mass flux around the plate and plate edges heat up faster than plate centres. In contrast, during rollback subduction flow is driven around and beneath the sinking plate, velocities increase within the mantle wedge and are focused towards the centre of the plate, and the surface of the plate heats more along the centreline.

Some geochemical constraints on hot fingers in the mantle wedge: evidence from NE Japan

Mantle melting and the production of magmas along the NE Japan arc may be controlled by hot regions in the mantle wedge (hot fingers) that move toward the volcanic front along upward-sloping trajectories. At depths equivalent to 1–2 GPa, where magmas are expected to segregate from mantle diapirs, the hot-finger structures result in a decreasing thermal gradient away from volcanic front. Low-alkali tholeiite is therefore formed by the greater degree of diapiric melting near the volcanic front; high-alumina basalt and alkali olivine basalt are produced by lesser degrees of diapiric melting to the west. The grouping of volcanoes at the volcanic front is interpreted as being controlled by thermal structure in the mantle wedge, and groups are concentrated above the tips of the hot fingers. Map-view variations of minimum 87Sr/86Sr of NE Japan volcanoes are interpreted as resulting from transport of fertile and high-87Sr/86Sr mantle material into the magma source region in the hot fingers. Given that mantle diapirs are formed in the lower part of the mantle wedge, a greater proportion of fertile material will be contained in the diapirs at the tips of the hot fingers, resulting in higher 87Sr/86Sr magmas along the volcanic front. Conveyor-like return flow carries the sheet-like remnants of the fingers to depth along the top of the subducting slab.

Diapiric flow at subduction zones: a recipe for rapid transport

Recent geochemical studies of uranium-thorium series disequilibrium in rocks from subduction zones require magmas to be transported through the mantle from just above the subducting slab to the surface in as little as approximately 30,000 years. We present a series of laboratory experiments that investigate the characteristic time scales and flow patterns of the diapiric upwelling model of subduction zone magmatism. Results indicate that the interaction between buoyantly upwelling diapirs and subduction-induced flow in the mantle creates a network of low-density, low-viscosity conduits through which buoyant flow is rapid, yielding transport times commensurate with those indicated by uranium-thorium studies.

Possible presence of high-pressure ice in cold subducting slabs

During the subduction of oceanic lithosphere, water is liberated from minerals by progressive dehydration reactions and is thought to be critical to several geologically important processes such as island-arc volcanism, intermediate-depth seismicity and chemical exchange between the subducting lithosphere and mantle. Although dehydration reactions would yield supercritical fluid water in most slabs, we report here that the stable phase of H2O should be solid ice VII in portions of the coldest slabs. The formation of ice VII as a dehydration product would affect the generation, storage, transport and release of water in cold subduction zones and equilibrium conditions of dehydration would shift, potentially affecting the depths of seismogenesis and magmagenesis. Large amounts of pure ice VII might accumulate during subduction and, as a sinking slab warms, eventual melting of the ice would release large amounts of water in a small region over a short period of time, with a significant positive volume change. Moreover, the decreasing availability of fluid water, owing to the accumulation of ice VII and its subsequent reaction products in a cooling planetary interior (for example, in Mars or the future Earth), might eventually lead to a decline in tectonic activity or its complete cessation.

Seismic consequences of warm versus cool subduction metamorphism: examples from southwest and northeast japan

Warm and cool subduction zones exhibit differences in seismicity, seismic structure, and arc magmatism, which reflect differences in metamorphic reactions occurring in subducting oceanic crust. In southwest Japan, arc volcanism is sparse and intraslab earthquakes extend to 65 kilometers depth; in northeast Japan, arc volcanism is more common and intraslab earthquakes reach 200 kilometers depth. Thermal-petrologic models predict that oceanic crust subducting beneath southwest Japan is 300 degrees to 500 degrees C warmer than beneath northeast Japan, resulting in shallower eclogite transformation and slab dehydration reactions, and possible slab melting.