Western US intraplate deformation controlled by the complex lithospheric structure

The western United States is one of Earth's most tectonically active regions, characterized by extensive crustal deformation through intraplate earthquakes and geodetic motion. Such intracontinental deformation is usually ascribed to plate boundary forces, lithospheric body forces, and/or viscous drag from mantle flow. However, their relative importance in driving crustal deformation remains controversial due to inconsistent assumptions on crustal and mantle structures in prior estimations. Here, we utilize a fully dynamic three-dimensional modeling framework with data assimilation to simultaneously compute lithospheric and convective mantle dynamics within the western United States. This approach allows for quantitative estimations of crustal deformation while accounting for the realistic three-dimensional lithospheric structure. Our results show the critical role of the complex lithospheric structure in governing intraplate deformation. Particularly, the interaction between the asthenospheric flow and lithospheric thickness step along the eastern boundary of the Basin and Range represents a key driving mechanism for localized crustal deformation and seismicity.

Mapping global kimberlite potential from reconstructions of mantle flow over the past billion years

Kimberlites are the primary source of economic grade diamonds. Their geologically rapid eruptions preferentially occur near or through thick and ancient continental lithosphere. Studies combining tomographic models with tectonic reconstructions and kimberlite emplacement ages and locations have revealed spatial correlations between large low shear velocity provinces in the lowermost mantle and reconstructed global kimberlite eruption locations over the last 320 Myr. These spatial correlations assume that the lowermost mantle structure has not changed over time, which is at odds with mantle flow models that show basal thermochemical structures to be mobile features shaped by cold sinking oceanic lithosphere. Here we investigate the match to the global kimberlite record of stationary seismically slow basal mantle structures (as imaged through tomographic modelling) and mobile hot basal structures (as predicted by reconstructions of mantle flow over the past billion years). We refer to these structures as “basal mantle structures” and consider their intersection with reconstructed thick or ancient lithosphere to represent areas with a high potential for past eruptions of kimberlites, and therefore areas of potential interest for diamond exploration. We use the distance between reconstructed kimberlite eruption locations and kimberlite potential maps as an indicator of model success, and we find that mobile lowermost mantle structures are as close to reconstructed kimberlites as stationary ones. Additionally, we find that mobile lowermost mantle structures better fit major kimberlitic events, such as the South African kimberlite bloom around 100 Ma. Mobile basal structures are therefore consistent with both solid Earth dynamics and with the kimberlite record.

Geodynamic evolution of southwestern North America since the Late Eocene

Slab rollback, lithospheric body forces, or evolution of plate boundary conditions are strongly debated as possible lithospheric driving mechanisms for Cenozoic extension in southwestern North America. By incorporating paleo-topography, lithospheric structure, and paleo-boundary conditions, we develop a complete geodynamic model that quantifies lithospheric deviatoric stresses and predicts extension and shear history since Late Eocene. We show that lithospheric body forces together with influence of change-over from subduction to transtensional boundary conditions from Late Eocene to Early Miocene were the primary driving factors controlling direction and magnitude of extensional deviatoric stresses that produced topographic collapse. After paleo-highlands collapsed, influence of Pacific-North America plate motion and associated deformation style along the plate boundary became increasingly important from Middle Miocene to present. Smaller-scale convection stress effects from slab rollback and associated mantle flow played only a minor role. However, slab rollback guided deformation rate through introduction of melts and fluids that impacted rheology.

On the consistency of seismically imaged lower mantle slabs

The geoscience community is increasingly utilizing seismic tomography to interpret mantle heterogeneity and its links to past tectonic and geodynamic processes. To assess the robustness and distribution of positive seismic anomalies, inferred as subducted slabs, we create a set of vote maps for the lower mantle with 14 global P-wave or S-wave tomography models. Based on a depth-dependent threshold metric, an average of 20% of any given tomography model depth is identified as a potential slab. However, upon combining the 14 models, the most consistent positive wavespeed features are identified by an increasing vote count. An overall peak in the most robust anomalies is found between 1000-1400 km depth, followed by a decline to a minimum around 2000 km. While this trend could reflect reduced tomographic resolution in the middle mantle, we show that it may alternatively relate to real changes in the time-dependent subduction flux and/or a mid-lower mantle viscosity increase. An apparent secondary peak in agreement below 2500 km depth may reflect the degree-two lower mantle slow seismic structures. Vote maps illustrate the potential shortcomings of using a limited number or type of tomography models and slab threshold criteria.

Sea level change. Inherited landscapes and sea level change

Enabled by recently gained understanding of deep-seated and surficial Earth processes, a convergence of views between geophysics and sedimentary geology has been quietly taking place over the past several decades. Surface topography resulting from lithospheric memory, retained at various temporal and spatial scales, has become the connective link between these two methodologically diverse geoscience disciplines. Ideas leading to the hypothesis of plate tectonics originated largely with an oceanic focus, where dynamic and mostly horizontal movements of the crust could be envisioned. But when these notions were applied to the landscapes of the supposedly rigid plate interiors, there was less success in explaining the observed anomalies in terrestrial topography. Solid-Earth geophysics has now reached a developmental stage where vertical movements can be measured and modeled at meaningful scales and the deep-seated structures can be imaged with increasing resolution. Concurrently, there have been advances in quantifying mechanical properties of the lithosphere (the solid outer skin of Earth, usually defined to include both the crust and the solid but elastic upper mantle above the asthenosphere). The lithosphere acts as the intermediary that transfers the effects of mantle dynamics to the surface. These developments have allowed us to better understand the previously puzzling topographic features of plate interiors and continental margins. On the sedimentary geology side, new quantitative modeling techniques and holistic approaches to integrating source-to-sink sedimentary systems have led to clearer understanding of basin evolution and sediment budgets that allow the reconstruction of missing sedimentary records and past geological landscapes.

Stability of active mantle upwelling revealed by net characteristics of plate tectonics

Viscous convection within the mantle is linked to tectonic plate motions and deforms Earth's surface across wide areas. Such close links between surface geology and deep mantle dynamics presumably operated throughout Earth's history, but are difficult to investigate for past times because the history of mantle flow is poorly known. Here we show that the time dependence of global-scale mantle flow can be deduced from the net behaviour of surface plate motions. In particular, we tracked the geographic locations of net convergence and divergence for harmonic degrees 1 and 2 by computing the dipole and quadrupole moments of plate motions from tectonic reconstructions extended back to the early Mesozoic era. For present-day plate motions, we find dipole convergence in eastern Asia and quadrupole divergence in both central Africa and the central Pacific. These orientations are nearly identical to the dipole and quadrupole orientations of underlying mantle flow, which indicates that these 'net characteristics' of plate motions reveal deeper flow patterns. The positions of quadrupole divergence have not moved significantly during the past 250 million years, which suggests long-term stability of mantle upwelling beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean. These upwelling locations are positioned above two compositionally and seismologically distinct regions of the lowermost mantle, which may organize global mantle flow as they remain stationary over geologic time.

Intra-oceanic subduction shaped the assembly of Cordilleran North America

The western quarter of North America consists of accreted terranes--crustal blocks added over the past 200 million years--but the reason for this is unclear. The widely accepted explanation posits that the oceanic Farallon plate acted as a conveyor belt, sweeping terranes into the continental margin while subducting under it. Here we show that this hypothesis, which fails to explain many terrane complexities, is also inconsistent with new tomographic images of lower-mantle slabs, and with their locations relative to plate reconstructions. We offer a reinterpretation of North American palaeogeography and test it quantitatively: collision events are clearly recorded by slab geometry, and can be time calibrated and reconciled with plate reconstructions and surface geology. The seas west of Cretaceous North America must have resembled today's western Pacific, strung with island arcs. All proto-Pacific plates initially subducted into almost stationary, intra-oceanic trenches, and accumulated below as massive vertical slab walls. Above the slabs, long-lived volcanic archipelagos and subduction complexes grew. Crustal accretion occurred when North America overrode the archipelagos, causing major episodes of Cordilleran mountain building.

Linking mantle upwelling with the lithosphere descent [corrected] and the Japan Sea evolution: a hypothesis

Recent seismic tomography studies image a low velocity zone (interpreted as a high temperature anomaly) in the mantle beneath the subducting Pacific plate near the Japanese islands at the depth of about 400 km. This thermal feature is rather peculiar in terms of the conventional view of mantle convection and subduction zones. Here we present a dynamic restoration of the thermal state of the mantle beneath this region assimilating geophysical, geodetic, and geological data up to 40 million years. We hypothesise that the hot mantle upwelling beneath the Pacific plate partly penetrated through the subducting plate into the mantle wedge and generated two smaller hot upwellings, which contributed to the rapid subsidence in the basins of the Japan Sea and to back-arc spreading. Another part of the hot mantle migrated upward beneath the Pacific lithosphere, and the presently observed hot anomaly is a remnant part of this mantle upwelling.

Origin of Columbia River flood basalt controlled by propagating rupture of the Farallon slab

The origin of the Steens-Columbia River (SCR) flood basalts, which is presumed to be the onset of Yellowstone volcanism, has remained controversial, with the proposed conceptual models involving either a mantle plume or back-arc processes. Recent tomographic inversions based on the USArray data reveal unprecedented detail of upper-mantle structures of the western USA and tightly constrain geodynamic models simulating Farallon subduction, which has been proposed to influence the Yellowstone volcanism. Here we show that the best-fitting geodynamic model depicts an episode of slab tearing about 17 million years ago under eastern Oregon, where an associated sub-slab asthenospheric upwelling thermally erodes the Farallon slab, leading to formation of a slab gap at shallow depth. Driven by a gradient of dynamic pressure, the tear ruptured quickly north and south and within about two million years covering a distance of around 900 kilometres along all of eastern Oregon and northern Nevada. This tear would be consistent with the occurrence of major volcanic dikes during the SCR-Northern Nevada Rift flood basalt event both in space and time. The model predicts a petrogenetic sequence for the flood basalt with sources of melt starting from the base of the slab, at first remelting oceanic lithosphere and then evolving upwards, ending with remelting of oceanic crust. Such a progression helps to reconcile the existing controversies on the interpretation of SCR geochemistry and the involvement of the putative Yellowstone plume. Our study suggests a new mechanism for the formation of large igneous provinces.