spatial distribution of focal mechanisms for interplate and intraplate earthquakes associated with the subducting pacific plate beneath the northeastern japan arc a triple planed deep seismic zone the northeastern japan arc is located in one of the most seismically active subduction zones in the world in this study we relocated hypocenters and determined focal mechanisms of small earthquakes m 5 beneath the arc in order to investigate in detail the stress distribution in and around the descending oceanic plate in the hypocenter relocation we adopted a source region station correction method in which station corrections vary with hypocenter locations we have developed a new focal mechanism determination technique named master solution method which is analogous to the master event method in hypocenter determination we applied the method to p and sh wave amplitude data to obtain 1106 focal mechanism solutions from the new mechanism solutions and relocated hypocenters we found that there occur both low angle thrust fault lt type and downdip compression dc type earthquakes at depths from 40 to 70 km near the aseismic front the dc type events are underlying the lt type events almost all the earthquake clusters are composed of lt type events the western limit of the region where lt type events have occurred is subparallel to the trench axis although it undulates considerably it delineates the westernend of the active region of interplate seismicity furthermore we found that normal fault nf type events also occur at depths from 70 km in the upper plane of the double planed deep seismic zone which is characterized mainly by dc type event these nf type events are distributed only in a thin uppermost portion of the slab close to the plate boundary below these in the lower plane are downdip extension de type events this result indicates that the deep seismic zone in the northeastern japan arc is not double planed but triple planed even beneath the land area which cannot be explained by any simple models

mantle phase changes and deep earthquake faulting in subducting lithosphere inclined zones of earthquakes are the primary expression of lithosphere subduction a distinct deep population of subduction zone earthquakes occurs at depths of 350 to 690 kilometers at those depths ordinary brittle fracture and frictional sliding the faulting processes of shallow earthquakes are not expected a fresh understanding of these deep earthquakes comes from developments in several areas of experimental and theoretical geophysics including the discovery and characterization of transformational faulting a shear instability connected with localized phase transformations under nonhydrostatic stress these developments support the hypothesis that deep earthquakes represent transformational faulting in a wedge of olivine rich peridotite that is likely to persist metastably in coldest plate interiors to depths as great as 690 km predictions based on this deep structure of mantle phase changes are consistent with the global depth distribution of deep earthquakes the maximum depths of earthquakes in individual subductions zones and key source characteristics of deep events

an inverted double seismic zone in chile evidence of phase transformation in the subducted slab data from two microseismic field experiments in northern chile revealed an elongated cluster of earthquakes in the subducted nazca plate at a depth of about 100 kilometers in which down dip tensional events were consistently shallower than a family of compressional earthquakes this double seismic zone shows a distribution of stresses of opposite polarity relative to that observed in other double seismic zones in the world the distribution of stresses in northern chile supports the notion that at depths of between 90 to 150 kilometers the basalt to eclogite transformation of the subducting oceanic crust induces tensional deformation in the upper part of the subducted slab and compressional deformation in the underlying mantle

thermal structure beneath tohoku northeast japan combined with geophysical observations and petrological considerations we have studied the thermal models of the tohoku northeast japan subduction zone the temperature of the deeper part of the mantle wedge is constrained by the petrological requirements that demand a high temperature region 1400 c beneath the volcanic zone to satisfy this condition namely to explain the arc volcanism in the tohoku subduction zone a high temperature upper mantle beneath the japan sea possibly 1400 c at the depth shallower than 100 km is required heat flow distribution which constrains the temperature structure at shallower depth shows that low heat flow values ranging from 20 to 50 mw m2 are distributed between the trench and aseismic front and consistently high heat flow values 80 120 mw m2 prevail in the area landward of the volcanic front including the japan sea recent heat flow measurements indicate that the transition from low to high heat flow occurs between the aseismic front and volcanic front this heat flow distribution restricts the form of the flow in the mantle wedge and shear stress acting at the plate boundary a rigid non moving triangular region bounded by the subducting slab and the vertical plane beneath the aseismic front is necessary to explain the low heat flow zone between the trench and aseismic front shear stress of about 500 to 1000 bar is supposed to act at the interface between the subducting slab and rigid triangular mantle we also suggest that to explain the peak of heat flow near the volcanic front 120 mw m2 magma migration rate of about 0 05 cm3 cm 2 year 1 is necessary a comparison of the thermal structure of the tohoku subduction zone with that of the central south america which was preliminary calculated by the similar scheme shows that the temperature in the mantle wedge of the central south america is probably lower than that of the tohoku subduction zone this difference may result in that of the nature of volcanic rocks

a new self organizing mechanism for deep focus earthquakes the mechanism of deep focus earthquakes has been a puzzle since their discovery almost 70 years ago1 2 because brittle fracture and frictional sliding at depths in excess of 100 200 km would require unrealistic rock strengths3 4 rock strength does increase with pressure but a few hundred mpa equivalent to 10 20 km depth suffices to inhibit most fracture and elevated temperature activates ductile mechanisms that operate at stresses less than the fracture stength a range of mechanisms has been proposed for deep earthquakes including plastic instabilities5 7 shear induced melting8 11 and instabilities accompanying recrystallization12 13 or polymorphic phase transformation14 23 each of these proposed mechanisms has exhibited certain inherent weaknesses see kirby22 for review and discussion here we report experimental observations of high pressure faulting of metastable mg2geo4 olivine as it undergoes incipient transformation to a spinel 24 25 structure we present a model in which this faulting arises from the generation propagation and linking up of spinel filled anticracks26 when applied to the olivine spinel transformation in the earth s mantle the anticrack model27 satisfactorily accounts for the similarities and differences between shallow and deep earthquakes and removes the problems associated with frictional sliding

transition from interplate slip to double seismic zone along the kuril kamchatka arc during subduction the downgoing slab interacts with a strong overriding plate at shallow depths and with the surrounding asthenosphere at intermediate depths thus the transition from earthquakes representing interplate slip to those reflecting intraplate deformation within subducting lithosphere is important for understanding how the mechanics of subduction varies with depth to characterize this transition we studied 44 large to moderate sized earthquakes that occurred between 1964 and 1990 in two regions along the central portion of the kuril kamchatka arc precise earthquake source parameters are determined by analyzing body waveforms recorded at teleseismic distances at depths of 30 50 km our results delineate a transitional thrust zone characterized by earthquakes showing thrust faulting on moderately dipping nodal planes the northwesterly dipping nodal plane dips approximately 40 some 10 15 steeper than the dip of low angle earthquake faulting along the interplate thrust zone at depths shallower than 30 km for earthquakes along the transitional thrust zone secondary features in observed waveforms suggest that either a thick layer of sediments is present in the forearc region or the sources are embedded in materials with crustal seismic wave speeds in the former case the transitional thrust zone is interpreted as the deep seated portion of the plate interface whose dip increases with depth the alternative implies that the transitional thrust zone occurrs below the plate interface within subducted crust of the pacific plate and that the occurrence of earthquakes along the transitional zone may indicate a locked plate interface between depths of 30 and 50 km the inference of a locked plate interface is consistent with the occurrence of compressional earthquakes beneath the outer rise region however a locked interface does not seem to affect the state of strain in the double seismic zone the upper compressional layer of the double seismic zone abuts the transitional thrust zone at a depth of approximately 50 km at this depth the two layers of seismicity in the double seismic zone are separated by as much as 30 40 km too large a distance to be accommodated by models of seismogenesis invoking either the gabbro eclogite transition or dehydration of subducted oceanic crust

a double seismic zone in new britain and the morphology of the solomon plate at intermediate depths we have studied the spatial configuration of earthquakes in the new britain subduction zone by inverting regional and teleseismic p pkp and pp arrival times using a hypocentroidal decomposition method a previously unreported intermediate depth double seismic zone exists along a small 70 km long segment of the slab in this region centroid moment tensor mechanisms suggest that the upper zone of seismicity shows horizontal along strike compression and the lower zone shows downdip tension this contrasts with most previously studied double seismic zones which generally show downdip compression in the upper zone we propose that along strike rather than downdip compressional stresses exist in the upper seismicity plane due to membrane and lateral bending stresses resulting from the shape of the new britain trench which undergoes a 40 change in strike between 148 and 152 longitude the double seismic zone is bounded by a tear in the slab which accommodates the majority of the change in strike that the slab must undergo these results suggest that double seismic zones can show very rapid lateral variations controlled by the local tectonics and that along strike membrane and bending stresses resulting from slab morphology can be significant in producing double seismic zones

relative motion of the nazca farallon and south american plates since late cretaceous time by combining reconstructions of the south american and african plates the african and antarctic plates the antarctic and pacific plates and the pacific and nazca plates we calculated the relative positions and history of convergence of the nazca and south american plates despite variations in convergence rates along the andes periods of rapid convergence averaging more than 100 mm a between the times of anomalies 21 49 5 ma and 18 42 ma and since anomaly 7 26 ma coincide with two phases of relatively intense tectonic activity in the peruvian andes known as the late eocene incaic and mio pliocene quechua phases the periods of relatively slow convergence 50 to 55 30 mm a at the latitude of peru and less farther south between the times of anomalies 30 31 68 5 ma and 21 and between those of anomalies 13 36 ma and 7 correlate with periods during which tectonic activity was relatively quiescent thus these reconstructions provide quantitative evidence for a correlation of the intensity of tectonic activity in the overriding plate at subduction zones with variations in the convergence rate

the 1995 kobe earthquake seismic image of the source zone and its implications for the rupture nucleation in order to understand what may have triggered the 1995 kobe japan earthquake and how the rupture proceeded after initiation we determined high resolution three dimensional 3 d p and s wave velocity and poisson s ratio structures in the kobe epicentral area and relocated the aftershocks with the obtained 3 d velocity model we used 64 337 p and 49 200 s wave high quality arrival times from 3634 kobe aftershocks and local microearthquakes recorded by both permanent seismic networks and portable stations that were set up following the kobe mainshock significant velocity variations of up to 6 are revealed in the aftershock area we found that areas with high aftershock activity are generally associated with low poisson s ratio which may be the strong and competent parts of the fault zone and were apt to generate aftershocks the kobe mainshock hypocenter is located in a distinctive zone characterized by low p and s wave velocities and a high poisson s ratio this anomaly exists in the depth range of 16 to 21 km and extends 15 to 20 km laterally this anomaly may be due to a fluid filled fractured rock matrix that contributed to the initiation of the kobe earthquake our interpretation has been supported by many pieces of evidence from hydrological geochemical seismological and geophysical investigations conducted at the kobe earthquake region

phase transformations earthquakes and the descending lithosphere abstract the energy dissipated from metastable phase transformations is investigated in this paper in addition to the kinetic energy envisaged by randall at least two other major forms of energy latent heat and metastability energy are involved in a metastable phase transformation the seismic energy density for metastable phase transformation is of the order of 10 24 10 25 erg km 3 for most mantle silicates as an example an earthquake of magnitude m 7 5 would require only 0 01 0 03 or 0 04 km 3 of basalt olivine or pyroxene respectively undergoing metastable phase transformation earthquakes caused by both faulting and phase transformation mechanisms have been observed in high pressure laboratory experiments the energy density associated with a faulting mechanism appears to be four to five orders of magnitude less than that associated with metastable phase transformations of mantle silicates confirming theoretical expectations according to all of the thermal models for the descending lithosphere available in the literature metastable phase transformations almost certainly occur in the descending lithosphere enormous energies would be released suddenly in association with these metastable phase transformations thus earthquakes within the descending lithosphere at depths greater than 100 km may be induced by metastable phase transformations however metastable phase transformations in the descending lithosphere have little or an opposing effect on the tectonic engine driving the motion of plates into the mantle

detailed structures of the subducted philippine sea plate beneath northeast taiwan a new type of double seismic zone we studied the detailed structure of the subducted philippine sea plate beneath northeast taiwan where oblique subduction regional collision and back arc opening are all actively occurring simultaneous inversion for velocity structure and earthquake hypocenters are performed using the vast high quality data recorded by the taiwan seismic network we further supplement the inversion results with earthquake source parameters determined from inversion of teleseismic p and sh waveforms a critical step to define the position of plate interface and the state of strain within the subducted slab the most interesting feature is that relocated hypocenters tend to occur along a two layered structure the upper layer is located immediately below the plate interface and extends down to 70 80 km at a dip of 40 50 below approximately 100 km the dip increases dramatically to 70 80 the lower layer commences at 45 50 km and stays approximately parallel to the upper layer with a separation of 15 5 km in between down to 70 80 km below that the separation decreases and the two layers seem to gradually merge into one wadati benioff zone we propose to term the classic double seismic zones observed beneath japan and kuril as type i and that we observed as type ii respectively a global survey indicates that type ii double seismic zones are also observed in new zealand near the southernmost north island cascadia just north of the mendocino triple junction and the cook inlet area of alaska all of them are located near the termini of subducted slabs in a tectonic setting of oblique subduction we interpret the seismogenesis of type ii double seismic zones as reflecting the lateral compressive stress between the subducted plate and the adjacent lithosphere originating from oblique subduction and the downdip extension from slab pulling force the upper seismic layer represents seismicity occurring in the upper crust of a subducted plate and or along the plate interface whereas the lower layer is associated with events in the uppermost mantle

thermochemistry and phase equilibria of hydrous phases in the system mgo sio2 h2o implications for volatile transport to the mantle calorimetric phase equilibrium and in situ equation of state data for antigorite talc and dense hydrous magnesium silicate dhms phases have been obtained to construct a self consistent thermodynamic data set that ensures internal consistency well behaved extrapolation and physically reasonable values of h s v k k and for talc antigorite and hydrous phase a used in conjunction with temperature profiles of subducting oceanic lithosphere the calculated phase equilibria show that there is no barrier to subducting substantial amounts of water to depth of 400 600 km in colder slabs since the slab can remain in the stability field of hydrous phases throughout its descent once water is brought to these depths it can probably diffuse into hotter mantle regions via hydrous mg2sio4 or by other mechanisms indicating that the transition zone is unlikely to be dry

thermal regime of the southwest japan subduction zone effects of age history of the subducting plate abstract during a mid miocene at about 15 ma tectonic reorganization an ocean spreading ridge perpendicular to the strike of the nankai trough subduction zone stopped spreading since that time there has been subduction of the cooling fossil spreading ridge in the present study we have developed a time dependent thermal subduction model for this region using the finite element method there are good seismological and geological constraints for the plate geometry and for the subduction history of the past 15 ma boundary conditions are specified so that the oceanic plate subducting at the nankai trough becomes cooler as it gets older the model results agree with the present heat flow trend that decreases landward and explain the paleothermal regime of high mid miocene temperatures inferred from land geological studies the tectonics of the region prior to 15 ma has some uncertainties assuming subduction of an active spreading ridge or an 80 ma old lithosphere prior to 15 ma give the same results for the present thermal regime of the seaward portion of the forearc but different results for the most landward region 250 km the thermal history of the forearc since 15 ma can be summarized as a rapid warming period as a consequence of ridge subduction followed by a cooling trend to the present as a result of the aging of the subducting plate the results illustrate the thermal consequences of one type of ridge subduction they also demonstrate that the thermal regime of a subduction zone depends critically on the age history of the subducting oceanic lithosphere especially if it is young as well as such parameters as the subducting plate dip angle and thickness of insulating sediments on the incoming oceanic crust this dependence is especially important when the thermal regime is used to constrain the seismogenic behaviour of the subduction thrust fault

double seismic zones and stresses of intermediate depth earthquakes data from japanese local seismograph networks suggest that the stresses in double seismic zones are in plate compression for the upper zone and in plate tension for the lower zone the stresses do not necessarily appear to be down dip it may therefore be possible to identify other double seismic zones on the basis of data which indicate that events with differing orientations of in plate stresses occur in a given segment of slab a global survey of published focal mechanisms for intermediate depth earthquakes suggests that the stress in the slab is controlled at least in part by the age of the slab and the rate of convergence old and slow slabs are under in plate tensile stresses and the amount of in plate compression in the slab increases with increasing convergence rate or decreasing slab age young and fast slabs are an exception to this trend all such slabs are down dip tensile since these slabs all subduct under continents they may be bent by continental loading double seismic zones are not a feature common to all subduction zones and are only observed in slabs which are not dominated by tensile or compressive stresses unbending of the lithosphere and upper mantle phase changes are unlikely to be the causes of the major features of double zones although they may contribute to producing some of their characteristics sagging or thermal effects possibly aided by asthenospheric relative motion may produce the local deviatoric stresses that cause double zones

melting and seismic structure beneath the northeast japan arc transportation of h2o associated with subduction of the pacific plate beneath the northeast japan arc is modeled to predict distribution of aqueous solution and melt and the consequent p wave velocity structure the observed velocity structure coincides well with the model for equilibrium transport of h2o most of h2o subducted is brought down to 150 200 km depth along the slab then the aqueous fluid generated ascends to initiate melting which explains the low velocity regions 6 reduction observed beneath the backarc rather than beneath the volcanic front if equilibrium transport of h2o occurs initiation of melting beneath the backarc with deep subduction of h2o is likely to be the case also for other subduction zones with slabs older than several tens of m y cold enough to stabilize serpentine to a great depth

fine structure of the dipping seismic zone and subduction mechanics in the shumagin islands alaska microearthquake data from a permanent telemetered array have been used to elucidate the structure and tectonics of the subduction zone in the shumagin islands alaska the shallow microseismicity is characterized by active interplate thrusting in the 25 45 km depth range arcward of this interplate activity microearthquakes in the overlying plate have a strike slip mechanism the near horizontal p axis of this mechanism is oriented in the direction of plate convergence suggesting that the plate interface at shallow depths is currently efficiently coupled below 45 km depth the dipping seismic zone appears to be double planed the upper plane dips at 32 from 45 to 100 km depth where it exhibits a kneelike bend below the volcanic front the lower plane begins at about 65 km depth where it is separated from the upper plane by some 25 km and appears to converge with the upper plane at about 120 km depth the inferred geometry of the plate interface suggests that the double planed portion of the dipping seismic zone is a product of elastic unbending of the subducted plate a composite fault plane solution for events in the upper plane indicates however that downdip tension is currently present rather than the downdip compression that would be expected from unbending it is proposed that because of locking of the plate interface at shallower depths slab pull is currently overprinting the unbending stresses which predominate at times when the plates are unlocked this model is consistent with previous interpretations that there is a high probability of a great earthquake in the shumagin islands seismic gap within the next decade or two

calcic vertisols in the upper daptocephalus assemblage zone balfour formation karoo basin south africa implications for late permian climate

double seismic zone and dehydration embrittlement of the subducting slab 1 dehydration embrittlement of metamorphosed oceanic crust and mantle in the subducting slab may be responsible for the occurrence of intermediate depth earthquakes we explore the possibility that this hypothesis can explain the morphology of the double seismic zones observed in northeast japan southwest japan northeast taiwan northern chile cape mendocino and eastern aleutians we calculate transient temperature structures of slabs based on geologically estimated subduction histories of these regions we then determine dehydration loci of metamorphosed oceanic crust and serpentinized mantle using experimentally derived phase diagrams the depth range of the dehydration loci of metamorphosed oceanic crust and serpentine is dependent on slab age the dehydration loci of serpentine produce a double layered structure because the upper dehydration loci of serpentine are mostly located in the wedge mantle above the slab we regard the upper plane seismicity representing dehydration embrittlement in the oceanic crust and we fix the slab geometry so that the upper plane seismicity is just below the upper surface of the slab we find that the lower plane seismicity is located at the lower dehydration loci of serpentine which indicates that the morphology of the double seismic zones is consistent with the dehydration embrittlement

earthquake generating stresses in a descending slab abstract a numerical study of stress within descending slabs beneath island arcs provides a general interpretation for the occurrence of deep and intermediate focus earthquakes the computation of stress due to several factors which have been proposed for the interpretation of the double planed seismicity of intermediate depth events shows that thermal expansion and olivine spinel phase change play an important role in earthquake generation the stress field due to the combination of these two causes gives the following results in the depth range 50 300 km the compressional and tensional stress predominates in the upper and central part of the slab respectively maximum shear stress amounting to 1 6 gpa in compressional and 0 4 gpa in tensional fields occurs at a depth of 200 km the stress is generally very small at around 300 350 km below 400 km compressional stress exists at the central part of the slab and tensional stress appears near the upper and lower surfaces of the slab maximum shear stress is 2 8 gpa in compression and 1 6 gpa in tension at a depth of 500 km the principal axes in these high stress fields align almost parallel to the dip direction of the slab these stress features explain well such observed seismological facts beneath island arcs as the seismicity depth relationship planer configuration of seismic zone existence or non existence of double planed seismicity and focal mechanisms of intermediate and deep focus earthquakes

orogeny and relative plate motions example of the japanese islands abstract the paleogeography of the eastern margin of asia near japan for the past 250 ma has been reconstructed on the basis of the relative motions between the oceanic plates and the eurasian plate engebretson et al 1982 and on land geology the relationships between the plate kinematics and orogeny are as follows calc alkaline magmatism is related to the presence of subduction when a plate boundary is a transform fault there is no volcanism very slow convergence rates do not give rise to magmatism migration of rft type triple junctions or ridge subduction produces forearc volcanism near the trench and also a wider volcanic zone uplift of low p t type regional metamorphic belts is related to collision episodes the uplift of the high p t blueschist belts on the contrary is not contemporaneous with them they appear to be related to the start of the subduction of a young plate after the migration of an rft type triple junction because the formation of a voluminous accretionary complex is contemporaneous with this and thrusting of this young accretionary complex beneath the uplifted metamorphic belt is often observed the underplating of the young accretionary complex beneath the older accretionary complex would be the cause of the uplift of the high p t type metamorphic belt the subduction of a young plate would thus be an important factor causing these orogenic events highly oblique convergence also results in formation of a serpentinite melange zone with fragments of blueschists presumably along a mechanical plate boundary in the forearc

depth of the decoupling plate interface and thermal structure under arcs subduction proceeds as thrust movements at the boundary between the subducting plate and the rigid overlying plate at depth below this mechanically decoupling plate interface the subducting plate couples with the overlying mantle and flow is induced in the mantle wedge this induced flow is the main factor that controls thermal structure under arcs depth of this decoupling to coupling transition at the plate interface is estimated from observed surface heat flow in the northeastern japan arc using a two dimensional numerical simulation of thermal structure the estimated depth is about 70 km the termination depth of thrust earthquakes agrees well with the depth of the coupling transition which indicates that these earthquakes occur at the decoupling plate interface the mechanism of this decoupling plate interface is discussed in this paper it is believed that water associated with the subducting oceanic crust reduces the frictional stress at the plate interface and thrust movement thus becomes possible petrological studies show that dehydration reaction in the subducting oceanic crust terminate at about 2 0 gpa and have little temperature dependence termination depths of thrust earthquakes estimated from seismic studies are nearly the same 60 80 km for various arcs this indicates that depth of the decoupling to coupling transition is controlled by the termination depth of dehydration reaction in the subducting oceanic crust across arc heat flow profiles observed in various subduction zones show similar features heat flow is very low in the forearc region and increases steeply at the volcanic front considering that the depth of the slab is about 100 km at the volcanic front for various arcs this heat flow feature is closely related to the depth of the slab thus it is concluded that thermal structure under arcs is mainly controlled by the depth of the pressure dependent dehydration reactions in the subducting oceanic crust

double seismic zones kinematics the kinematics of a double seismic zone of subducting lithosphere at an intermediate depth is studied a simple geometrical argument shows that the strain rate due to unbending of subducting lithosphere can be as large as 10 15 s 1 and large enough to account for the seismic strain rate in this depth range the geometrical unbending of subducting lithosphere in the mantle and the presence of a double seismic zone there can be therefore considered essentially equivalent phenomenon we model a double seismic zone required from this unbending in order to investigate what constraint the presence of a double seismic zone can place on the properties of the descending lithosphere the thickness of a double seismic zone is controlled by the thermal structure and the rheological properties of the subducting slab a preliminary result for the double seismic zone beneath tohoku japan indicates a possibility that the currently available flow law of dry olivine does not properly describe the double seismic zone or at least presents some inconsistency in our knowledge of the mechanical properties e g thermal structure rheology of oceanic lithospheres

unbending combined with dehydration embrittlement as a cause for double and triple seismic zones 1 using a model of elastic perfectly plastic plate i demonstrate that plate unbending combined with dehydration embrittlement can account for the morphology and stresses of double or triple seismic zones dsz s or tsz s observed in many subducting slabs densifying metamorphic reactions may induce tensile stresses as well as high pore fluid pressures in the slab crust and thus generate the upper seismicity band of the tsz limited dehydration may moderately elevate the fluid pressure in the slab mantle but unbending usually dominates mantle stresses and results in another two seismicity bands dsz s are underdeveloped tsz s

evidence for transformational faulting from a deep double seismic zone in tonga double seismic zones planes or earthquakes parallel to the dip of a subducting slab and separated by 20 40 km provide important clues about the earthquake generating mechanisms and strain distribution inside subducting slabs double seismic zones have been found at intermediate depths 70 200 km in many subduction zones1 6 but have not been previously reported in deep slabs here by relocating earthquakes with a hypocentroidal decomposition technique7 and visualizing the earthquake positions and uncertainties in three dimensions we identify a double seismic zone at depths of 350 460 km in the tonga subduction zone source parameters of the earthquakes determined by waveform analysis suggest different stress orientations for the two zones with in plane compression in the lower zone and in plane tension in the upper zone the double zone may be due to transformational faulting as olivine along the edges of a metastable olivine wedge becomes warmer and transforms to spinel8 11

confidence intervals for motion and deformation of the juan de fuca plate finite rotation parameters for 17 isochrons from anomalies 1 4a for the juan de fuca pacific plate pair are reported comparison of confidence intervals for plate rotations derived by different techniques indicates that a single plate misfit criterion significantly underestimates the confidence region defining the confidence interval by a threshold level of misfit determined by an f statistic gives similar results to the technique of bootstrap resampling for internally consistent data bootstrap resampling offers far greater robustness in the case of inconsistent data precision of about 1 km in the direction normal to isochrons is available for the younger anomalies this precision allows confident recognition of 2 5 km of eastward deformation of the pacific plate 50 100 km south of the active sovanco transform slight deformation of the northern juan de fuca plate adjacent to the nootka fault zone is also apparent east of the northern gorda ridge younger 3 ma anomalies do not show measurable deformation near the blanco fracture zone but older anomalies are up to 30 km east of their position predicted by rigid behavior of the juan de fuca plate reconstruction of the overlap geometry of past propagators shows no evidence that the extent of overlap has ever exceeded 70 km even with offset of 75 km in one case and 140 km in another new techniques for testing for intervals of constant plate motion require at least two changes in instantaneous motion at 99 confidence a clockwise change in motion direction at about 5 ma and an increase in the gradient of spreading rate since 2 ma two other changes in gradient since 5 ma are required at 95 confidence

experimentally based water budgets for dehydrating slabs and consequences for arc magma generation phase diagrams of hydrous mid ocean ridge mor basalts to 330 km depth and of hydrous peridotites to 250 km depth are compiled for conditions characteristic for subduction zones a synthesis of our experimentally determined phase relations of chlorite lawsonite epidote zoisite amphibole paragonite chloritoid talc and phengite in basalts and of phase relations from the literature of serpentine talc chlorite amphibole and phase a in ultramafics permits calculation of h2o contents in hydrous phase assemblages that occur in natural compositions this yields the information necessary to calculate water budgets for descending slabs starting from low grade blueschist conditions 10 20 km depth with h2o contents between 5 and 6 wt for hydrated oceanic crust complete dehydration is achieved between 70 and 300 km depth as a function of individual slab geotherms hydrous phases which decompose at depth below volcanic arcs are lawsonite zoisite chloritoid and talc phengite in mafic compositions and chlorite and serpentine in peridotite approximately 15 35 of the initially subducted h2o are released below volcanic arcs the contribution of amphibole dehydration to the water budget is small 5 20 and occurs at relatively shallow depth 65 90 km in any predicted thermal structure dehydration is a combination of a stepwise and a continuous process through many different reactions which occur simultaneously in the different portions of the descending slab such a dehydration characteristic is incompatible with single phase dehydration models which focus fluid flow through a unique major dehydration event in order to explain volcanic fronts as a consequence of continuously progressing dehydration water ascending from the slab will be generally available to depth of ca 150 200 km the fluid rising from the subducting lithosphere will cause partial melting in the hot portion of the mantle wedge we propose that the volcanic front simply forms above the mantle wedge isotherm where the extent of melting is sufficient to allow for the mechanical extraction of parental arc magmas thermal models show that such an isotherm ca 1300oc locates below volcanic fronts slab surface depths below such an isotherm are compatible with the observed depths of the slab surface below volcanic fronts 1998 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

continental subduction and three dimensional crustal structure the northern south island new zealand the three dimensional vp and vp vs structure of a region where subduction transitions to oblique transform faulting has been determined using arrival times from 579 local earthquakes recorded during a temporary deployment and 3146 earthquakes have been relocated between 40 km and 100 km depth the subducted plate is imaged as a relatively low velocity feature in the uppermost mantle reflecting the continental nature of the subducted crust in this region an increase in amplitude of this low velocity feature from northeast to southwest can be related to an increase in the thickness of the crust of the subducted plate in this direction velocity variations within the subducted and overlying plates show some spatial correlation this suggests an interaction between the plates which extends well beyond the plate interface and is consistent with other geophysical and geological evidence that the plate interface beneath marlborough is currently not accommodating much active subduction in the overlying plate the awatere fault is a major structural feature associated with a low velocity zone extending to 23 km depth there is a marked change in structure near this fault with seismic velocities being lower to the southeast a relatively high level of seismicity occurs in this region of lower seismic velocities suggesting a relationship between the two a possible explanation for this is elevated pore pressures caused by fluids derived from dehydration of the continental subducted crust the low velocity region in the overlying plate coincides with the region of most intense active deformation suggesting it is relatively weak

are the lower planes of double seismic zones caused by serpentine dehydration in subducting oceanic mantle in a number of subduction zones earthquakes at 50 200 km depth define two dipping planes separated by 20 40 km that appear to merge downdip upper plane earthquakes are inferred to occur within the subducting oceanic crust whereas lower plane earthquakes occur in the subducting oceanic mantle beneath northeast japan the results of a new finite element heat transfer model suggest that the lower seismic plane cuts across isotherms at a shallow angle lower plane earthquakes occur at 550 800 c at 100 km depth and at 350 600 c at 160 km depth these conditions coincide with the dehydration reaction antigorite serpentine forsterite enstatite h 2 o which suggests that lower plane earthquakes may be triggered by dehydration embrittlement which in turn suggests that the subducting oceanic mantle is partially hydrated serpentinization may occur in the trench outer rise region where faulting may promote infiltration of seawater several tens of kilometers into the oceanic lithosphere if this hypothesis is correct current subduction zone h 2 o budgets may significantly underestimate the amount of bound h 2 o entering the subduction factory

transition from double to single wadati benioff seismic zone in the shumagin islands alaska a discontinuity exists in the moderate depth seismicity located by the shumagin seismic network in the eastern aleutian subduction zone the boundary is nearly perpendicular to the arc and has a double planed wadati benioff zone to the west and a single planed zone to the east the transition does not appear to be an artifact of mislocations as shown by three dimensional ray trace modeling and examination of phases of representative earthquakes current theory on the presence or absence of double seismic zones suggests a change in stress across the boundary if so the east and west regions may either have different aseismic to seismic slip ratios or be in different stages of the earthquake cycle

the influence of trench migration on slab penetration into the lower mantle abstract a two dimensional numerical convection model in cartesian geometry is used to study the influence of trench migration on the ability of subducted slabs to penetrate an endothermic phase boundary at 660 km depth the transient subduction history of an oceanic plate is modelled by imposing plate and trench motion at the surface the viscosity depends on temperature and depth a variety of styles of slab behaviour is found depending predominantly on the trench velocity when trench retreat is faster than 2 4 cm a the descending slab flattens above the phase boundary at slower rates it penetrates straight into the lower mantle although flattening in the transition zone may occur later leading to a complex slab morphology the slab can buckle independent of whether it penetrates or not especially when there is a localised increase in viscosity at the phase boundary flattened slabs are only temporarily arrested in the transition zone and sink ultimately into the lower mantle the results offer a framework for understanding the variety in slab geometry revealed by seismic tomography

temperatures heat flux and frictional stress near major thrust faults we examine the two dimensional advective and conductive transport of heat in a region of thrust faulting both simple theoretical considerations and numerical experiments show that the steady state temperatures near the fault are reduced by a divisor s 1 b z vsin below what they would be with the same heat sources but in the absence of advection in this expression z is the depth to the fault v is the slip rate is the component of the dip of the fault in the direction of underthrusting is thermal diffusivity and b is a dimensionless factor that is essentially equal to one for most forms of heating initial changes in temperatures near the fault are given by t z t t z 0 12vsin t z 0 z these simple formulae are successful because of the neglible influence of lateral conduction of heat at least for slip rates of a few mm yr or more two time constants govern the transition from the initial change in temperature to steady state t1 u v where u is the distance along the fault in the direction of underthrusting from the surface to the depth in question and t2 z 2 2 where z is the depth to the fault when elapsed times exceed the sum of these two time constants temperatures differ from their steady state values by only about 10 percent the numerical experiments indicate that the simple formulae are sufficiently accurate that sophisticiated numerical modeling of temperatures in specific regions is unwarranted putain an application of these simple formulae to measurements of conductive heat flow at island arcs implies that shear stresses at island arcs approach 100 mpa and are greater than 30 mpa calculations of temperatures appropriate for the himalaya suggest that shear stresses of 100 mpa on the main central thrust probably are required to account for the tertiary granites of the region if melting took place after slip began on the thrust similarly the cut off in seismicity at a depth of about 15 km in the himalaya if due to temperatures exceeding 350 to 450 c implies a deviatoric stress close to 100 mpa

magnetic anomaly interpretation across the southern central andes 32 34 s the role of the juan fernandez ridge in the late tertiary evolution of the margin marine and terrestrial magnetic surveys have been integrated to study the tectonic structure of the convergent margin of chile between 32 34 s three magnetic domains have been identified oceanic continental margin and subaerial the oceanic domain has seafloor spreading anomalies 16 37 ma to 18 39 5 ma disturbed by anomalies of the juan fernandez hot spot chain in the continental margin the most prominent fabric are e w anomalies in the upper slope corresponding to onshore e w anomalies of large intrusive bodies onshore a n s lineament of short wavelength anomalies defines the roots of a cretaceous volcanic arc a resembling lineament offshore indicates a submerged older volcanic arc and that continental basement extends to 50 km landward of the trench absolute cenozoic plate motion for nazca and south american plates and dating of the juan fernandez chain provide a kinematic model of ridge continent collision the reconstruction indicates rapid southward migration of the collision point along 1400 km of the margin from 20 to 11 ma 20 cm yr 1 from 11 ma to present the collison point has migrated at a slower rate along 375 km of the margin 3 5 cm yr 1 the predicted location of the subducted portion of the juan fernandez chain coincides with the south edge of the southward migrating flat slab segment of the subducted lithosphere and with a cluster of deep earthquakes indicating a causal relationship in the last 10 myr the ridge has separated a sediment starved trench to the north where subduction erosion may dominate from a sediment filled trench to the south where recent sediment accretion dominates these observations indicate that subduction of the juan fernandez chain plays a major role in arc forearc tectonics

magmatic processes under arcs and formation of the volcanic front temperature structure and stress under arcs are simulated in a two dimensional cross section taking into account the flow induced by the subducting slab in the mantle wedge results of the calculations show three important features with respect to magmatic processes under arcs 1 temperature structure in the crust and the mantle wedge under arcs is insensitive to the angle and velocity of slab subduction the temperature structure of the slab and that of the back arc region this indicates that physical conditions such as temperature and pressure are similar under various arcs it is thus inferred that primary magmas generated under various arcs should have similar chemical compositions if chemical composition and the flux rate of fluid from the slab are similar and the chemical compositions of mantle wedge materials are the same 2 calculated deviatoric stress magnitude is relatively large more than a few tens of megapascals in the partially molten mantle cracks may open under high differential stress and magma can easily segregate and accumulate through interconnected cracks while the buoyancy driven compaction of partially molten mantle proceeds 3 the deviatoric stress values in the region over the partially molten mantle are relatively large and the direction of the principal stress changes horizontally the direction of the maximum compressional stress is nearly vertical under the volcanic zone and is nearly horizontal under the fore arc region it is considered that magma segregated in partially molten mantle migrates upward through the brittle mantle and crust by the magma fracturing mechanism the propagation direction of magma filled fissures is controlled by the stress field in the crust and mantle and is parallel to the maximum principal stress the calculated stress is highly compressive horizontally on the trench side while it becomes tensile on the back arc side the location of this stress transition coincides with that of the volcanic front the location of this transition indicates that the volcanic front marks a change in the ease of upward migration of the magma filled cracks under relatively high differential stress field

an explanation for the double seismic layers north of the mendocino triple junction we propose that the gently eastward dipping double planed seismic zone observed at 15 25 km depths in the southern cascadia subduction zone just north of the mendocino triple junction is a direct consequence of the thermally controlled rheology as the oceanic lithosphere subducts to a depth of about 15 km the temperature regime causes a brittle plastic transition to occur within the oceanic crust thus a ductile layer forms in the lower oceanic crust sandwiched between the brittle upper crust and brittle upper mantle the very high strain rates near the triple junction caused by the northward push of the pacific plate on the gorda plate increase the seismicity and thus accentuate the double seismic zone in this region this model explains the focal mechanisms observed in the seismic zone and their spatial change the double seismic layers clearly define the position of the subducting gorda plate previously uncertain in the cape mendocino region

emplacement and deformation history of the western margin of the idaho batholith near mccall idaho influence of a major terrane boundary cretaceous plutons of the western margin of the idaho batholith were emplaced along and to the west of the major terrane boundary separating middle proterozoic and paleozoic continental rocks from mostly mesozoic accreted oceanic arc terranes of the blue mountain province this boundary is marked by a change in the lithology of pendants and inclusions within the batholith plutons form two newly named complexes of igneous and metamorphosed igneous rocks the hazard creek complex emplaced west of the boundary between the oceanic arc and the continental margin consists primarily of a series of variably deformed and metamorphosed quartz diorite to trondhjemite plutons the little goose creek complex which intruded the boundary between the oceanic arc and the continental margin is primarily porphyritic granodiorite to granite orthogneiss a preliminary u pb age of 111 ma for this porphyritic orthogneiss is a minimum age for the formation of the oceanic arc continent boundary the plutonic rocks were deformed both during and after emplacement in response to east west compressive stresses cretaceous deformation was localized along the boundary between the accreted terranes and the continental margin and is interpreted to have occurred after the formation of this boundary the major deformation of the hazard creek complex occurred during its emplacement the dominant fabric in the little goose creek complex is due to subsolidus ductile deformation the localization of two deformation events along the pre existing boundary between the accreted terranes and the continental margin suggests that a terrane boundary may form a long lasting crustal flaw

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 to 500 c warmer than beneath northeast japan resulting in shallower eclogite transformation and slab dehydration reactions and possible slab melting