Evidence for Compressionally-Induced High Subsidence Rates in the Kurile Basin (Okhotsk Sea)

A combined volcanological, geochemical, paleo-oceanological, geochronological and geophysical study was undertaken on the Kurile Basin, in order to constrain the origin and evolution of this basin. Very high rates of subsidence were determined for the northeastern floor and margin of the Kurile Basin. Dredged volcanic samples from the Geophysicist Seamount, which were formed under subaerial or shallow water conditions but are presently located at depths in excess of 2300 m, were dated at 0.84±0.06 and 1.07±0.04 Ma with the laser 40Ar/39Ar single crystal method, yielding a minimum average subsidence rate of 1.6 mm/year for the northeast basin floor in the Quaternary. Trace element and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope data from the volcanic rocks show evidence for contamination within lower continental crust and/or the subcontinental lithospheric mantle, indicating that the basement presently at ∼6-km depth is likely to represent thinned continental crust. Average subsidence rates of 0.5–2.0 mm/year were estimated for the northeastern slope of the Kurile Basin during the Pliocene and Quaternary through the determination of the age and paleo-environment (depth) of formation of sediments from a canyon wall. Taken together, the data from the northeastern part of the Kurile Basin indicate that subsidence began in or prior to the Early Pliocene and that subsidence rates have increased in the Quaternary. Similar rates of subsidence have been obtained from published studies on the Sakhalin Shelf and Slope and from volcanoes in the rear of the Kurile Arc. The recent stress field of the Kurile Basin is inferred from the analysis of seismic activity, focal mechanism solutions and from the structure of the sedimentary cover and of the Alaid back-arc volcano. Integration of these results suggests that compression is responsible for the rapid subsidence of the Kurile Basin and that subsidence may be an important step in the transition from basin formation to its destruction. The compression of the Kurile Basin results from squeezing of the Okhotsk Plate between four major plates: the Pacific, North American, Eurasian and Amur. We predict that continued compression could lead to subduction of the Kurile Basin floor beneath Hokkaido and the Kurile Arc in the future and thus to basin closure