Reactivation of tectonics, crustal underplating, and uplift after 60 Myr of passive subsidence, Raukumara Basin, Hikurangi-Kermadec fore arc, New Zealand: implications for global growth and recycling of continents

We use seismic reflection and refraction data to determine crustal structure, to map a fore-arc basin containing 12 km of sediment, and to image the subduction thrust at 35 km depth. Seismic reflection megasequences within the basin are correlated with onshore geology: megasequence X, Late Cretaceous and Paleogene marine passive margin sediments; megasequence Y, a similar to 10,000 km(3) submarine landslide emplaced during subduction initiation at 22 Ma; and megasequence Z, a Neogene subduction margin megasequence. The Moho lies at 17 km beneath the basin center and at 35 km at the southern margin. Beneath the western basin margin, we interpret reflective units as deformed Gondwana fore-arc sediment that was thrust in Cretaceous time over oceanic crust 7 km thick. Raukumara Basin has normal faults at its western margin and is uplifted along its eastern and southern margins. Raukumara Basin represents a rigid fore-arc block > 150 km long, which contrasts with widespread faulting and large Neogene vertical axis rotations farther south. Taper of the western edge of allochthonous unit Y and westward thickening and downlap of immediately overlying strata suggest westward or northwestward paleoslope and emplacement direction rather than southwestward, as proposed for the correlative onshore allochthon. Spatial correlation between rock uplift of the eastern and southern basin margins with the intersection between Moho and subduction thrust leads us to suggest that crustal underplating is modulated by fore-arc crustal thickness. The trench slope has many small extensional faults and lacks coherent internal reflections, suggesting collapse of indurated rock, rather than accretion of > 1 km of sediment from the downgoing plate. The lack of volcanic intrusion east of the active arc, and stratigraphic evidence for the broadening of East Cape Ridge with time, suggests net fore-arc accretion since 22 Ma. We propose a cyclical fore-arc kinematic: rock moves down a subduction channel to near the base of the crust, where underplating drives rock uplift, oversteepens the trench slope, and causes collapse toward the trench and subduction channel. Cyclical rock particle paths led to persistent trench slope subsidence during net accretion. Existing global estimates of fore-arc loss are systematically too high because they assume vertical particle paths. Citation: Sutherland, R., et al. (2009), Reactivation of tectonics, crustal underplating, and uplift after 60 Myr of passive subsidence, Raukumara Basin, Hikurangi-Kermadec fore arc, New Zealand: Implications for global growth and recycling of continents, Tectonics, 28, TC5017, doi: 10.1029/2008TC002356

Subduction fluxes through geologic time

Geochemical models have convincingly demonstrated that sediment and altered oceanic crust must be recycled into the mantle through subduction zones. These ‘subduction factories’ use these components, along with molten mantle, to create arc magmas. The ‘residue’ from this process is recycled into the mantle and has a modified chemical and mineralogical composition. The altered oceanic crust input function in the current plate tectonic cycle seems to be relatively constant in composition, but the chemical compositions of the sediment fluxes into subduction zones vary widely and control many of the end-member compositions of arc magmas. They must also control the compositions of fluids and gases derived from these magmas and ultimately ore-deposition and atmospheric fluxes associated with arc volcanoes

Hf-Nd input flux in the Izu-Mariana subduction zone and recycling of subducted material in the mantel

In subduction zones, two major mass fluxes compete: the input flux of altered oceanic crust and sediments subducted into the mantle and the output flux of magma that forms the volcanic arc. While the composition and the amount of material erupted along volcanic arcs are relatively well known, the chemical and isotopic composition of the subducted material (altered oceanic crust and sediments) is poorly constrained and is an important factor in the mass balance calculation. ODP Leg 185 in the Western Pacific used systematic sampling of the altered basaltic basement and sediment pile and the creation of composite mixtures to quantify the total chemical flux subducted at the Izu-Mariana margin. Here, we report Hf and Nd isotopic compositions of materials recovered from this Leg. The Hf and Nd isotopic compositions of altered basalts from Hole 801C are indistinguishable from those of recent unaltered Pacific MORB suggesting that hydrothermal alteration had no effect on either isotopic systems. The complete Site 1149 sedimentary pile has a weighted averag