Thin oceanic crust is formed by decompression melting of the upper mantle at mid-ocean ridges, but the origin of the thick and buoyant continental crust is enigmatic. Juvenile continental crust may form from magmas erupted above intraoceanic subduction zones, where oceanic lithosphere subducts beneath other oceanic lithosphere. However, it is unclear why the subduction of dominantly basaltic oc...

[1] Subduction zones alter the upper plate in a variety of ways, including metasomatism via slab-derived fluids and accretion of exotic terranes. These processes should produce distinctive seismic signatures, as seismic velocities are sensitive to compositional variations. A new method is developed to estimates depths to interfaces and Poisson’s ratio (Vp/Vs ratio) for dipping layered structure...

A new analytic model is presented for the thermal structure of subduction zones. It applies to the deeper regions of a subduction zone, where the overriding mantle is no longer rigid but flows parallel to the slab surface. The model captures the development of one thermal boundary layer out into the mantle wedge, and another into the subducting slab. By combining this model with the analytic mo...

Double seismic zones are two-layered distributions of intermediate-depth earthquakes that provide insight into the thermomechanical state of subducting slabs. We present new precise hypocenters of intermediate-depth earthquakes in the Tonga subduction zone obtained using data from local island-based, ocean-bottom, and global seismographs. The results show a downdip compressional upper plane and...

Deep earthquakes have been a paradox since their discovery in the 1920s. The combined increase of pressure and temperature with depth precludes brittle failure or frictional sliding beyond a few tens of kilometers, yet earthquakes occur continually in subduction zones to approximately 700 km. The expected healing effects of pressure and temperature and growing amounts of seismic and experimenta...

Introduction Hydrothermal systems and their associated metal deposits have been studied at oceanic spreading centers since the late 1970s when they were first discovered. More recently, those studies have been extended to subduction zone hydrothermal systems including active volcanic arcs and back-arc environments. Oceanic spreading centers compose a global ridge system where new ocean crust is...

Primarily aseismic deformation transients in subduction zones, sometimes associated with tremors and low-frequency earthquakes, are a newly recognized mode of deformation. Stressing in the up-dip seismogenic zone is increased episodically due to down-dip transient slips, and each eventmaymake itmore prone to failure in a large thrust earthquake. It is important for seismic hazard assessment to ...

Arc continent collision is one of the most fundamental tectonic processes for the formation of new land, and the preservation on land of fragments of oceanic lithosphere (ophiolites). However, the tectonic evolution of arc continent collision is commonly over-simplified in everything from introductory textbooks to complex tectonic models. Major unresolved issues include the response of the fore...

The structure and lithological sequences of ophiolites provide critical information for reconstructing their tectonic setting thus, the history paleo-oceanic basins in which they formed. Our systematic mapping three best-preserved massifs Xigaze ophiolite from middle segment Yarlung Zangbo Suture Zone (YZSZ) South Tibet, revealed a nearly intact ophiolitic sequence that has largely escaped empl...

[1] We expand the theory of critically tapered Coulomb wedge for accretionary prisms by considering stress changes in subduction earthquake cycles. Building on the Coulomb plasticity of the classical theory, we assume an elastic–perfectly Coulomb plastic rheology and derive exact stress solutions for stable and critical wedges. The new theory postulates that the actively deforming, most seaward...