Whole-rock geochemical data on basaltic to rhyolitic samples from 12 volcanic centers are used to constrain the role of continental crust in the genesis of magmas formed beneath the anomalously wide subduction-related volcanic arc in Ecuador. Relatively homogeneous, mantle-like, isotopic compositions across the arc imply that the parental magmas in Ecuador were produced largely within the mantl...

We report partial melting of an ultrahigh pressure eclogite in the Mesozoic Sulu orogen, China. Eclogitic migmatite shows successive stages of initial intragranular and grain boundary melt droplets, which grow into a three-dimensional interconnected intergranular network, then segregate and accumulate in pressure shadow areas and then merge to form melt channels and dikes that transport magma t...

There is considerable controversy over the nature of geophysically recognized low-velocity-high-conductivity zones (LV-HCZs) within the Tibetan crust, and their role in models for the development of the Tibetan Plateau. Here we report petrological and geochemical data on magmas erupted 4.7-0.3 Myr ago in central and northern Tibet, demonstrating that they were generated by partial melting of cr...

Geologists are acquainted with the principle of uniformitarianism, which holds that present day processes are the key to those that operated in the past. But the extent this applies to the processes driving the growth and differentiation of the continental crust throughout the Earth history remains a major controversy in earth sciences. An important part of the discussion circles around the pre...

[1] Documenting the mass flux through convergent plate margins is important to the understanding of petrogenesis in arc settings and to the origin of the continental crust, since subduction zones are the only major routes by which material extracted from the mantle can be returned to great depths within the Earth. Despite their significance, there has been a tendency to view subduction zones as...

The geological materials in Earth's lowermost mantle control the characteristics and interpretation of seismic ultra-low velocity zones at the base of the core-mantle boundary. Partial melting of the bulk lower mantle is often advocated as the cause, but this does not explain the nonubiquitous character of these regional seismic features. We explored the melting properties of mid-oceanic ridge ...

Continental crust is too Si-rich and Mg-poor to derive directly from mantle melting, which generates basaltic rather than felsic magmas. Converting basalt to more felsic compositions requires a second step involving Mg loss, which is thought to be dominated by internal igneous differentiation. However, igneous differentiation alone may not be able to generate granites, the most silicic endmembe...

We find that in young and warm subducting plates, earthquakes occur just below the Moho. In older plates, earthquakes occur throughout the subducting oceanic crust, as well as the subducting mantle. We document this behavior in several subduction zones where there are independent constraints on earthquake locations and slab structure, specifically for northern and southern Japan, Alaska, and te...

[1] Phase equilibrium experiments on primitive Miocene olivine leucitite (Bb-107) from the Qiangtang terrane of the Tibetan Plateau were performed from 1.0 to 2.2 GPa and 1270 to 1440 C. The composition is multiply saturated with olivine and clinopyroxene from 1.2 to 2.2 GPa and 1340 C under nominally anhydrous conditions. Phase assemblages in the experiments have been used to model the effects...