Upper and lower crustal evolution during lithospheric extension: numerical modelling and natural footprints from the European Alps
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Abstract When continental rifting does not develop on a stable continental lithosphere, geodynamic interpretation of igneous and metamorphic records, as well as structural and sedimentary imprints of rifting-related lithospheric extension, can be highly ambiguous since different mechanisms can be responsible for regional HT–LP metamorphism. This is the case of the European Alps, where the exposure of Variscan structural and metamorphic imprints within the present-day Alpine structural domains indicates that before the Pangaea break-up, the continental lithosphere was thermally and mechanically perturbed by Variscan subduction and collision. To reduce this ambiguity, we use finite-element techniques to implement numerical geodynamic models for analysing the effects of active extension during the Permian–Triassic period (from 300 to 220 Ma), overprinting a previous history of Variscan subduction-collision up to 300 Ma. The lithosphere is compositionally stratified in crust and mantle and its rheological behaviour is that of an incompressible viscous fluid controlled by a power law. Model predictions of lithospheric thermal state and strain localization are compared with metamorphic data, time interval of plutonic and volcanic activity and coeval onset of sedimentary environments. Our analysis confirms that the integrated use of geological data and numerical modelling is a valuable key for inferring the pre-orogenic rifting evolution of a fossil passive margin. In the specific case of the European Alps, we show that a relative high rate of active extension is required, associated for example with a far extensional field, to achieve the fit with the maximal number of tectonic units. Furthermore, in this case only, thermal conditions allowing partial melting of the crust accompanying gabbroic intrusions and HT–LP metamorphism are generated. The concordant set of geological events that took place from Permian to Triassic times in the natural Alpine case is justified by the model and is coherent with the progression of lithospheric thinning, later evolving into the appearance of oceanic crust.Cite
Abstract We present detailed lithospheric images of the NE Tibetan Plateau by applying the depth migration technique to S receiver functions derived from 113 broadband stations. Our migrated images indicate that the lithosphere‐asthenosphere boundary (LAB) lies at depths of 105–120 km beneath the Qilian terrane and reaches depths of 126–140 km below the Alxa and Ordos blocks. The most prominent variation in the LAB depth is the presence of LAB steps of no less than 20 km in the transition zone between the active NE Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding cratonic Alxa and Ordos blocks, which conflicts with the model of southward subduction of the Alxa and Ordos blocks. Furthermore, the marked LAB steps occur at 130 ± 10 km away from the southern surficial boundary faults between the NE Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding tectonic provinces, corresponding to the North Qilian fault and the Liupanshan fault, respectively. Therefore, we propose that these scenarios of LAB can be attributed to the delamination of fragmented mantle lithosphere in the transition zone between the NE Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding Alxa and Ordos blocks, triggered by lateral asthenospheric flow. In addition, our observations of a thin lithosphere with thickness of 107–115 km beneath the Songpan‐Ganzi terrane and the west Qinlin orogen greatly facilitate the process of underlying lateral asthenospheric flow. The isostatic uplift of the plateau caused by the delamination of fragmented mantle lithosphere, together with increased horizontal compressive stress, may have led to the outward growth of the NE Tibetan Plateau.
Asthenosphere
Delamination
Receiver function
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Massif
Lithospheric flexure
Flexural rigidity
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Abstract Despite recent observations of slow earthquakes along the Nankai subduction zone, none have been reported in the central Nankai Trough between the Kii Channel and Cape Shionomisaki. In November 2018, a very dense array of 96 ocean‐bottom seismometers were deployed by JAMSTEC to acquire active‐source seismic refraction dataset (supplemented by a multichannel seismic reflection profile) from the seaward side of the subduction trough to the accretionary prism off Cape Shionomisaki. We applied traveltime tomography to the refraction data to constrain the P wave velocity down to the upper mantle, coordinating with a migrated seismic reflection profile to confirm the depth of the Moho and interpret shallower structural features. From a comparison with a transect across the Kumano basin, we conclude that structural and physical differences between these two locations, especially the geometry of the subducting plate surface, lead to different slow earthquake activities.
Accretionary wedge
Trough (economics)
Seismometer
Seismic Tomography
Seismic refraction
Receiver function
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Thrust fault
Seafloor Spreading
Earthquake rupture
Trough (economics)
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Two earthquake sequences that affected the Mentawai islands offshore of central Sumatra in 2005 (Mw 6.9) and 2009 (Mw 6.7) have been highlighted as evidence for active backthrusting of the Sumatran accretionary wedge. However, the geometry of the activated fault planes is not well resolved due to large uncertainties in the locations of the mainshocks and aftershocks. We refine the locations and focal mechanisms of medium size events (Mw > 4.5) of these two earthquake sequences through broadband waveform modeling. In addition to modeling the depth-phases for accurate centroid depths, we use teleseismic surface wave cross-correlation to precisely relocate the relative horizontal locations of the earthquakes. The refined catalog shows that the 2005 and 2009 "backthrust" sequences in Mentawai region actually occurred on steeply (∼60 degrees) landward-dipping faults (Masilo Fault Zone) that intersect the Sunda megathrust beneath the deepest part of the forearc basin, contradicting previous studies that inferred slip on a shallowly seaward-dipping backthrust. Static slip inversion on the newly-proposed fault fits the coseismic GPS offsets for the 2009 mainshock equally well as previous studies, but with a slip distribution more consistent with the mainshock centroid depth (∼20 km) constrained from teleseismic waveform inversion. Rupture of such steeply dipping reverse faults within the forearc crust is rare along the Sumatra–Java margin. We interpret these earthquakes as 'unsticking' of the Sumatran accretionary wedge along a backstop fault separating imbricated material from the stronger Sunda lithosphere. Alternatively, the reverse faults may have originated as pre-Miocene normal faults of the extended continental crust of the western Sunda margin. Our waveform modeling approach can be used to further refine global earthquake catalogs in order to clarify the geometries of active faults.
Forearc
Accretionary wedge
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Receiver function
Asthenosphere
Lithospheric flexure
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Transform fault
Convergent boundary
Seismometer
North American Plate
Eurasian Plate
Pacific Plate
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Asthenosphere
Mantle plume
Hotspot (geology)
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Paleoseismology
Thrust fault
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Tarim basin
Tectonic uplift
Lithospheric flexure
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