The crustal structure in south‐central Alaska has been influenced by terrane accretion, flat slab subduction, and a modern strike‐slip fault system. Within the active subduction system, the presence of the Denali Volcanic Gap (DVG), a ∼400 km region separating the active volcanism of the Aleutian Arc to the west and the Wrangell volcanoes to the east, remains enigmatic. To better understand the regional tectonics and the nature of the volcanic gap, we deployed a month‐long north‐south linear geophone array of 306 stations with an interstation distance of 1 km across the Alaska Range. By calculating multi‐component noise cross‐correlation and jointly inverting Rayleigh wave phase velocity and ellipticity across the array, we construct a 2‐D shear wave velocity model along the transect down to ∼16 km depth. In the shallow crust, we observe low‐velocity structures associated with sedimentary basins and image the Denali fault as a narrow localized low‐velocity anomaly extending to at least 12 km depth. About 12 km, below the fold and thrust fault system in the northern flank of the Alaska Range, we observe a prominent low‐velocity zone with more than 15% velocity reduction. Our velocity model is consistent with known geological features and reveals a previously unknown low‐velocity zone that we interpret as a magmatic feature. Based on this feature's spatial relationship to the Buzzard Creek and Jumbo Dome volcanoes and the location above the subducting Pacific Plate, we interpret the low‐velocity zone as a previously unknown subduction‐related crustal magma reservoir located beneath the DVG.
The along‐strike variations of the velocity, thickness, and dip of subducting slabs and the volcano distribution have been observed globally. It is, however, unclear what controls the distribution of volcanoes and the associated magma generation. With the presence of nonuniform volcanism, the Aleutian‐Alaska subduction zone (AASZ) is an ideal place to investigate subduction segmentation and its relationship with volcanism. Using full‐wave ambient noise tomography, we present a high‐resolution 3‐D shear wave velocity model of the AASZ for the depths of 15–110 km. The velocity model reveals the distinct high‐velocity Pacific slab, the thicker, flatter, and more heterogeneous Yakutat slab, and the northeasterly dipping Wrangell slab. We observe low velocities within the uppermost mantle (at depth <60 km) below the Aleutian arc volcanoes, representing partial melt accumulation. The large crustal low‐velocity anomaly beneath the Wrangell volcanic field suggests a large magma reservoir, likely responsible for the clustering of volcanoes. The Denali volcanic gap is above an average‐velocity crust but an extremely fast mantle wedge, suggesting the lack of subsurface melt. This is in contrast with the lower‐velocity back‐arc mantle beneath the adjacent Buzzard Creek‐Jumbo Dome volcanoes to the east. The back‐arc low velocities associated with the Pacific, the eastern Yakutat, and the Wrangell slabs may reflect subduction‐driven mantle upwelling. The structural variation of the downgoing slabs and the overriding plate explains the change of volcanic activity along the AASZ. Our findings demonstrate the combined role of the subducting slab and the overriding plate in controlling the characteristics of arc magmatism.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10419437
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
- Volume:
- 125
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 2169-9313
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract -
The Sonya Creek volcanic field (SCVF) contains the oldest in situ volcanic products in the ca. 30 Ma–modern Wrangell Arc (WA) in south-central Alaska, which commenced due to Yakutat microplate subduction initiation. The WA occurs within a transition zone between Aleutian subduction to the west and dextral strike-slip tectonics along the Queen Charlotte–Fairweather and Denali–Duke River fault systems to the east. New 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of bedrock shows that SCVF magmatism occurred from ca. 30–19 Ma. New field mapping, physical volcanology, and major- and trace-element geochemistry, coupled with the 40Ar/39Ar ages and prior reconnaissance work, allows for the reconstruction of SCVF magmatic evolution. Initial SCVF magmatism that commenced at ca. 30 Ma records hydrous, subduction-related, calc-alkaline magmatism and also an adakite-like component that we interpret to represent slab-edge melting of the Yakutat slab. A minor westward shift of volcanism within the SCVF at ca. 25 Ma was accompanied by continued subduction-related magmatism without the adakite-like component (i.e., mantle-wedge melting), represented by ca. 25–20 Ma basaltic-andesite to dacite domes and associated diorites. These eruptions were coeval with another westward shift to anhydrous, transitional-tholeiitic, basaltic-andesite to rhyolite lavas and tuffs of the ca. 23–19 Ma Sonya Creek shield volcano; we attribute these eruptions to intra-arc extension. SCVF activity was also marked by a small southward shift in volcanism at ca. 21 Ma, characterized by hydrous calc-alkaline lavas. SCVF geochemical compositions closely overlap those from the <13 Ma WA, and no alkaline lavas that characterize the ca. 18–10 Ma eastern Wrangell volcanic belt exposed in Yukon Territory are observed. Calc-alkaline, transitional-tholeiitic, and adakite-like SCVF volcanism from ca. 30–19 Ma reflects subduction of oceanic lithosphere of the Yakutat microplate beneath North America. We suggest that the increase in magmatic flux and adakitic eruptions at ca. 25 Ma, align with a recently documented change in Pacific plate direction and velocity at this time and regional deformation events in southern Alaska. By ca. 18 Ma, SCVF activity ceased, and the locus of WA magmatism shifted to the south and east. The change in relative plate motions would be expected to transfer stress to strike-slip faults above the inboard margin of the subducting Yakutat slab, a scenario consistent with increased transtensional-related melting recorded by the ca. 23–19 Ma transitional-tholeiitic Sonya Creek shield volcano between the Denali and Totschunda faults. Moreover, we infer the Totschunda fault accommodated more than ~85 km of horizontal offset since ca. 18 Ma, based on reconstructing the initial alignment of the early WA (i.e., 30–18 Ma SCVF) and temporally and chemically similar intrusions that crop out to the west on the opposite side of the Totschunda fault. Our results from the SCVF quantify spatial-temporal changes in deformation and magmatism that may typify arc-transform junctions over similar time scales (>10 m.y.).more » « less
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Abstract In southcentral Alaska, the Alaska‐Aleutian Wadati‐Benioff zone (WBZ) shows high seismicity rates west of 147°W. Further east, the Wrangell volcanic field (WVF) has some of the world's largest continental volcanoes but there is equivocal evidence for a WBZ. We deployed a dense seismometer array around the WVF between 2016 and 2018 and used the data to increase the number of detected earthquakes using an autodetection and location algorithm. One‐dimensional velocity inversion and double‐difference earthquake location further improve earthquake locations. Subcrustal earthquakes form a narrow band of dipping seismicity—a weak but clear WVF WBZ—which strikes parallel to the volcanic trend and dips highly oblique to plate motion. The WVF WBZ is continuous from the coast to a depth of 100 km beneath Mount Wrangell. Earthquakes shallower than 40 km are continuous between the two WBZs, indicating continuity of the subducting Yakutat terrane across the region. However, the earthquakes deeper than 40 km are offset by hundreds of kilometers, which may indicate a slab tear separating the Alaska–Aleutian WBZ from the WVF WBZ. Seismicity rates differ by over 2 orders of magnitude between the separate WBZs, despite the similar incoming plate, with the relatively seismically quiescent WBZ underlying the much more prolific WVF. Higher slab‐surface temperatures beneath the WVF, due to flow around the slab edges and the oblique geometry, may lead to low seismicity rates within subducting crust, as seen in other warm slabs, but abundant water is still transported to subarc depths within the mantle wedge.
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Abstract An oceanic plateau, the Yakutat terrane, has entered the subduction system across southcentral Alaska. Its down‐dip fate and relationship to overlying volcanism is still debated. Broadband seismometers from the Wrangell Volcanism and Lithospheric Fate (WVLF) temporary experiment were deployed with <20 km spacing across southcentral Alaska to study this region. An array‐based deconvolution procedure is used to isolate the scattered
P andS coda of teleseismicP waves for imaging discontinuity structure. This procedure is applied to WVLF and other dense seismic arrays across southcentral Alaska in a manner that accounts for near‐surface wavespeed variations. Two imaging techniques are employed: two‐dimensional migration and three‐dimensional common‐conversion‐point (CCP) stacking. Migrating the scattered phases along WVLF stations shows the ∼18 ± 4 km thick Yakutat crust subducting beneath the Wrangell Volcanic field to the NNE. It is offset from the Alaska‐Aleutian seismic zone laterally by 250 km to the southeast at 100 km depth, and dips more steeply (45°). At depths <45 km, CCP stacking reveals that the Yakutat crust is continuous for over 450 km along strike. This shallow continuity and deeper offset suggest a tear in the subducting Yakutat slab at depths >45 km, around 146°W. CCP stacking also reveals a continuous thin low‐velocity layer atop the underthrust Yakutat crust for >450 km along strike, at all depths <35 km. The uniform low‐velocity thrust zone indicates consistent properties through multiple rupture‐zone segments, showing that low‐velocity channels generally correspond with subduction megathrusts. -
null (Ed.)Geologic processes at convergent plate margins control geochemical cycling, seismicity, and deep biosphere activity in subduction zones and suprasubduction zone lithosphere. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 366 was designed to address the nature of these processes in the shallow to intermediate depth of the Mariana subduction channel. Although no technology is available to permit direct sampling of the subduction channel of an intraoceanic convergent margin at depths up to 18 km, the Mariana forearc region (between the trench and the active volcanic arc) provides a means to access this zone. Active conduits, resulting from fractures in the forearc, are prompted by along- and across-strike extension that allows slab-derived fluids and materials to ascend to the seafloor along associated faults, resulting in the formation of serpentinite mud volcanoes. Serpentinite mud volcanoes of the Mariana forearc are the largest mud volcanoes on Earth. Their positions adjacent to or atop fault scarps on the forearc are likely related to the regional extension and vertical tectonic deformation in the forearc. Serpentinite mudflows at these volcanoes include serpentinized forearc mantle clasts, crustal and subducted Pacific plate materials, a matrix of serpentinite muds, and deep-sourced formation fluid. Mud volcanism on the Mariana forearc occurs within 100 km of the trench, representing a range of depths and temperatures to the downgoing plate and the subduction channel. These processes have likely been active for tens of millions of years at this site and for billions of years on Earth. At least 10 active serpentinite mud volcanoes have been located in the Mariana forearc. Two of these mud volcanoes are Conical and South Chamorro Seamounts, which are the furthest from the Mariana Trench at 86 and 78 km, respectively. Both seamounts were cored during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Legs 125 and 195, respectively. Data from these two seamounts represent deeper, warmer examples of the continuum of slab-derived materials as the Pacific plate subducts, providing a snapshot of how slab subduction affects fluid release, the composition of ascending fluids, mantle hydration, and the metamorphic paragenesis of subducted oceanic lithosphere. Data from the study of these two mud volcanoes constrain the pressure, temperature, and composition of fluids and materials within the subduction channel at depths of about 18 to 19 km. Understanding such processes is necessary for elucidating factors that control seismicity in convergent margins, tectonic and magma genesis processes in the forearc and volcanic arc, fluid and material fluxes, and the nature and variability of environmental conditions that impact subseafloor microbial communities. Expedition 366 centered on data collection from cores recovered from three serpentinite mud volcanoes that define a continuum of subduction-channel processes defined by the two previously cored serpentinite mud volcanoes and the trench. Three serpentinite mud volcanoes (Yinazao, Fantangisña, and Asùt Tesoro) were chosen at distances 55 to 72 km from the Mariana Trench. Cores were recovered from active sites of eruption on their summit regions and on the flanks where ancient flows are overlain by more recent ones. Recovered materials show the effects of dynamic processes that are active at these sites, bringing a range of materials to the seafloor, including materials from the lithosphere of the Pacific plate and from subducted seamounts (including corals). Most of the recovered material consists of serpentinite mud containing lithic clasts, which are derived from the underlying forearc crust and mantle and the subducting Pacific plate. Cores from each of the three seamounts drilled during Expedition 366, as well as those from Legs 125 and 195, include material from the underlying Pacific plate. A thin cover of pelagic sediment was recovered at many Expedition 366 sites, and at Site U1498 we cored through serpentinite flows to the underlying pelagic sediment and volcanic ash deposits. Recovered serpentinites are largely uniform in major element composition, with serpentinized ultramafic rocks and serpentinite muds spanning a limited range in SiO2 , MgO, and Fe2 O3 compositions. However, variation in trace element composition reflects pore fluid composition, which differs as a function of the temperature and pressure of the underlying subduction channel. Dissolved gases H2 , CH4 , and C2 H6 are highest at the site furthest from the trench, which also has the most active fluid discharge of the Expedition 366 serpentinite mud volcanoes. These dissolved gases and their active discharge from depth likely support active microbial communities, which were the focus of in-depth subsampling and preservation for shore-based analytical and culturing procedures. The effects of fluid discharge were also registered in the porosity and GRA density data indicated by higher than expected values at some of the summit sites. These higher values are consistent with overpressured fluids that minimize compaction of serpentinite mud deposits. In contrast, flank sites have significantly greater decreases in porosity with depth, suggesting that processes in addition to compaction are required to achieve the observed data. Thermal measurements reveal higher heat flow values on the flanks (~31 mW/m2) than on the summits (~17 mW/m2) of the seamounts. The new 2G Enterprises superconducting rock magnetometer (liquid helium free) revealed relatively high values of both magnetization and bulk magnetic susceptibility of discrete samples related to ultramafic rocks, particularly in dunite. Magnetite, a product of serpentinization, and authigenic carbonates were observed in the mudflow matrix materials. In addition to coring operations, Expedition 366 focused on the deployment and remediation of borehole casings for future observatories and set the framework for in situ experimentation. Borehole work commenced at South Chamorro Seamount, where the original-style CORK was partially removed. Work then continued at each of the three summit sites following coring operations. Cased boreholes with at least three joints of screened casing were deployed, and a plug of cement was placed at the bottom of each hole. Water samples were collected from two of the three boreholes, revealing significant inputs of formation fluids. 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