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Mantle wedge control on back-arc crustal accretion

Nature volume 416, pages 417–420 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

At mid-ocean ridges, plate separation leads to upward advection and pressure-release partial melting of fertile mantle material; the melt is then extracted to the spreading centre and the residual depleted mantle flows horizontally away1. In back-arc basins, the subducting slab is an important control on the pattern of mantle advection and melt extraction, as well as on compositional and fluid gradients2. Modelling studies3 predict significant mantle wedge effects on back-arc spreading processes. Here we show that various spreading centres in the Lau back-arc basin exhibit enhanced, diminished or normal magma supply, which correlates with distance from the arc volcanic front but not with spreading rate. To explain this correlation we propose that depleted upper-mantle material, generated by melt extraction in the mantle wedge, is overturned and re-introduced beneath the back-arc basin by subduction-induced corner flow. The spreading centres experience enhanced melt delivery near the volcanic front, diminished melting within the overturned depleted mantle farther from the corner and normal melting conditions in undepleted mantle farther away. Our model explains fundamental differences in crustal accretion variables between back-arc and mid-ocean settings.

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Figure 1: Location map of the Lau basin showing the back-arc spreading centres (heavy lines), trench axis (dotted line) and contours of the subducted slab (dashed lines) labelled in km.
Figure 2: Map and axial profiles of the Lau spreading centres.
Figure 3: Model of mantle wedge control on back-arc crustal accretion.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Harding, G. Kent and J. Collins for providing gravity and multibeam data from RV Maurice Ewing cruise EW9914, and A. Goodliffe and K. Zellmer for providing bathymetric data compilations and for discussions. We also thank D. Scheirer for comments on the manuscript that improved this contribution. This work was supported by the US NSF.

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  1. Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, 96822, Hawaii, USA

    Fernando Martinez

  2. Department of Geology and Geophysics, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, 96822, Hawaii, USA

    Brian Taylor

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Correspondence to Fernando Martinez.

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Martinez, F., Taylor, B. Mantle wedge control on back-arc crustal accretion. Nature 416, 417–420 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/416417a

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