Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

The role of ridges in the formation and longevity of flat slabs

Nature volume 524, pages 212–215 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Flat-slab subduction occurs when the descending plate becomes horizontal at some depth before resuming its descent into the mantle. It is often proposed as a mechanism for the uplifting of deep crustal rocks (‘thick-skinned’ deformation) far from plate boundaries, and for causing unusual patterns of volcanism, as far back as the Proterozoic eon1. For example, the formation of the expansive Rocky Mountains and the subsequent voluminous volcanism across much of the western USA has been attributed to a broad region of flat-slab subduction beneath North America that occurred during the Laramide orogeny (80–55 million years ago)2. Here we study the largest modern flat slab, located in Peru, to better understand the processes controlling the formation and extent of flat slabs. We present new data that indicate that the subducting Nazca Ridge is necessary for the development and continued support of the horizontal plate at a depth of about 90 kilometres. By combining constraints from Rayleigh wave phase velocities with improved earthquake locations, we find that the flat slab is shallowest along the ridge, while to the northwest of the ridge, the slab is sagging, tearing, and re-initiating normal subduction. On the basis of our observations, we propose a conceptual model for the temporal evolution of the Peruvian flat slab in which the flat slab forms because of the combined effects of trench retreat along the Peruvian plate boundary, suction, and ridge subduction. We find that while the ridge is necessary but not sufficient for the formation of the flat slab, its removal is sufficient for the flat slab to fail. This provides new constraints on our understanding of the processes controlling the beginning and end of the Laramide orogeny and other putative episodes of flat-slab subduction.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Reference map of the Peruvian flat-slab region, illustrating the subducting Nazca Ridge beneath the advancing South American plate.
Figure 2: Three-dimensional model of the structure of shear-wave velocities between −10° and −18°.
Figure 3: Proposed evolution of the Peruvian flat slab.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bedle, H. & van der Lee, S. Fossil flat-slab subduction beneath the Illinois basin, USA. Tectonophysics 424, 53–68 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Humphreys, E. et al. How Laramide-age hydration of North American lithosphere by the Farallon slab controlled subsequent activity in the western United States. Int. Geol. Rev. 45, 575–595 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Vogt, P. R. Subduction and aseismic ridges. Nature 241, 189–191 (1973)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. van Hunen, J., Van Den Berg, A. P. & Vlaar, N. J. On the role of subducting oceanic plateaus in the development of shallow flat subduction. Tectonophysics 352, 317–333 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Manea, V. C., Pérez-Gussinyé, M. & Manea, M. Chilean flat slab subduction controlled by overriding plate thickness and trench rollback. Geology 40, 35–38 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Gerya, T. V., Fossati, D., Cantieni, C. & Seward, D. Dynamic effects of aseismic ridge subduction: numerical modelling. Eur. J. Mineral. 21, 649–661 (2009)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Skinner, S. M. & Clayton, R. W. The lack of correlation between flat slabs and bathymetric impactors in South America. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 371–372, 1–5 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Rosenbaum, G. et al. Subduction of the Nazca Ridge and the Inca Plateau: insights into the formation of ore deposits in Peru. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 239, 18–32 (2005)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Eakin, C. M. et al. Response of the mantle to flat slab evolution: insights from local S splitting beneath Peru. J. Geophys. Res. 41, 3438–3446 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ward, K. M. et al. Ambient noise tomography across the Central Andes. Geophys. J. Int. 194, 1559–1573 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Phillips, K. & Clayton, R. W. Structure of the subduction transition region from seismic array data in southern Peru. Geophys. J. Int. 196, 1889–1905 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Cahill, T., & Isacks, B. L. Seismicity and shape of the subducted Nazca plate. J. Geophys. Res. 97, 17503–17529 (1992)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hayes, G. P., Wald, D. J., & Johnson, R. L. Slab 1.0: a three‐dimensional model of global subduction zone geometries. J. Geophys. Res. 117, B01302 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Hasegawa, A., & Sacks, I. S. Subduction of the Nazca plate beneath Peru as determined from seismic observations. J. Geophys. Res. 6, 4971–4980 (1981)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Uyeda, S., Watanabe, T., Ozasayama, Y. & Ibaragi, K. Report of heat flow measurements in Peru and Ecuador. Bull. Earthquake Res. Inst. 55, 55–74 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Arrial, P. A. & Billen, M. I. Influence of geometry and eclogitization on oceanic plateau subduction. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 363, 34–43 (2013)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. International Seismological Centre. On-line Bulletin (ISC, http://www.isc.ac.uk (2012)

  18. Liu, L. et al. The role of oceanic plateau subduction in the Laramide orogeny. Nature Geosci. 3, 353–357 (2010)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Jones, C. H., Farmer, G. L., Sageman, B. & Zhong, S. Hydrodynamic mechanism for the Laramide orogeny. Geosphere 7, 183–201 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Sigloch, K., McQuarrie, N. & Nolet, G. Two-stage subduction history under North America inferred from multiple-frequency tomography. Nature Geosci. 1, 458–462 (2008)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Gripp, A. E. & Gordon, R. G. Young tracks of hotspots and current plate velocities. Geophys. J. Int. 150, 321–361 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Instituto Geológico Minero y Metalúrgico. On-line catalog. (INGEMMET, http://www.ingemmet.gob.pe (2014)

  23. Lienert, R. B., Berg, E. & Frazer, L. N. HYPOCENTER: an earthquake location method using centered, scaled, and adaptively damped least squares. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 76, 771–783 (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Waldhauser, F. & Ellsworth, W. L. A double-difference earthquake location algorithm: method and application to the Northern Hayward Fault, California. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 90, 1353–1368 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Dorbath, C. Velocity structure of the Andes of central Peru from locally recorded earthquakes. J. Geophys. Res. 23, 205–208 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Forsyth, D. W. & Li, A. in Seismic Earth: Array of Broadband Seismograms (eds Levander, A. & Nolet, G. ) 81–98 (Geophysical Monograph Series 157, 2005)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  27. Yang, Y. & Forsyth, D. W. Regional tomographic inversion of the amplitude and phase of Rayleigh waves with 2-D sensitivity kernels. Geophys. J. Int. 166, 1148–1160 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Zhou, Y., Dahlen, F. A. & Nolet, G. Three-dimensional sensitivity kernels for surface wave observables. Geophys. J. Int. 158, 142–168 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Tassara, A., Götze, H.-J., Schmidt, S. & Hackney, R. Three-dimensional density model of the Nazca plate and the Andean continental margin. J. Geophys. Res. 111, B09404 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Kennett, B. L. N. IASPEI 1991 Seismological Tables (Bibliotech, 1991)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  31. James, D. E. Andean crustal and upper mantle structure. J. Geophys. Res. 76, 3246–3271 (1971)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Saito, M. in Seismological Algorithms: Computational Methods and Computer Programs. (ed. Doornbos, D. J. ) 293–319 (Elsevier, 1988)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  33. Weeraratne, D. S., Forsyth, D. W., Fischer, K. M., & Nyblade, A. A. Evidence for an upper mantle plume beneath the Tanzanian craton from Rayleigh wave tomography. J. Geophys. Res. 108, 2427 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. Scire, A. et al. Imaging the transition from flat to normal subduction: variations in the structure of the Nazca slab and upper mantle under southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia. Geophys. J. Int. (submitted)

  35. Snoke, J. A., Sacks, I. S. & Okada, H. Determination of the subducting lithosphere boundary by use of converted phases. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 67, 1051–1060 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank R. Clayton and P. Davies for providing the records from eight PERUSE stations. The PULSE experiment was supported by NSF grants EAR-0944184 (to L.S.W.), EAR-0943991 (to S.L.B.) and EAR-0943962 (to M.D.L.). The CAUGHT project was supported by NSF grants EAR-0908777 (to L.S.W.) and EAR-0907880 (to S.L.B.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 3315, Chapel Hill, 27599, North Carolina, USA

    Sanja Knezevic Antonijevic & Abhash Kumar

  2. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution for Science, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, 20015, DC, USA

    Lara S. Wagner

  3. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 East 4th Street, Tucson, 85721, Arizona, USA

    Susan L. Beck & George Zandt

  4. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, 06511, Connecticut, USA

    Maureen D. Long

  5. Instituto Geofísico del Perú, Calle Badajoz 169, Lima, 15012, Peru

    Hernando Tavera & Cristobal Condori

Authors
  1. Sanja Knezevic Antonijevic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lara S. Wagner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Abhash Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Susan L. Beck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Maureen D. Long
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. George Zandt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Hernando Tavera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Cristobal Condori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

S.K.A. generated the tomographic model. L.S.W. developed the model of temporal evolution. A.K. provided earthquake locations. S.K.A, L.S.W. and A.K. developed the ideas and wrote the paper. S.L.B., M.D.L., G.Z., H.T. and C.C. contributed to data collection and paper editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sanja Knezevic Antonijevic.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Figure 1 Relocated earthquakes used in this study.

Colours show the depth of events (in km) and lines indicate the slab contours in 20-km depth increments. Events below 130 km are shown in black.

Extended Data Figure 2 Events, grid and starting model used for the Rayleigh wave phase velocity inversions.

a, Teleseismic events used in the study. b, Black diamonds represent grid nodes; blue diamonds represent corners used in the two-plane wave methodology; red circles are PULSE stations; orange circles are CAUGHT stations; yellow circles are PERUSE stations; and yellow star is the permanent NNA station. c, Sensitivity kernels for periods used in our study with the one-dimensional starting shear wave velocity model.

Extended Data Figure 3 Lateral and vertical resolution.

a, Resolution for the 40-s and 58-s periods. The resolution matrix diagonal for Rayleigh wave phase velocities is indicated in grey scale. Red triangles are Holocene volcanoes. Black rectangles, circles and stars are stations used here. b, Resolution matrix diagonal values for all one-dimensional shear wave velocity inversions. Colours of the circles indicate average values of the resolution matrix diagonals for each layer. c, The r.m.s. average misfit over all periods at each point after our shear wave inversions. Colours represent the misfit in km s−1. Black rectangles represent stations used in our study.

Extended Data Figure 4 Calculated Rayleigh wave phase velocities for 40-s, 50-s, 58-s, 66-s, 77-s and 91-s periods.

Colours and contours indicate absolute phase velocities. Red triangles represent Holocene volcanoes. Black rectangles, circles and stars represent stations used in our study.

Extended Data Figure 5 Shear wave velocity maps at depths of 70 km, 95 km, 125 km and 165 km.

Colours represent velocity deviations with respect to the reference model (Extended Data Fig. 2c); contours show absolute velocities. Green stars indicate earthquakes within a depth of 20 km relocated using HypoDD24. Red triangles represent Holocene volcanoes. Black rectangles, circles and stars are stations used in our study.

Extended Data Figure 6 Checkerboard tests estimated from resolution matrix for 45 s, 58 s and 77 s.

Colours represent the recovered anomaly. Yellow stars along the northernmost profile indicate locations where we observe re-steepening of the slab, slab tear and the flat-slab remnant; the two stars along the subducting Nazca Ridge refer to locations of our (greater) inboard extent along the Nazca ridge track and a flat slab with shorter extent suggested previously12.

Extended Data Figure 7 Recovery tests for the dipping slab south of the ridge.

a, Map showing the transect and stations locations (rectangles). b, Starting model used in the shear wave velocity inversion; contour lines and colours are absolute shear-wave velocities; black inverted triangles are stations within 35 km of the transect; red triangles are Holocene volcanoes. c, Model calculated using observed data. d, Model based on our interpretations of the observed structures (see also Fig. 2d). e, Recovered model.

Extended Data Figure 8 Recovery tests for the flat-slab segment.

a, Transect. b, Dispersion curve at a location representing the shorter end of flat slab previously suggested12. c, Dispersion curve at a location representing the greater inboard extent of flat slab (proposed here); error bars represent one standard deviation of uncertainty. d, Starting model. e, Model calculated using observed data. f, Model with our (greater) inboard extent of flat slab. g, Model with shorter flat slab as suggested previously12. h, Recovered model from f. i, Recovered model from g.

Extended Data Figure 9 Recovery tests for the area just north of the Nazca Ridge, where we observe a deepening of earthquakes, and the southern end of the slab tear.

a, Reference map. b, Starting model. c, Model calculated using observed data. d, Model based on our interpretations of the torn slab (see Fig. 2d). e, Recovered model.

Extended Data Figure 10 Recovery tests for the northern profile where we observe the slab tear, a re-steepening of the currently subducting slab west of the tear, and the flat slab remnant east of the tear.

a, Transect. b, Dispersion curve at the location representing the re-steepened slab; error bars represent one standard deviation of uncertainty. c, Dispersion curve at location representing the slab tear. d, Dispersion curve at location representing the flat slab remnant. e, Starting model. f, Model calculated using observed data. g, Model with slab tear that we propose in this study. h, Model with continuous flat slab suggested previously suggested in ref. 12 and other studies. i, Recovered model from g. j, Recovered model from h. See Methods for further explanation.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Tables

This file contains Supplementary Table 1. (XLSX 36 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Antonijevic, S., Wagner, L., Kumar, A. et al. The role of ridges in the formation and longevity of flat slabs. Nature 524, 212–215 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14648

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14648

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing