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We investigated the continent-ocean transition (COT) structure of three main marginal seas in the western Pacific Ocean (South China Sea, Coral Sea, and Woodlark Basin) to determine the tectono-magmatic processes acting during continental breakup. The COT formed from the activity of a low-angle normal fault system localizing deformation during final rifting. Extension was contemporaneous with magmatic activity, including volcanic edifices, dikes, and sills in the distalmost parts of these basins. The COT shows a sharp juxtaposition in space and time of continental crust against igneous oceanic crust, and its overall structure differs from that of magma-poor or magma-rich passive-margin archetypes. We propose that this mode of breakup is characteristic of marginal seas due to the high extension rates imposed by kinematic forces of nearby subduction zones. Revealed in the context of marginal seas, this mode of breakup and the resulting COT structures highlight the underestimated diversity of continental breakup mechanisms.

We present textural and chemical analyses of minerals from a 150 m thick sequence of submarine mid-ocean ridge basalts from the South China Sea in order to showcase the effect of variations in magma cooling rates on mineral texture and mineral composition. Groundmass plagioclase and clinopyroxene show gradual changes in texture and composition as flows grade from slowly cooled, meter-thick massive flows to more rapidly cooled dm-thick pillow lobes with quenched glassy margins. The corresponding change in cooling-rate is estimated to vary from, Chemical Geology, 625, ISSN:0009-2541, ISSN:1872-6836

The mostly submarine Hunter Ridge, located in the SW Pacific records a ~12 Myr to present history of magmatism related to the opening of the North Fiji Basin and subduction of oceanic lithosphere of the South Fiji Basin. Although the Hunter Ridge is probably composed primarily of an older Vitiazrelated basement, young volcanic features are present from Matthew Island to Kadavu Island. Some dredged volcanic rocks from these features have low-FeO and high-Mg# affinities, ranging from picrites to high-Mg# andesites and dacites. Elevated Sr (500 - 3400 ppm) and Sr/Y (50 - 240) coupled to fractionated (adakitic) rare-earth element patterns (La/Yb = 5 - 40, Gd/Yb = 1.5 - 5.7) indicate a garnet signature derived from the melting of eclogite-facies basalt. Pacific-type MORB Nd-Hf-Pb isotopic ratios of these rocks contrast with the Indian-type MORB nature of the underlying North Fiji mantle but match closely the subducted South Fiji ocean crust. Low values of Th/La (< 0.15), Ba/La (< 22), unradiogenic Sr-87/Sr-86 (0.7026 - 0.7032) and Pacific-MORB Nd-Hf-Pb isotopic ratios indicate that sediment is a minor contributor to the source. The isotopic data clearly connect Hunter Ridge arc rocks of all compositions (picrites, low-to medium K2O arc lavas, basalts, high-Mg# andesites and dacites) to source components predominantly within the subducting plate. Unradiogenic Sr-87/Sr-86 (0.7026 - 0.7029) at high Sr abundances (700 - 1400 ppm) are common in hot-slab localities and are interpreted to reflect flux melting of MORB under eclogite-facies conditions driven by dehydration in the underlying mantle of the subducting plate. Such an adakitic slab-melt component can be detected in more common (nonadakitic) arc rocks along the Hunter Ridge and Vanuatu arc as well. Evidence of slab melting along the western Pacific indicates that melting of subducting oceanic lithosphere is likely a common occurrence at convergent margins. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V., Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 590, ISSN:0012-821X, ISSN:1385-013X

13th International Conference on Paleoceanography, 2-6 September 2019 Sydney, Australia

Documenting the early tectonic and magmatic evolution of the Izu–Bonin–Mariana (IBM) arc system in the Western Pacific is critical for understanding the process and cause of subduction initiation along the current convergent margin between the Pacific and Philippine Sea plates. Forearc igneous sections provide firm evidence for seafloor spreading at the time of subduction initiation (52 Ma) and production of “forearc basalt”. Ocean floor drilling (International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 351) recovered basement-forming, low-Ti tholeiitic basalt crust formed shortly after subduction initiation but distal from the convergent margin (nominally reararc) of the future IBM arc (Amami Sankaku Basin: ASB). Radiometric dating of this basement gives an age range (49.3–46.8 Ma with a weighted average of 48.7 Ma) that overlaps that of basalt in the present-day IBM forearc, but up to 3.3 m.y. younger than the onset of forearc basalt activity. Similarity in age range and geochemical character between the reararc and forearc basalts implies that the ocean crust newly formed by seafloor spreading during subduction initiation extends from fore- to reararc of the present-day IBM arc. Given the age difference between the oldest forearc basalt and the ASB crust, asymmetric spreading caused by ridge migration might have taken place. This scenario for the formation of the ASB implies that the Mesozoic remnant arc terrane of the Daito Ridges comprised the overriding plate at subduction initiation. The juxtaposition of a relatively buoyant remnant arc terrane adjacent to an oceanic plate was more favourable for subduction initiation than would have been the case if both downgoing and overriding plates had been oceanic.

The initiation of tectonic plate subduction into the mantle is poorly understood. If subduction is induced by the push of a distant mid-ocean ridge or subducted slab pull, we expect compression and uplift of the overriding plate. In contrast, spontaneous subduction initiation, driven by subsidence of dense lithosphere along faults adjacent to buoyant lithosphere, would result in extension and magmatism. The rock record of subduction initiation is typically obscured by younger deposits, so evaluating these possibilities has proved elusive. Here we analyse the geochemical characteristics of igneous basement rocks and overlying sediments, sampled from the Amami Sankaku Basin in the northwest Philippine Sea. The uppermost basement rocks are areally widespread and supplied via dykes. They are similar in composition and age-as constrained by the biostratigraphy of the overlying sediments-to the 52-48-million-year-old basalts in the adjacent Izu-Bonin-Mariana fore-arc. The geochemical characteristics of the basement lavas indicate that a component of subducted lithosphere was involved in their genesis, and the lavas were derived from mantle source rocks that were more melt-depleted than those tapped at mid-ocean ridges. We propose that the basement lavas formed during the inception of Izu-Bonin-Mariana subduction in a mode consistent with the spontaneous initiation of subduction.

Crystallization timescales in subvolcanic systems and the consequences of interaction between ascending magmas and gases remain largely unconstrained, as do links between these processes and monitoring signals at restless volcanoes. We apply diffusion chronometry to radially-oriented plagioclase and associated olivine in a glomerocryst from Tolbachik volcano (Kamchatka, Russia) to elucidate such processes. We show that cm-size glomerocrysts grow in a few days prior to, or during, eruption. Melt inclusions from these glomerocrysts show no compositional evolution during crystallization, implying growth in a melt-rich and dynamic environment. Volatile elements in melt inclusions show significant variability, with increasing CO2 as H2O decreases. This behaviour is inconsistent with normal degassing processes, and more likely reflects CO2-fluxing. On the basis of short residence timescales of glomerocrysts and sharp changes in melt inclusion volatile abundances, we propose that rapid (pre-)eruptive crystallization is controlled by rhythmic fluxing of magmatic H2O and CO2 through the sub-volcanic conduit. This implies that compositional zoning in plagioclase, from resorption textures to oscillatory zoning, record short-term CO2- and H2O-fluxing episodes, consistent with strombolian eruption dynamics. We propose that volcanic glomerocrysts represent the counterpart of vertical igneous layering (or comb layering) in shallow plutons. Magmatic layering and glomerocrysts dominated by radial plagioclase offer novel ways of targeting short-term crystallization and degassing processes in subvolcanic systems., Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 552, ISSN:0012-821X, ISSN:1385-013X