Along-Arc Variation in Slab Surface Temperature Caused By 3D Material Circulation at the Plate Interface

Abstract:

In the northeast Japan arc, we can observe the along-arc variation of Quaternary volcano distribution, topography, seismic wave velocity, and Bouguer gravity anomaly whose characteristic wavelength is ~80 km. These observations may be related to 3D thermal structure in the mantle wedge and/or subducting Pacific slab. As a possible explanation of this, small-scale convection in the mantle wedge of thermal and chemical origin has been proposed so far. In this presentation, we will show another possible explanation for it.

It is known mainly based on surface heat flow observation that the mantle wedge in this region is decoupled from the subducting Pacific slab down to ~80 km depth for geological time scale. We also observe that the down-dip limit of low angle thrust type earthquakes in this region is ~50 km depth. These suggest that in the northeast Japan arc, the mantle wedge and the slab decouples by brittle failure down to 50 km depth and by plastic deformation from 50 to 80 km depth.

In order to test the effects of the plate interface on the thermal structure in this region, we construct 3D finite element models. The mantle flow is computed only in the mantle wedge, whereas temperature is computed for the whole model domain. We assume a thin, low viscosity layer just above the slab surface from 50 to 80 km depth to decouple the mantle wedge and the slab. We find that the along-arc variation in the slab surface temperature gradually develops with time. Its characteristic wavelength is ~100 km, which is comparable to or slightly higher than that observed. It arises because of the small-scale 3D circulation in the assumed low viscosity layer. The wavelength and the time of onset may depend on the viscosity and dimension of the low viscosity layer. Surface heat flow, on the other hand, does not show significant along-arc variation because forearc mantle is kept cold and hence rigid. These findings suggest that the observed along-arc variation in the northeast Japan arc originally comes from the variation in the slab surface temperature.