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Accretionary Prisms and Convergent Margin Tectonics in the Northwest Pacific Basin pp 149–168Cite as

Tectonics of Unusual Crustal Accretion in the Parece Vela Basin

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Part of the book series: Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences ((MASE,volume 8))

Abstract

Despite its rapid intermediate-spreading rate, the Parece Vela Basin (PVB) shows unusual characteristics that indicate a depressed magmatic budget, such as the occurrence of numerous oceanic core complexes (OCCs) and rugged terrain, exposing abundant peridotites and gabbros. Based on the geologic interpretations of crust with analogous features on global mid-ocean ridges, we propose three possible mechanisms that can account for these unusual characteristics: (1) presence of a cold and/or refractory mantle domain, (2) declining spreading rate during the later phase of the second-stage spreading of the PVB, and (3) a transform sandwich effect. Recent numerical modeling for formation of OCC suggests that there is a minimum as well as a maximum magmatic supply necessary to produce long-lived detachment fault. In the western PVB, a cold and/or refractory mantle domain inhibited a large amount of mantle melting within an intermediate-spreading ridge, attaining the limited window of the condition of magma supply demonstrated in the numerical model in an otherwise robust magmatic environment. In the central PVB, a transform sandwich effect and/or declining spreading rate inhibited a large amount of mantle melting within an intermediate-spreading ridge, also attaining the limited window of the condition of magma supply demonstrated in the numerical model in an otherwise robust magmatic environment.

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Acknowledgments

Most of the geophysical data (including bathymetry) for the Parece Vela Basin were obtained through Japan’s legal continental shelf survey. We thank our colleagues in Continental Shelf Survey Office of the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of Japan for compiling these data. Most of the bottom rock samplings in the Parece Vela Basin were conducted through academic research expeditions with R/Vs Kairei, Yokosuka and Hakuho. The bathymetric data used for Fig. 3 are from the Marine Geoscience Data System (http://www.marine-geo.org/). We thank Osamu Ishizuka, Kenichiro Tani, Katsutyoshi Michibayahsi, Yumiko Harigane and Teruaki Ishii for discussion. We thank Eric Hellebrand for providing the unpublished Ascension peridotite data. We thank the helpful reviews by Hidenori Kumagai and Yildirim Dilek. We also thank Yujiro Ogawa, Yildirim Dilek, and Ryo Amma for the editorial efforts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of Japan, Tokyo, 104-0045, Japan

    Yasuhiko Ohara

  2. Institute for Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, 237-0061, Japan

    Yasuhiko Ohara

  3. Division of Ocean-Earth System Science, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba, 277-8564, Japan

    Kyoko Okino

  4. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204, USA

    Jonathan E. Snow

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  1. Yasuhiko Ohara
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  2. Kyoko Okino
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Correspondence to Yasuhiko Ohara .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Obari, Century Tsukuba-Miraidaira C-740, Yokodai 1-127-2, Tsukubamirai-shi, 300-2358, Japan

    Yujiro Ogawa

  2. Graduate School of Life &, Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ten-nodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Ryo Anma

  3. Dept. Geology, Miami University, Shideler Hall 114, Oxford, 45056, Ohio, USA

    Yildirim Dilek

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Ohara, Y., Okino, K., Snow, J.E. (2011). Tectonics of Unusual Crustal Accretion in the Parece Vela Basin. In: Ogawa, Y., Anma, R., Dilek, Y. (eds) Accretionary Prisms and Convergent Margin Tectonics in the Northwest Pacific Basin. Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8885-7_7

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