REVEL: A model for Recent plate velocities from space geodesy

Sella, G.; Dixon, Timothy H.; Mao, Ailin

doi:10.1029/2000jb000033

Cited by 988 publications

(1,075 citation statements)

References 159 publications

(221 reference statements)

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“…Iceland is subject to regional forces that pull apart the western Atlantic plate from the eastern Atlantic plate (Oskarsson et al, 1985;Sigmundsson, 2006). The observed velocity of spreading across the northern rift zone is 18.1 ± 1.2 mm/yr in direction N109.3 • ± 4.2 • consistent with plate models (Sella et al, 2002;Geirsson et al, 2006). The elastic strain accumulates in the crust until it is released by coseismic faulting and/or by dyke intrusion.…”

Section: Role Of Magma Intrusionsmentioning

confidence: 51%

Interaction between Transform Faults and Rift Systems: A Combined Field and Experimental Approach

2016

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We present a detailed field structural survey of the area of interaction between the active NW-striking transform Husavik-Flatey Fault (HFF) and the N-S Theystareykir Fissure Swarm (TFS), in North Iceland, integrated by analog scaled models. Field data contribute to a better understanding of how transform faults work, at a much higher detail than classical marine geophysical studies. Analog experiments are conducted to analyse the fracture patterns resulting from different possible cases where transform faulting accompanies or postpones the rift motions. Different tectonic block configurations are also considered and results are compared with field data in order to study as thoroughly as possible the interaction between the HFF and the TFS as well as the possible prolongation of the HFF into the TFS. West of the intersection between the transform fault (HFF) and the rift zone (TFS), the former splays with a gradual bending giving rise to a leading extensional imbricate fan. The westernmost structure of the rift, the N-S Gudfinnugja Fault (GF), is divided into two segments: the southern segment makes a junction with the HFF and is part of the imbricate fan; north of the junction instead, the northern GF appears right-laterally offset by about 20 m. Southeast of the junction, along the possible prolongation of the HFF across the TFS, the strike of the rift faults rotates in an anticlockwise direction, attaining a NNW-SSE orientation. Moreover, the TFS faults north of the HFF prolongation are fewer and have smaller offsets than those located to the south. Through the comparison between the structural data collected in the field at the HFF-TFS connection zone and a set of scaled experiments, we confirm a prolongation of the HFF through the rift, although here the transform fault has a much lower slip-rate than west of the junction. Our data suggest that transform fault terminations may be more complex than previously known, and propagate across a rift through a modification of the rift pattern.

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Section: Role Of Magma Intrusionsmentioning

confidence: 51%

Interaction between Transform Faults and Rift Systems: A Combined Field and Experimental Approach

2016

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“…We chose so, because of the absolute northwest motion of the Pacific plate, i.e., relative to the mantle, the Mariana Trench is advancing; not retreating (the cause for back arc opening in the Mariana Trough is the even faster northwest motion of the Philippine plate [Sella et al, 2002]). …”

Section: Plate Coupling and Slab Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bathymetry of Mariana trench‐arc system and formation of the Challenger Deep as a consequence of weak plate coupling

Gvirtzman

Stern

2004

Tectonics

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The Challenger Deep in the southernmost Mariana Trench (western Pacific Ocean) is the deepest point on the Earth's surface (10,920 m below sea level). Its location within a subduction trench, where one plate bends and descends below another, is not surprising. However, why is it located in the southernmost Mariana Trench and not at its central part, where the rate of subduction is higher, where the lithosphere is the oldest (and densest) on the Earth, and where the subducted lithosphere pulling down is the longest in the Earth (∼1000 km or more according to seismic tomography)? We suggest that although subduction rate and slab age generally control trench depth, the width of the plate‐coupling zone is more important. Beneath the central Marianas the subducted slab is attached to the upper plate along a 150‐km‐wide surface that holds the shallow portion of the subducted plate nearly horizontal, in spite of its great load and, thus, counters trench deepening. In contrast, along the south Mariana Trench the subducted length of the lithosphere is much shorter, but its attachment to the upper plate is only along a relatively narrow, 50‐km‐wide, surface. In addition, a tear in the slab beneath this region helps it to sink rapidly through the mantle, and this combination of circumstances allows the slab to steepen and form the deepest trench on the Earth. In a wider perspective, the interrelations shown here between trench deepening, ridge shallowing, slab steepening, and forearc narrowing may shed light on other subduction zones located near edges of rapidly steepening slabs.

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“…The Philippine Sea (PHS) plate is subducting along the Ryukyu Trench at a rate of around 98 mm/year northwestward (Sella et al 2002). Since the strike of the trench axis varies at around 126°E, the plate subduction is perpendicular to the axis in the north and oblique in the south.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variations in seismic velocity distribution along the Ryukyu (Nansei-Shoto) Trench subduction zone at the northwestern end of the Philippine Sea plate

Nishizawa

Kaneda

Oikawa

et al. 2017

Earth Planets Space

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The Ryukyu (Nansei-Shoto) island arc-trench system, southwest of Japan, is formed by the subduction of the Philippine Sea (PHS) plate. Among the subduction zones surrounding the Japan Islands, the Ryukyu arc-trench system is unique in that its backarc basin, the Okinawa Trough, is the area with current extensively active rifting. The length of the trench is around 1400 km, and the geological and geophysical characteristics vary significantly along the trench axis. We conducted multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection and wide-angle seismic surveys to elucidate the along-arc variation in seismic structures from the island arc to the trench regions, shooting seven seismic lines across the arctrench system and two along-arc lines in the island arc and the forearc areas. The obtained P-wave velocity models of the Ryukyu arc crust were found to be heterogeneous (depending on the seismic lines), but they basically consist of upper, middle, and lower crusts, indicating a typical island arc structure. Beneath the bathymetric depressions cutting the island arc-for example, the Kerama Gap and the Miyako Saddle-the MCS record shows many across-arc normal faults, which indicates the presence of an extensional regime along the island arc. In the areas from the forearc to the trench, the subduction of the characteristic seafloor features on the PHS plate affects seismic structures; the subducted bathymetric high of the Amami Plateau is detected in the northern trench: the Luzon-Okinawa fracture zone beneath the middle and southern trenches. There are low-velocity (<~4.5 km/s) wedges along the forearc areas, except for off Miyako-jima Island. The characteristic high gravity anomaly at the forearc off Miyako-jima Island is caused not by a bathymetric high of a large-scale accretionary wedge but by shallower materials with a high P-wave velocity of ~4.5 km/s.

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REVEL: A model for Recent plate velocities from space geodesy

Cited by 988 publications

References 159 publications

Interaction between Transform Faults and Rift Systems: A Combined Field and Experimental Approach

Interaction between Transform Faults and Rift Systems: A Combined Field and Experimental Approach

Bathymetry of Mariana trench‐arc system and formation of the Challenger Deep as a consequence of weak plate coupling

Variations in seismic velocity distribution along the Ryukyu (Nansei-Shoto) Trench subduction zone at the northwestern end of the Philippine Sea plate

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