Geophysical Research Letters
Supporting Information for
Slab horizontal subduction and slab tearing beneath East
Asia
Pengfei Ma1, Shaofeng Liu1*, Michael Gurnis2, Bo Zhang1
1State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral
Resources and School of Geosciences and Resources, China University
of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China.
2Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Corresponding author: Shaofeng Liu ([email protected])
Contents of this file
Tables S1 to S5
Figures S1 to S8
Introduction
This Supporting Information contains background information of
our geodynamic models and modelling parameters, cases, and
results.
Incompressible global mantle convection was simulated by solving
partial differential equations for the conservation of mass,
momentum, and energy in a shell domain (Zhong et al., 2008). The
spherical shell was divided into approximately 12.6x106 elements
with radial mesh refinement so that the average vertical resolution
in the upper mantle reached approximately 24 km.
The Rayleigh number, which determines the vigour of mantle
convection, was defined as
equation (1)where is the coefficient of thermal expansion, is
the density, is the acceleration due to gravity, is the temperature
range between the Earth’s surface and the core-mantle boundary, is
the thickness of the mantle, is the thermal diffusivity, and is the
viscosity. The subscript “0” denotes the reference values. The
viscosity of the mantle depends on the depth and temperature and is
defined as
equation (2)
where is the depth-dependent pre-factor that is defined with
respect to the reference viscosity , is the dimensional activation
energy ( for the upper mantle and for the lower mantle), R is the
universal gas constant, T is the mantle temperature, is the
temperature offset, and is the ambient mantle temperature outside
the thermal lithosphere, slabs and basal thermal boundary
layer.
To investigate the effect of the phase transition across 660 km
on the slab behaviour in the mantle transition zone, the Clapeyron
slope of the phase change was considered as a parameter (Table S2).
The phase function is
equation (3)
where r is the depth; and are the ambient depth and phase-change
temperature, respectively; and is the width of the phase
transition. All the physical constants are listed in Table S3.
The initial temperature field is reconstruction-based, including
the thermal boundary layer and thermal structure of slabs. The
thermal structure of the surface boundary layer was created
according to the half-space cooling model, where the distribution
of the temperature field depends on the depth and the age of the
lithosphere. For the oceanic basins, the ages are adopted from the
reconstructed seafloor agegrid at the start age. In the continent,
the lithosphere is considered as three types of columns based on
the tectonothermal age of the continents (Artemieva,2006), i.e.
Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic; the corresponding ages
within the three types are uniformly set 368 Ma, 235 Ma, and 151
Ma, respectively. The slab morphology was determined by the age of
initial subduction at the start of the assimilation (either 200 or
55 Ma), assuming they dip 45° in the upper mantle and then sink
vertically in the lower mantle. The sinking rates in upper and
lower mantle for all the slabs were uniformly assumed as constant
(3 cm/yr and 1.2 cm/yr, respectively).
We created a series of slabs that were assimilated into the flow
models with the reconstructed tectonic history (Table S2). Case 1-1
was set as the reference case. Our new reconstruction was used for
Cases 1-1 to 1-6. The boundary conditions outside our region of
focus and before 55 Ma were extracted from Zahirovic et al.’s
(2016) dataset. The slab morphology above 350-km depth was set
based on the reconstructed paleogeography and the present
observations from the Wadati-Benioff seismicity. The subduction
history along the East Asia margin was specifically set. We assumed
a short flat-slab subduction stage of Pacific subduction after the
subduction of the Izanagi-Pacific ridge. The dip angle later
increased to 45º at 26 Ma and then gradually decreased to 26º from
23 Ma to 13 Ma linearly during the Philippine Sea plate’s approach.
We assumed that the Pacific slab fully detached from the Ryukyu
Trench-Nankai Trough at 6 Ma, before the Philippine Sea slab
steepened.
For Case 2-1, all the boundary conditions were extracted from
the original reconstruction dataset. For Case 1-2, the boundary
conditions were the same as those in Case 1-1, but the initial
simulation age was set to 55 Ma (Table S2). Therefore, the Mesozoic
Izanagi subduction was not considered in this case. In addition,
variations in viscosity layering and the Clapeyron slope were
varied among the models for Case 1-3 to Case 1-6, which had the
same boundary conditions as Case 1-1 (Table S2).
As many as 3108 particles (tracers) were advected in the shell.
Such tracers were used to represent the higher viscosities and
differing buoyancies of continental lithosphere and crustal
components and in turn suppressed instabilities at the base of the
lithosphere. The evolution of slabs were followed by passive
tracers. Every 5 to 10 Myr, the leading edge of the slabs at 400 to
450 km depth were marked to trace material entering the transition
zone.
To evaluate the match between the Case 1-1 and tomographic
models, we computed the area of intersecting polygons between
predicted present-day thermal field (10% colder than ambient) and
tomographic images (0.02% larger than average) below 350km depth in
vertical profiles, following Seton et al. (2015). Case 1-1 achieves
an intersection as high as 90 % with GAP-P4 model (Table S4) and
70% for the MIT-P08 model.
Table S1. Geological and geophysical constraints for the
plate-tectonic history.
Geological event
Age
Methods and evidence
Widespread rifting in East Asia
Cretaceous
Subsidence in rifting basins
Opening of the proto South China Sea
~65 Ma
Onset of tectonic subsidence along
South China margin
Izanagi-Pacific ridge subduction
beneath East Asia
60 Ma~50 Ma
Plate reconstruction,
geodynamic modelling, and paleo-geothermal analysis
Izu-Bonin subduction initiation
52 Ma
Radiometric dating and
geochemical analysis
Hotspot activity near the central
basin spreading centre
50 Ma~35 Ma
Radiometric dating and
geochemical analysis
Cessation of seafloor spreading
at the Amami-Sankaku basin
49 Ma
Radiometric and paleontological
dating
Oblique consumption of
marginal oceanic basins around
the modern Philippines archipelago
50 Ma~
Geochemical analysis, zonation
and radiometric dating of ophiolites,
correlation of lithologies, chemical compositions, and age
Onset of seafloor spreading at the SCS basin
32 Ma
Magnetic lineation identification
Huagang Movement in the East China
Sea shelf basin
Mid-Oligocene~
Early Miocene
Interpretation of seismic reflection
data and well logs
Onset of seafloor spreading in the
Shikoku and Parece-Vela
Basins
28 Ma
Incorporated analysis of magnetic, gravity, and bathymetric
data
Subduction inception at the Manila
Trench
22 Ma
Radiometric and paleontological dating
Collision of the Philippine Sea plate
with western Shikoku Island
~20 Ma
Structural analysis and paleo-geothermal evaluation
Clockwise rotation of the SW Japan
Arc
17 Ma~15 Ma
Radiometric dating and geomagnetic assessment
Subduction of Shikoku basin
crust beneath SW Japan
17 Ma~12 Ma
Radiometric dating of magmatism
Cessation of seafloor spreading
at the SCS basin
16 Ma
Identification of magnetic lineation
Cessation of seafloor spreading in the Shikoku and Parece-
Vela basins
15 Ma
Analysis of gravity, bathymetric,
and magnetic anomalies
Cessation of extension in the Japan Sea basin
15~12 Ma
Decrease in subsidence rate
First phase of rifting at the north-central
Okinawa Trough
Middle Miocene
Analysis of seismic
data
First collision of the Izu-Bonin arc
at the Izu peninsula
15~12 Ma
Palaeontology analysis of trough sediments
First collision of the Luzon arc at Ryukyu
Late Miocene
Plate reconstruction and
ages of microfossils and volcanism
Calming of Philippine Sea subduction
10 Ma~6 Ma
Absence of subduction-related magmatism
Initial opening of the Mariana Trough
8 Ma~6 Ma
Longjing movement within the East
China Sea shelf basin
Late Miocene
Analysis of seismic data
and well logs
Resumption of the subduction of the Philippine Sea plate beneath
East Asia
6 Ma
Radiometric dating of magmatism
Subduction initiation at the Philippine Trench
8 Ma~9 Ma
Radiometric dating of magmatism
Second and third phases of rifting at the Okinawa Trough
Late Pliocene~present
Analysis of seismic reflection data
Opening of the southern Okinawa Trough
Early Pleistocene~present
Interpretation of seismic reflection data
Taiwan Orogeny
3 Ma~present
Table S2. Case-specific parameters
Case
Viscosity pre-factor ()1
Reconstruction2
Clapeyron slope ()
Start age (A)
Case 1-1
1, 0.2, 1, 50
N
-1.5 MPa∙K-1
200 Ma
Case 1-2
1, 0.2, 1, 50
N
-1.5 MPa∙K-1
55 Ma
Case 1-3
1, 0.2, 1, 100
N
-1.5 MPa∙K-1
200 Ma
Case 1-4
1, 0.2, 1, 50
N
-3 MPa∙K-1
200 Ma
Case 1-5
1, 0.2, 1, 30
N
-1.5 MPa∙K-1
200 Ma
Case 1-6
1, 1, 1, 50
N
-1.5 MPa∙K-1
200 Ma
Case 2-1
1, 0.2, 1, 50
Z
-1.5 MPa∙K-1
200 Ma
1 Values of the pre-factor in equation (2) for the mantle above
150 km, between 150 km and 410 km, between 410 km and 660 km, and
below 660 km.
2 N indicates the cases based on the new reconstruction, and Z
indicates the case based on Zahirovic et al. (2016).
Table S3. Constant parameter settings in the geodynamic
modelling; the subscript “0” denotes a reference value
Parameter
Symbol
Value
Unit
Thermal expansion coefficient
Density
Temperature change
2825
Universal gas constant
R
8.314
Activation energy (upper mantle)
Activation energy (lower mantle)
Viscosity
Thermal diffusivity
Gravity acceleration
Background mantle temperature
Activation temperature
452
Earth’s radius
Mantle thickness
Rayleigh number
Ambient depth of phase change
660
Temperature of phase change
1667
Width of phase change
40
Table S4. Intersection (in %) between predicted present-day
temperature of Case 1-1 and seismic tomography models MIT-P08 and
GAP-P4 in profiles (a-d).
Profile
GAP-P4
MIT-P08
a
85
76
b
92
74
c
90
77
d
89
71
Table S5. The paleo pole position for Philippine Sea plate (PSP)
in relation with the Eurasia plate (EUR) utilized in this
reconstruction.
Plate ID
Time (Ma)
Lat
Lon
Angle
Relative plate
609 (PSP)
0
0
0
0
301 (EUR)
609 (PSP)
6
-48.1484
-21.9982
-6.5912
301 (EUR)
609 (PSP)
10
-39.9029
-29.5407
-10.2632
301 (EUR)
609 (PSP)
15
-26.0539
-31.9011
-21.2257
301 (EUR)
609 (PSP)
35
-30.1713
-8.3237
-28.5938
301 (EUR)
609 (PSP)
40
-26.4227
-9.1886
-33.8613
301 (EUR)
609 (PSP)
45
-22.1511
-14.5166
-42.5005
301 (EUR)
609 (PSP)
50
-16.6388
-20.6924
-60.2846
301 (EUR)
Figure S1. Paleolatitude (a-e) and rotation (f) predictions
since 50 Ma by the reconstruction models at scattered sampling
sites around the Philippine Sea plate. The black boxes with error
bars in subfigures (a-e) represent the paleomagnetic data, and the
white boxes represent alternative paleolatitudes for paleomagnetic
data near the equator. The coloured curves are predictions by
different reconstruction models. The green curve corresponds to
Seton et al. (2012), the yellow curve represents the results of
model 1a in Wu et al. (2016), the purple curve represents model 2
from Wu et al. (2016), the blue curve represents Zahirovic et al.
(2016), and the red lines are the predictions by our model. In
subfigure f, the colouring rule is the same as that for subfigures
(a-e). Additionally, the dashed line in subfigure f is the
reference line, which indicates no rotation. CW and CCW mean
clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation, respectively. The
locations of the sampling sites are plotted as red dots in Fig. 1,
although the sources of the paleomagnetic data may have been
scattered around the sites.
Figure S2. Trench migration history since 50 Ma for the
reconstruction in the absolute reference system. The trench
locations are coloured according to their corresponding age
measured from 55 Ma. The values along the black arrows denote the
trench-retreat distance during the corresponding time. The thin
black line delineates the present-day coastline. RT-Ryukyu Trench;
JS-Japan Subduction Zone; IBS-Izu Bonin Subduction Zone.
Figure S3. a) Average viscosity-depth relationship of Case 1-1
(red line), Case 1-3 (orange line), Case 1-5 (green line) and Case
1-6 (light-blue dashed line). b) and c) Predicted temperature field
and corresponding viscosity field, respectively, for Case 1-1 in a
vertical profile across Northeast Asia for comparison.
Figure S4. Comparison between the present mantle structure above
900 km as predicted by Cases 1-1 (red lines) and 1-6 (black lines)
and the regional high-resolution tomography model FWEA18 (Tao et
al., 2018) along profiles a to d. “dvp” and “dvs” denote S- and
P-wave velocity anomalies, respectively.
Figure S5. Temporal evolution of subducted slabs along profiles
c and e in Case 1-2. The segmented slabs associated with the
migrating-trench model are compared to seismic-tomography images in
both vertical and horizontal slices for mutual identification. The
figure arrangements and all the symbols are the same as those in
Figure 4.
Figure S6. Temporal evolution of subducted slabs along profiles
c and e in Case 1-2. The segmented slabs that are associated with
the migrating-trench model are compared to seismic-tomography
images in both vertical and horizontal slices for mutual
identification. The figure arrangements and all the symbols are the
same as those in Figure 4.
Figure S7. Slab structure as predicted by Case 1-3 (red lines),
Case 1-4 (purple lines), Case 1-5 (yellow lines) and Case 1-6
(black lines) along profiles a to d, with seismic images from
MITP-08 and GAP-P4 as background. The figure arrangements and all
the symbols are the same as those in Figure 3.
Figure S8. Predicted stagnant age of the subducted Pacific slab
within the transition zone beneath East Asia in map view. The belts
consist of projections of the flavoured particles that represent
subducted slab materials and are coloured according to their
stagnation age in the mantle transition zone.
13
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