Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
A variety of atypical plume-like structures and focused upwellings that are not rooted in the lower mantle have recently been discussed, and seismological imaging has shown ubiquitous small-scale convection in the uppermost mantle in regions such as the Mediterranean region, the western US, and around the western Pacific. We argue that the three-dimensional return flow and slab fragmentation associated with complex oceanic subduction trajectories within the upper mantle can generate focused upwellings and that these may play a significant role in regional tectonics. The testable surface expressions of this process are the outside-arc alkaline volcanism, topographic swell, and low-velocity seismic anomalies associated with partial melt. Using three-dimensional, simplified numerical subduction models, we show that focused upwellings can be generated both ahead of the slab in the back-arc region (though -five times further inward from the trench than arc-volcanism) and around the lateral edges of the slab (in the order of 100 km away from slab edges). Vertical mass transport, and by inference the associated decompression melting, in these regions appears strongly correlated with the interplay between relative trench motion and subduction velocities. The upward flux of material from the depths is expected to be most pronounced during the first phase of slab descent into the upper mantle or during slab fragmentation. We discuss representative case histories from the Pacific and the Mediterranean where we find possible evidence for such slab-related volcanism.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00553075
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00553075
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.08.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
The majority of the largest subduction megathrust earthquakes share the common characteristic of rupturing more than one asperity along strike of the margin. Understanding the factors that control coseismic failure of multiple asperities, and thus maximum magnitude, is central for seismic hazard assessment. To investigate the role of asperities size and spacing on maximum magnitude, seismicity rate, and percentage of synchronized ruptures, we use analog models simulating along-strike rupture behavior of megathrust earthquakes. We found negative correlations between the barrier-to-asperity length ratio Db/Da and maximum magnitude and seismicity rate. Db/Da also controls the process of asperities synchronization along the megathrust. A permanent barrier behavior is observed for Db/Da > 0.5. Comparing our experimental results to the Nankai Trough historical seismicity, we propose that the distribution of megathrust frictional heterogeneities likely explains the diversity of earthquakes which occurred there.
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-01685546
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01685546
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01685546/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01685546/file/Corbi_et_al-2017-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2017GL074182

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Recent global kinematic studies reveal that most of the trenches roll back but a significant number of them advance toward the upper plate. Those advancing trenches are mostly located in the Western Pacific and correspond to the subduction of very old, Mesozoic oceanic lithosphere. While retreating trenches are commonly explained by the slab pull action of the descending lithosphere, the origin of advancing trenches is still debated. Since this relationship is dependent upon the adopted reference frame, we select region where geological studies show the variability of trench migration style with time. The Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) region represents a key example. The detailed reconstruction of the trench migration of the IBM subducting system reveals that after a long episode of asymmetric rollback, the IBM trench recently started advancing. We propose that this change from retreating to advancing trench mode results from the subduction of progressively older and stiffer lithospheric material. We test this hypothesis by means of two-dimensional (2-D) numerical models, reproducing the effects of the lithospheric aging during subduction. The result of our numerical tests shows that the entrance of old and stiff lithosphere forces the trench to advance because the increasing stiffness of the slab prevents the slab to unbend once it has subducted. We adapt this physical result to the IBM evolution, showing that the switch from trench retreat to trench advance can reconcile the shape of IBM slab as previously suggested. Finally we discuss the possibility that the subduction of the Cretaceous lithosphere might have triggered the change of the motion of the Pacific plate around 5 Ma.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00455988
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00455988
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2009.09.042

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
Based on global earthquake catalogs, the hypocenters, nodal planes, and seismic moments of worldwide subduction plate interface earthquakes were extracted for the period between 1900 and 2007. Assuming that the seismogenic zone coincides with the distribution of 5.5 <= M < 7 earthquakes, the subduction interface seismogenic zones were mapped for 80% of the trench systems and characterized with geometrical and mechanical parameters. Using this database, correlations were isolated between significant parameters to identify cause-effect relationships. Empirical laws obtained in previous studies were revisited in light of this more complete, accurate, and uniform description of the subduction interface seismogenic zone. The seismogenic zone was usually found to end in a fore-arc mantle, rather than at a Moho depth. The subduction velocity was the first-order controlling parameter for variations in the physical characteristics of plate interfaces, determining both the geometry and mechanical behavior. As such, the fast subduction zones and cold slabs were associated with large and steep plate interfaces, which, in turn, had large seismic rates. The subduction velocity could not account for the potential earthquake magnitude diversity that was observed along the trenches. Events with M-w >= 8.5 preferentially occurred in the vicinity of slab edges, where the upper plate was continental and the back-arc strain was neutral. This observation was interpreted in terms of compressive normal stresses along the plate interface. Large lateral ruptures should be promoted in neutral subduction zones due to moderate compressive stresses along the plate interface that allow the rupture to propagate laterally.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00617681
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617681
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617681/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617681/file/heuretG32011.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2010GC003230