Kinematic variables and water transport control the formation and location of arc volcanoes

T. L. Grove (), C. B. Till, E. Lev, N. Chatterjee and E. Médard
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T. L. Grove: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
C. B. Till: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
E. Lev: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
N. Chatterjee: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
E. Médard: Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 459, issue 7247, 694-697

Abstract: Arc volcano location A consensus has developed that the mantle wedge overlying subducting slabs, as well as fluids or melts from the subducting slab itself, are involved in the production of arc magmas at convergent plate margins. The role of kinematic variables, such as slab dip and convergence rate, however, remains an open question. Grove et al. propose a model whereby the location of arc volcanoes is controlled by a combination of conditions: melting in the wedge induced by the overlap of regions in the wedge that are hotter than the melting curve (solidus) of vapour-saturated peridotite and regions where hydrous minerals both in the wedge and subducting slab break down. These two limits for melt generation, when combined with the kinematic parameters of slab dip and convergence rate, provide independent constraints on the thermal structure of the wedge and accurately predict the location of mantle wedge melting and the position of arc volcanoes.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08044

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