GEODYNAMIC CONTROLS ON MAGMATIC ARC MIGRATION AND QUIESCENCE

GIANNI, GUIDO; PEREZ LUJAN SOFIA

EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2021 vol. 218

0012-8252

Reconfiguration of magmatic arcs through time has been recognized since pioneering works, describing inland and oceanward arc migrations or magmatic shut-off lasting for several millions of years. These arc modifications present variable magnitudes and rates of arc migration and magmatic broadening, and different arc quiescence time spans. The time-space behavior of magmatic arcs has been attributed to a diversity of geodynamic processes acting at convergent margins largely associated with modifications in the upper-plate or changes in plate kinematics. Identifying a geodynamic process responsible for a particular spatio-temporal arc evolution is not straightforward and is further complicated in cases where more than one process acted in concert. To assess these issues, it is essential to have a deep understanding of how each process influences the space-time arc behavior and modify the overall geological context. To date, a joint comparison highlighting similarities and differences in how these phenomena impact arc dynamics and the associated geological framework is still missing from the literature. In this study, we provide a state-of-the-art synthesis of processes controlling arc migration and quiescence. Then, we extract diagnostic elements from the literature to build a synthetic table to aid in the task of discerning a dominant geodynamic process from the geological record. In this task, we considered the first-order characteristics of the space-time arc evolution associated with each of the geodynamic processes and diagnostic features of the associated geological context. Finally, this synthesis stresses that the combination of both perspectives, understanding the space-time arc pattern and the associated geological framework, provides the best approach to unravel a dominant process controlling the space-time arc evolution.