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Tag: Ryukyu

Subduction zone initiation reconstructions

Subduction zone initiation (SZI) reconstructions for selected events since around 100 Ma. The reconstructed events are based on the whole Earth Sciences community point-of-view of the SZI database.

Subduction zone initiation (SZI) reconstructions for selected events since around 100 Ma. The reconstructed events are based on the whole Earth Sciences community point-of-view of the SZI database (www.SZIdatabase.org). Represented are SZI events of the Pacific subduction realm (Ryukyu at around 6 Ma, Philippine at around 9 Ma, New Hebrides-New Britain at around 10 Ma, Halmahera at around 16 Ma, Tonga-Kermadec at around 48 Ma, and Izu-Bonin-Mariana at around 52 Ma) and remaining SZI events (South-Sandwich at around 40 Ma, Cascadia at around 48 Ma, Lesser Antilles at around 49 Ma, Sunda-Java at around 50 Ma, Aleutian at around 53 Ma, and the two SZI events, Anatolia and Oman, at around 104 Ma). Shown are the new subduction zones (pink lines), other active (solid purple lines) and inactive (dashed purple lines) subduction zones, spreading ridges (solid red lines) and transform faults (red dashed lines).

  • Creator: Valentina Magni
  • This version: 15.11.2022
  • License: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
  • Specific citation: This graphic by Valentina Magni from Crameri et al. (2020) is available via the open-access s-Ink repository.
  • Related reference: Crameri, F., V. Magni, M. Domeier, G.E. Shephard, K. Chotalia, G. Cooper, C. Eakin, A.G. Grima, D. Gürer, A. Király, E. Mulyukova, K. Peters, B. Robert, and M. Thielmann (2020), A transdisciplinary and community-driven database to unravel subduction zone initiation, Nature Communications, 11, 3750. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17522-9
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Ryukyu subduction zone initiation

The Ryukyu SZI event reinitiated subduction of the Philippine Sea plate below the Eurasian plate through episodic subduction at around 6 Ma.

Schematic tectonic reconstruction of the Ryukyu SZI event (modified from Faccenna et al., 2018). A slab break-off event caused a pause in arc activity. Subduction of the Philippine Sea plate started again along the same margin, initiating the new Ryukyu subduction zone. Shown are the new subduction zone (pink line), other active (solid purple lines) and inactive (dashed purple lines) subduction zones, and spreading ridges (solid red lines).

The Ryukyu SZI event reinitiated subduction of the Philippine Sea plate below the Eurasian plate, and is presently characterised by a northwest-dipping slab along the western boundary of the Philippine Sea plate. For Ryukyu, there seem to be two SZI events to consider, an older more enigmatic event and a subsequent, younger one. The first, older SZI event is unclear, as reconstruction models currently disagree (e.g., Faccenna et al., 2018 versus Müller et al. 2016) and geologic evidence is largely missing. The second, younger SZI event, which is considered and named here Ryukyu SZI event, might be classified as an episodic SZI event that occurred at around 6 Ma. The two separated phases of ongoing subduction are interrupted by a slab break-off event (Lallemand et al. 2001; Malavieille et al. 2002), due to the arrival of the Gagua Ridge at the subduction trench (Deschamps and Lallemand, 2002).

For more details on the geologic record, corresponding plate reconstruction, and seismic tomography, see the SZI Database.

  • Creators: Fabio Crameri, Valentina Magni, Matthew Domeier, Ágnes Király, Grace Shephard
  • This version: 17.06.2025
  • License: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
  • Specific citation: These graphics from Crameri et al. (2020) are available via the open-access s-ink.org repository.
  • Related reference: Crameri, F., V. Magni, M. Domeier, G.E. Shephard, K. Chotalia, G. Cooper, C. Eakin, A.G. Grima, D. Gürer, A. Király, E. Mulyukova, K. Peters, B. Robert, and M. Thielmann (2020), A transdisciplinary and community-driven database to unravel subduction zone initiation, Nature Communications, 11, 3750. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17522-9
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