Overriding-plate deformation during micro-continent accretion

Both divergent and convergent plate boundaries had been studied extensively throughout the last five decades. Among a host of other aspects came the realization, that given the right circumstances, a broad extensional basin can form behind a convergent plate boundary. The exact mechanisms triggering back-arc extension and why they are episodic, lasting only for tens of millions of years is still debated. The absolute and relative velocities of the plates, the age of the subducting oceanic plate and the inherited rheological properties of the back-arc lithosphere are all thought to be key players, shaping the dynamics of the fore-arc - back-arc systems.

Here we use 2D mantle scale plane-strain thermo-mechanical model experiments to investigate how the accretion of small continental crustal terrains onto the overriding plate affect the dynamics of the subducting slab and the deformation of the overriding plate.

Our results suggest that slab-retreat and back-arc extension can be achieved through the combination of slow convergence and micro-continent accretion. Back-arc extension during fast convergence is also possible through the subsequent accretion of more than one micro-continental terrain. Moreover, even the accretion of one such terrain can produce short (1-5 My) episodes of extension-contraction-quiescence in the overriding plate. These episodes are connected to slab break-off events, slab-interaction with upper mantle phase-change boundaries and variations in slab-pull due varying slab thickness.

Our model experiments also result in complex structures in the overriding plate where discrete outcrops from a single oceanic basin are preserved on the surface hundreds of kilometres apart. This indicates that in nature a simple accretion scenario could produce a surface geological record that is difficult to decipher. Our results compare favourably to observations from the Aegean back-arc basin.