EGU24-6290, updated on 08 Mar 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-6290
EGU General Assembly 2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Can we identify evidence of subduction initiation beneath the Macquarie Ridge Complex from teleseismic tomography?

Jifei Han1, Nick Rawlinson1, Hrvoje Tkalčić2, Caroline Eakin2, Mike Coffin3, and Joann Stock4
Jifei Han et al.
  • 1University of Cambridge, University of Cambridge, Earth Science, United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales (jh2272@cam.ac.uk)
  • 2Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  • 3Institute for Marine and Antarctic studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
  • 4Seismological Laboratory, California institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA

Subduction is a key process in both the recycling and creation of new oceanic crust, the exchange of water between the Earth, oceans and atmosphere, and the distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes. However, the formation of new subduction zones - or subduction initiation - remains a poorly understood process. Macquarie Island, which lies along the Macquarie Ridge Complex (MRC) that forms the transpressional boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates in the southwest Pacific, is one location on Earth where subduction initiation is thought to be taking place. Several studies have suggested that the northern and southern segments of the MRC may be experiencing incipient subduction, but it is unclear what is happening in the central section, which includes Macquarie Island.


Indirect evidence for at least incipient subduction beneath Macquarie Island includes (i) ophiolite (oceanic crust) being exposed above sea level; (2) extreme topography, with Macquarie Island lying  ~5 km above the surrounding ocean basin; (3) thrust faults on either side of the island. To help investigate whether subduction may have been initiated in the neighborhood of Macquarie Island, we analyze teleseismic body wave data recorded by a network consisting of land stations and oceanic bottom seismometers deployed between October 2021 and November 2022. We extract teleseismic P-wave arrival time residuals across the combined array from ~20 events with epicentral distances between 30 and 90 degrees and invert them using FMTOMO to obtain 3-D P-wave velocity anomalies in the upper mantle. Preliminary results indicate that higher velocities are present to the east of the MRC in the vicinity of Macquarie Island, although further refinement is required before a detailed interpretation is possible.

How to cite: Han, J., Rawlinson, N., Tkalčić, H., Eakin, C., Coffin, M., and Stock, J.: Can we identify evidence of subduction initiation beneath the Macquarie Ridge Complex from teleseismic tomography?, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-6290, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-6290, 2024.