Juxtaposed slab dehydration, decarbonation and seismotectonic variation beneath the Philippine subduction zone based on 3-D modeling

Abstract

Abstract Largescale volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are occurring frequently in the Philippines, and research has shown that slab metamorphism and diversity alter the impacts of subducted oceanic plates by changing water‒carbon productivity and interplate stability. Within the framework of the thermal evolution history of subducting slabs, the relationships between subduction zone seismicity characterized by both regular megathrust earthquakes and slow slip events of various magnitudes and long-term slab dehydration–decarbonation evolution in the Philippines remain poorly understood. Here, we constructed a comprehensive thermal model incorporating 3-D slab geometric data for the incoming plate and a 3-D subduction velocity field based on the MORVEL plate motion dataset for the Philippine subduction zone with high spatial and temporal resolutions. Our findings reveal that subduction seismicity and arc volcanism are prominent in belt-shaped regions with high thermal gradients (> 5 °C/km) and large-scale slab dehydration (> 0.05 wt%/km). Dehydration of serpentinite in ultramafic rocks in the subducting slab and decarbonation of carbonate minerals preferentially contribute to the generation and transport of fluids and carbonate melts, thus facilitating seismicity and carbon-rich magmatism. Our results suggest that slab geometry diversity-induced juxtaposed slab dehydration-decarbonation processes play a vital role in the generation of megathrust earthquakes below the forearc.

Keywords

• Philippine forearc
• Thermal model
• Dehydration
• Decarbonation
• Seismicity