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Geology
Landward vergence in accretionary prisms: The role of the backstop and thermal history
Tim Byrne and Jim Hibbard Geology 1987;15;1163-1167 doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1987)15<1163:LVIAPT>2.0.CO;2

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Landward vergence in accretionary prisms: The role of the backstop and thermal history
Tim Byrne Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 Jim Hibbard Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14856

ABSTRACT The accretionary histories recorded along the convergent margins in southwest Alaska and southwest Japan are punctuated by two anomalous events: near-trench magmatism closely associated in time and space with landward structural vergence. In both areas, the near-trench magmatism is believed to be related to the subduction of an active spreading center. It is postulated that these anomalous thermal events caused the backstop (i.e., mechanical boundary) within the prism to be reoriented to a seaward instead of a landward dip. This seaward-dipping backstop resulted in the development of landward-verging structures, for the only time in the almost 100-m.y. history of these two margins. A modern analog may be the Washington convergent margin. These examples illustrate the potential importance of thermal history and the dip of the backstop in controlling the style of accretion in submarine wedges.

INTRODUCTION Accretionary prisms are sites on Earth's surface where deep-sea sediments are deformed, lithified, and accreted to plate margins. As a result of numerous studies, there is a general consensus that accretion typically involves the formation of seaward-verging folds and thrust faults that separate landward-dipping packages of accreted sediments (Seely et al., 1974). However, there are also several accretionary sequences where landward-verging structures form the dominant structural fabric (Seely, 1977). It is significant that at these margins, landwardverging accretion can be temporally and spatially related to the subduction of young, hot oceanic crust. We propose that there is a correspondence between the thermal regime of the downgoing slab and the style of deformation within the accretionary prism. The idea for this relation germinated from a talk one of us (Byrne) heard by D. Davis (Davis et al., 1986), as well as from our joint field studies in southwest Japan. Two convergent margins where ridge subduction is well documented, southwest Alaska and southwest Japan (Marshak and Karig, 1977), also record a reversal in the direction of structural vergence that is broadly contemporaneous with subduction of an active spreading center. We believe that lithification (including cementation and mechanical dewatering) is the most important mechanical change affecting sediments in an accretionary prism and that the lithification front may act as a backstop (i.e., a mechanical boundary) against which younger sediments are accreted. During ridge subduction, the increased geothermal gradient may have caused
GEOLOGY, v. 15, p. 1163-1167, December 1987

the isotherms in the prism to shallow and dip seaward. Because cementation is generally temperature dependent, the increase in geothermal gradient may have also caused the lithification front to reorient to a shallow seaward dip. As convergence continued along these margins, the lithification front probably acted as a seaward-dipping backstop, resulting in obduction of trench sediments and landward vergence. EVIDENCE FOR RIDGE SUBDUCTION AND LANDWARD VERGENCE Southwest Alaska Evidence for ridge subduction along the southwest Alaska convergent margin comes primarily from the occurrence of a near-trench cogenetic suite of basalts similar to mid-oceanridge basalts (MORB) and anatectic granites and andesites (Fig. 1A) (Moore et al., 1983). These igneous rocks either crosscut or are contemporaneous with the seaward-verging folds and cleavages associated with the accretion of the pre-Eocene sedimentary rocks (Byrne, 1982; Byrne and Fisher, 1987; Sample and Moore, 1987). The igneous rocks were intruded and extruded into the sediments of the accretionary prism and are not allochthonous or exotic blocks (Byrne, 1982; Moore et al., 1983). Chemical analyses also suggest that the andesites and granites formed as a result of mixing a MORB-like parent with melted sediments (Hill et al., 1981; Reid, 1987, and in prep.). Fossils interbedded with the basalts yield Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary ages (Byrne, 1982; Moore et al., 1983), and radiometric isotopes from the plutonic rocks indicate an emplacement age of about 59 Ma

(Moore et al., 1983). These observations, along with early Tertiary plate reconstructions (Byrne, 1979; Moore et al., 1983), strongly suggest that a spreading center was subducted beneath the southwest Alaska margin at about 59 Ma. Regional-scale, landward-verging structures are present only in the early Eocene rocks of the Kodiak-Kenai accretionary complex, even though this margin records almost 100 m.y. of accretion (Fig. 1 A). Pre-Eocene rocks constitute most of the exposures on these islands and display abundant evidence for seaward-directed overthrusting (Moore and Wheeler, 1978; Byrne and Fisher, 1987). Landward-verging structures are preserved in the Eocene Sitkalidak Formation on Kodiak Island and in the lower Eocene Montague belt of the Orca Group in Prince William Sound, and include outcrop- and map-scale folds and thrust faults (Fig. 1A; Moore and AUwardt, 1980; Helwig and Emmet, 1981; Byrne, 1986). In both areas, the landward-verging structures also locally crosscut the older seaward-verging folds and thrusts in the pre-Eocene accreted rocks (Byrne, 1982; Helwig and Emmet, 1981). Structures in the upper Tertiary rocks exposed offshore are dominated by seaward vergence, although landward vergence occurs locally (von Huene, 1979; Davis and von Huene, 1987). Thus, regional-scale landward vergence is an anomalous event in the history of this margin. The Eocene rocks along this margin are further distinguished from the pre-Eocene rocks by their much lower metamorphic grade and the general absence of volcanic or plutonic rocks. The relatively high grade of metamorphism of the pre-Eocene rocks is well documented and is
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ACCRETIONARY SEQUENCE KODIAK BATHOUTH (59 MA) OBDUCTED EARLY EOCENE Figure 1. Generalized geologic maps of southwest Alaska (A) and southwest Japan (B) convergent margins, emphasizing occurrences of near-trench igneous rocks and areas displaying landward vergence (i.e., obducted trench fill). A: Distribution of early Paleocene age plutonic and volcanic rocks and Eocene structures that display landward vergence. B: Distribution of Shimanto accretionary sequences, Miocene neartrench igneous rocks, and Cape Muroto area, where early Miocene landward vergence occurs.

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OTHER NEAR-TRENCH IGNEOUS ROCKS

evidenced by (1) the occurrence of metamorphic biotite in rocks from the Kenai Peninsula (Tysdal and Case, 1979); (2) vitrinite reflectance values from widely scattered locations that are two to three times higher than values from the Eocene rocks (Byrne, 1982; Sample and Moore, 1987); and (3) fluid-inclusion studies that indicate similar and consistently high temperatures ( > 2 0 0 C) throughout the older rocks (Myers and Vrolijk, 1985). In contrast, the Eocene rocks have reflectance values and mineralogies that indicate much lower temperatures of alteration (100 to 125 C) (Moore and Allwardt, 1980). The lower grade of metamorphism in the Eocene rocks is consistent with the landwardverging structures that they preserve; these rocks postdate the ridge subduction event and were apparently never subducted to substantial depths. Southwest Japan Like the southwest Alaska margin, the convergent margin in southwest Japan (the Shimanto Belt) records almost 100 m.y. of subduction and accretion (Taira, 1985); yet only one exposed accretionary sequence in the belt, the early Miocene, displays landward structural vergence (Fig. IB). Landward-verging structures have recently been documented at Cape Muroto, Shikoku Is1164

land, and consist of both outcrop- and rsgionalscale folds and thrust faults. These structures formed during the early and intermedial stages of deformation in the Miocene rocks of i his area and are believed to be related to early Miocene subduction along the southwest Japan margin

(Hibbard and Karig, 1987; J. Hibbard, unpub. notes). The landward-verging structures are closely related in time and space with the only igneous activity recorded in the southwest Japan accretionary prism.. A suite of near-trench igneous GEOLOGY, December 1987

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rocks ranging in composition from granite to basalt is distributed for more than 800 km along the southern side of the Shimanto Belt (Fig. IB; Marshak andKarig, 1977; Oba, 1977); the age of this suite ranges from approximately 12 to 18 Ma (Oba, 1977). Marshak and Karig (1977) have argued that these igneous rocks are related to early Miocene back-arc spreading in the Shikoku basin. At Cape Muroto (Fig. IB), this suite is represented by a thick (up to 200 m) dike of layered gabbro as well as by smaller dioritic dikes and stocks. There are several examples of outcrop-scale, landward-verging folds and associated axial planar cleavages that are truncated and metamorphosed by the suite of intrusive rocks (Hibbard and Karig, 1987). The tightest depositional age constraint on the folded strata is given by Aquitanian (ca. 22-24 Ma) forams and the radiometric ages obtained from the igneous dikes in this area. These ages range from 14 to 18 Ma (Vistelius et al., 1982; Hamamoto and Sakai, 1987; Kodama and Takigami, 1987, personal commun.). Thus, landward-verging structures are very closely related in time to emplacement of the igneous rocks. The Miocene rocks of southwest Japan were also substantially thermally altered during ridge subduction. Vitrinite reflectance values from the obducted sediments suggest minimum temperatures of alteration of between 150 and 200 C (A. Taira, 1985, personal commun.). Moreover, slope basin deposits that depositionally overlie the obducted rocks have reflectance values that suggest temperatures of over 250 C. These temperatures are anomalously high for sediments that have not been tectonically buried and are consistent with the occurrence of near-trench igneous rocks. These observations indicate that the thermal gradients in the Miocene accretionary prism were unusually high, and they show that the landward-verging structures in southwest Japan are temporally related to the subduction of young, hot oceanic crust. ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LANDWARD VERGENCE Seely (1977) first proposed a model to explain the local occurrence of landward-verging structures along some modern convergent margins. In his model, Seely (1977) argued that in highly sedimented margins, high fluid pressures could occur in the deepest stratigraphic level and that this probably resulted in significantly lower shear stresses along the decollement as the overlying sediments were deformed. Because of the low shear stress along the base of this sediment pile, deformation could result in either landward or seaward structural vergence. Seely (1977) applied these arguments specifically to the Washington convergent margin, where a thick
1165 GEOLOGY, December 1987

sequence of Pliocene to Holocene sediment is being offscraped. This modern analogue was used by Moore and Allwardt (1980) and Byrne (1986) to explain the occurrence of landwardverging structures in the Eocene sediments along the southwest Alaska margin, although only indirect evidence for a thick sediment pile existed. More recent studies of modern thickly sedimented convergent margins suggest that the Washington margin is anomalous. For example, the Makran (Piatt et al., 1985) and Barbados (Westbrook, 1982) convergent margins are thickly sedimented and have convergent rates similar to the Washington margin (about 5 cm/yr). However, only the Washington margin, where young oceanic crust is being subducted, is dominated by landward-verging structures. Moreover, landward vergence is not present along the Oregon margin, where slightly older and colder oceanic crust is being subducted. We propose that the high heat production associated with young oceanic crust causes the development of a seaward-dipping lithification front that acts as a backstop for younger accreted sediments. Because this backstop dips seaward, the younger accreted packages are thrust arcward, resulting in landward vergence and obduction of trench sediments. This model appears to explain both the occurrence of landward-verging structures in the modern Washington margin and the two ancient examples of landward vergence in southwest Japan and southwest Alaska. Several types of backstops may exist within an accretionary prism because the backstop is a mechanical boundary between materials of different strength and the material properties of the prism change throughout the prism (Davis et al., 1986; D. Davis, 1986, personal commun.). In modern convergent margins the backstop is envisioned by many workers to be the seaward edge of the magmatic arc (Le Pichon et al., 1982; Pavlis and Bruhn, 1983; Silver et al., 1985). However, in actively deforming accretionary prisms, the physical and therefore mechanical properties of the accreting sediments change substantially as sediments are accreted. These changes in mechanical properties may also partially define a backstop internal to the accretionary prism. Two of the most important physical changes that affect the strength of accreting sediments are cementation and mechanical dewatering (Bray and Karig, 1985). Together these changes cause the sediments to become lithified. It therefore follows that these changes may strongly influence the shape and orientation of the backstop within the prism. For example, cementation is a relatively complicated process by which individual grains are cemented together and involves several low-temperature chemical reactions (see

papers in McDonald and Surdam, 1984; Scholle and Schluger, 1979). In graywackes and other marine sandstones, both fine-grained clays and relatively larger framework grains of feldspars and lithic fragments are chemically altered during cementation. Typical reactions include smectite illite, montmorillonite chlorite, and anorthite albite, as well as the transformation of kerogen to methane. These reactions are initiated between 80 and 120 C (Land et al., 1987; Loucks et al., 1984; Boles, 1982; Boles and Franks, 1979) and result in the formation of pore-filling cements (e.g., quartz, kaolinite, calcite, and zeolite cements are common) that increase the cohesion and strength of the sediments. Thus, a broad cementation front (e.g., Land et al., 1987) separates weak, uncemented sediments from sediments that are strong and partly cemented, defining a potential backstop. The shape and orientation of this type of backstop will depend on the thermal structure of the prism. Mechanical dewatering is the process of porosity reduction during compaction and consolidation of sediments. In accretionary prisms mechanical dewatering is enhanced by imbrication, tectonic loading, and the formation of fault zones. As a result, fluid flow changes from Darcian, or intergranular, to a fracture-dominated permeability (Fisher and Byrne, 1987; Moore et al., 1983; Carson and Berglund, 1986). Therefore, major thrust faults probably act as dewatering conduits and separate more-dewatered sequences from less-dewatered sequences. Hence, these faults could reinforce the effects of a preexisting landward-dipping backstop because the sediments above the fault are more consolidated and stronger than the sediments below the fault. The relative importance of cementation and mechanical dewatering in defining the backstop is difficult to evaluate because a tightly consolidated uncemented sand under high confining pressure can be nearly as strong as a partly cemented sandstone of the same composition (Jones, 1980). However, because of the temperature dependence of the reactions that drive cementation, the position and orientation of the backstop caused by an increase in cementation can probably be inferred from the isotherms within the sedimentary pile. For example, in the relatively flat-lying Gulf Coast sediments the cementation front is subhorizontal and occurs between the 80 and 120 C isotherms (Land et al., 1987). In contrast, in an actively deforming accretionary prism where cold oceanic crust is subducted, the isotherms are believed to be overturned and dip landward (Fig. 2A) (Ernst, 1973; Oxburgh and Turcotte, 1970). Thus, in general, the backstop defined by increased cementation may also dip landward (Fig. 2A). Landward-

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dipping dewatering conduits (e.g., thrust faults) would enhance the effectiveness of cementation (e.g., Schoonmaker, 1986); together these processes define a lithification backstop. When relatively hot oceanic crust is subducted, the increase in the geothermal gradient will cause the isotherms and possibly the lithification backstop to shallow and dip seaward (Fig. 2B). Although the orientation of isotherms during ridge subduction is poorly constrained, Delong et al. (1979) and James et al. (1986) have mathematically modeled the thermal consequences of subducting an active spreading center, and their results are consistent with the high geothermal gradient inferred from margins where ridge subduction is believed to have occurred (e.g., Moore et al., 1983; Marshak and Karig, 1977; Forsythe and Nelson, 1985; Hurst, 1982). Given the temperature dependence of cementation, ridge subduction will probably cause the lithification front (i.e., the potential backstop) to reorient and probably dip sea ward (Fig. 2B). In the extreme case, the entire accretionary prism may lithify and act as a seawarddipping backstop (Fig. 2C). Davis et al. (1986; 1986, personal commun.) have modeled the structural consequences of a

seaward-dipping backstop within the prism, and have proposed that landward-verging structures will result. Although Davis et al. used a relatively simple clay and sand box model, their results are consistent with regional-scale studies where the arc edifice forms a seaward-dipping backstop and causes local landward vergence (e.g., eastern MediterraneanLe Pichon et a l , 1982; BarbadosWestbrook, 1982). However, the latter studies are concerned more with how the backstop affects the entire accretionary prism rather than with the effects of a backstop within the prism, which is our concern here. Both types of seaward-dipping backstops, the arc edifice and the lithification front, result in landward structural vergence. Davis et al. (1986) have also shown that the backstop may or may not be deformed is landward vergence occurs, depending on the strength contrast across the backstop. Considering that the lithification front is a transitional boundary within the prism, it probably will be deformed during landward vergence; i.e., landward vergence will probably overprint older, seawardverging structures (e.g., Fig. 2B). This type of overprinting relation is preserved along the seaward side of the pre-Eocene prism in soathwest

Alaska (Byrne, 1982; Helwig and Emmet, 1981) and may also be present in the Eocene to Miocene rocks of southwest Japan. These observations and interpretations suggest that the thermal history of an accretionary prism is important in determining the style of accretion. The examples presented above, where ridge subduction apparently changed the thermal structure of a prism, probably represent an end-member case that can be compared to other margins where changes in the thermal history are more subtle. For example, the cessation of subduction along a convergent margin would probably result in thermal relaxation and a reorientation of the lithification front within the prism. If subduction resumes, this older, relatively rigid prism may act as a seaward-dipping backstop, and landward vergence could occur. Thus, at ancient convergent boundaries, landward vergence (or a reversal in vergence through time) may signify ridge subduction, a temporary cessation in subduction, or some other process causing an increase in the thermal gradient within the prism. On the basis of our assumptions of the relation between the thermal and mechanical properties, we propose that the lithification front is an important mechanical transition within accretionary prisms. At present, however, very little is known about the effects of deformation, tectonic dewatering, and overpressuring on the chemical reactions that drive cementation and lithification. Moreover, very little is known about the orientation of isotherms within a prism, with or without ridge subduction. For example, the thermal models we have used for the subduction of both cold and hot oceanic crust are well supported by geologic data and mathematical models. However, Shi and Wang (1987) have recently modeled the available heat-flow data from the Barbados accretionary prism; their results suggest that the isotherms are shallow and dip seaward, instead of landward, as we would predict. Future geophysical and geologic studies of the relations between heat flow, dewatering, deformation, and cementation in accretionary prisms will help constrain the assumptions used in this paper.

LITHIFICATION FRONT AND POTENTIAL BACKSTOP

Figure 2. Schematic cross sections showing evolution of isotherms, lithification front, and structural styles as progressively younger oceanic crust is subducted (e.g., from south to north along O r e g o n / W a s h i n g t o n margin). Stipple = lithified regions. Lithification front near the 100 C isotherm is based on theoretical and empirical studies of onset of lithification in nontectonic environments (e.g., Gulf Coast; Land et al., 1987; Boles, 1982). A: Isotherms from theoretical models (Oxburgh and Turcotte, 1970), consistent with isotherms inferred from mineral assemblages in ancient accretionary sequences (Ernst, 1973). Lithification front is shown dipping landward. B: Isotherms from theoretical model of Delong et al. (1979) and James et al. (1986) for 10 m.y. before subduction of spreading center. Position of 100 C isotherm was interpolated from position of 200 C isotherm (from Delong et al., 1979). Lithification front is shown dipping seaward. During landward vergence, older accretionary sequences may also be thrusted landward. C: During ridge subduction, entire prism may be thermally altered and lithified. Consequently, older lithified prism may act as seaward-dipping backstop.

REORIENTATION OF BACKSTOP

LANDWARD VERGENCE

LANDWARD VERGENCE

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Supported by National Science Foundation Grants EAR 84-07801 and EAR 85-09461 to Byrne and EAR 85-09343 to D. Karig, and completed while Byrne was a Shell Faculty Fellow. Hibbard was partially supported by a Geological Society of America Harold T. Stearns Fellowship and a grant from Sigma Xi. We thank Steve Lucas, Don Fisher, and Bill Clendenen for helpful insights as this paper evolved; Darrel Cowan and Peter Vrolijk for their reviews; ChiYuen Wang and Tom James for preprints of papers and advice on the thermal structure of accretionary prisms; and Asahiko Taira-san for introducing us to the Tertiary Shimanto Belt. We dedicate this paper to Obasan Yokoyama, whose warm hospitality will be greatly missed.

Manuscript received June 4, 1987 Revised manuscript received September 15, 1987 Manuscript accepted September 23, 1987

GEOLOGY, December 1987

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