To clarify the regional distribution and characteristics of the sedimentary depos-

No abstract

To show the structure of oceanic crust and Moho around the eastern Ogasawara Plateau, we have analyzed industry-standard two-dimensional multichannel seismic reflection data. To obtain improved velocity models, phase information of seismic signals was used for velocity analysis and velocity models for oceanic crust above Moho were determined. We apply this velocity analysis technique to seismic reflection data around the eastern Ogasawara Plateau, with the result of clear images of structures within oceanic crust and Moho. South of the Ogasawara Plateau, Moho deepens proximal to the Plateau. Moho distal to the Plateau is ca 7 km below sea floor (bsf), whereas it is ca 10 km bsf near the Plateau. The characters of oceanic crust and Moho differ significantly north and south of the Plateau. To the north, the structure of oceanic crust is ambiguous, the sea floor is shallower and less smooth, and Moho is discontinuous. To the south, structures within oceanic crust and Moho are imaged clearly, and the sea floor is deeper. A strong Moho reflection south of the Plateau might represent a sharp boundary between layered gabbro and peridotite. However, discontinuous Moho reflections north of the Plateau might represent rough topography because of intensive magmatism or a gradual downward increase in velocity within a thick Moho transition zone. A fracture zone north of the Plateau also appears to separate oceanic crust and Moho of different characters, suggesting vigorous magmatism between the Plateau and the fracture zone, and that the Ogasawara Plateau and the fracture zone influenced the genesis of oceanic crust and upper mantle. Differences in acoustic characteristics to the north and south of the Plateau are apparent in profiles illuminated by seismic attributes.

Crustal thickness of the northern to central Philippine Sea was gravimetrically determined on the simple assumption of four layers: seawater, sediments, crust and lithospheric mantle, with densities of 1030, 2300, 2800 and 3300 kg/m 3 , respectively. As for the correction of the regional gravity variation, a 15 km difference of the lithospheric thickness with a density difference of 50 kg/m 3 against the asthenosphere below between both sides of the Kyushu-Palau Ridge was taken into consideration. Mantle Bouguer anomalies were calculated on the assumption of constant crustal thickness of 6 km, and then the crustal thickness was obtained by three-dimensional gravity inversion method. The results show occurrence of thin crust areas with a thickness of approximately 5 km in the southern part and at the western margin of the Shikoku Basin and also of thick crust areas in the northwestern and northeastern parts of the Parece Vela Basin. We suggest that these are because of the variation of magma supply at the time of sea floor spreading in the Shikoku and Parece Vela Basins, which is possibly related to the variation of spreading rate and enhanced magmatism near the past arc volcanic fronts. The results further show the occurrence of crust thinner than 5 km in the northeastern part of the West Philippine Basin, of crust thicker than 15 km in the Amami Plateau, the Daito and Oki-Daito Ridges, and also in the northern part of Kyushu-Palau Ridge, whereas the southern part of the Kyushu-Palau Ridge the crust is thicker than 10 km. It was also inferred that small basins in the Daito Ridge province have the thinnest oceanic crust of less than 5 km in the Kita-Daito Basin.

The Parece Vela Basin (PVB), which is a currently inactive back-arc basin of the Philippine Sea Plate, was formed by separation between the Izu-Ogasawara Arc (IOA) and the Kyushu-Palau Ridge (KPR). Elucidating the marks of the past back-arc opening and rifting is important for investigation of its crustal structure. To image its fault configurations and crustal deformation, pre-stack depth migration to multichannel seismic reflection was applied and data obtained by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and Metal Mining Agency of Japan and Japan National Oil Corporation (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation). Salient results for the pre-stack depth-migrated sections are: (i) deep reflectors exist around the eastern margin of KPR and at the western margin of IOA down to 8 km depth; and (ii) normal fault zones distributed at the eastern margin of the KPR (Fault zone A) and the western margin of the IOA (Fault zone B) have a total displacement of greater than 500 m associated with synrift sediments. Additional normal faults (Fault zone C) exist 20 km east of the Fault zone B. They are covered with sediment, which indicates deposition of recent volcanic products in the IOA. According to those results: (i) the fault displacement of more than 500 m with respect to initial rifting was approximately asymmetric at 25 Ma based on PSDM profiles; and (ii) the faults had reactivated after 23 Ma, based on the age of deformed sediments obtained from past ocean drillings. The age of the base sediments corresponds to those of spreading and rotation after rifting in the PVB. Fault zone C is covered with thick and not deformed volcanogenic sediments from the IOA, which suggests that the fault is inactive.