Rapid rotation of Fiji: Paleomagnetic evidence and tectonic implications

Taylor, Graeme K.; Gascoyne, J.K.; Colley, H.

doi:10.1029/1999jb900305

Cited by 44 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The Lau ridge is the remnant arc of the now active Tonga Ridge. The formation of the back-arc basins that separate Fiji from the active subduction sites began during the late Miocene and early Pli- ocene (Gill 1984;Gill and Whelan 1989;Rogers and Setterfield 1994;Taylor et al 2000). Shoshonitic magmatism is interpreted to have begun in Fiji after the formation of a traverse rift that broke the Vitiaz arc across strike.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoshonites in Southern Tibet Record Late Jurassic Rifting of a Tethyan Intraoceanic Island Arc

Aitchison¹,

McDermid²,

Ali³

et al. 2007

The Journal of Geology

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. A B S T R A C TDetailed field mapping combined with a petrologic and geochemical investigation of the Zedong terrane within the Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone provides insights to the evolution of now mostly subducted portions of Tethys during the Late Jurassic. The terrane is dominated by volcanic rocks of shoshonitic affinity, which were erupted in a submarine oceanic island arc setting. The volcanic island arc was built on a basement of oceanic crust, and the shoshonites locally overlie a thin section of pillowed island arc tholeiites and red ribbon-bedded radiolarian cherts. Geochemistry of the shoshonites suggests that their development occurred in a setting analogous to that of Late Miocene to Early Pliocene Fiji and was associated with an arc rifting. We speculate that this event may have been a far-field response to developments associated with Gondwana breakup.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoshonites in Southern Tibet Record Late Jurassic Rifting of a Tethyan Intraoceanic Island Arc

Aitchison¹,

McDermid²,

Ali³

et al. 2007

The Journal of Geology

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“…GPS velocities indicate that rapid clockwise rotation of the New Hebrides arc is the primary tectonic control on the kinematics of back-arc deformation in the NFB, particularly in areas of active rifting in the Erromango and Futuna troughs [Pelletier et al, 1998]. Fiji has undergone large amounts of anticlockwise rotation, up to 120°between 10 and 2.7 Ma ago [James and Falvey, 1978;Malahoff et al, 1982a;Taylor et al, 2000] about a pole of rotation at the eastern end of the Fiji platform [Taylor et al, 2000]. It is likely that the rapid counterclockwise rotation of Fiji (schematically shown with purple arrow) has also played a role in NFB opening, though the link between rotation and basin opening is not completely clear from available data.…”

Section: A22 Present-day Examples Withoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collisional model for rapid fore‐arc block rotations, arc curvature, and episodic back‐arc rifting in subduction settings

Wallace

Ellis

Mann

2009

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

104

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[1] We review geophysical and geological data from 23 active and ancient plate boundaries to document a compelling spatial and temporal relationship between collision, plate boundary curvature, rapid tectonic rotations, and the occurrence of back-arc rifting. Our observations support a conceptual model where the change from subduction to collision causes rapid fore-arc rotation (when viewed in a reference frame relative to the bounding tectonic plates), leading to marked plate boundary curvature. Our global compilation reveals that most active back-arc rifts are associated with rapidly rotating fore arcs and nearby collisions. Thus, we propose that collision and rapid fore-arc rotations play a major role in the evolution and kinematics of back-arc basins. We conduct numerical modeling to better understand the physical processes behind these observed rapid tectonic rotations at convergent margins. Our results suggest that the presence of an indentor or choke point in the subduction system (e.g., collision) can generate rapid rotation of the fore arc about a nearby pole and lead to back-arc rifting. The rate of fore-arc rotation and back-arc rifting depends on the incoming indentor velocity and can be greatly enhanced by slab rollback and the presence of a low-viscosity back arc. Where viscosity of the back arc is low, fore-arc rotation dominates; where back-arc viscosity is high, the formation of strike-slip faults and tectonic escape dominates. Our observational and model-derived results illustrate that shallow crustal forces produced by the entry of buoyant features into subduction zones are a fundamental mechanism for the generation of fore-arc block rotations, plate boundary curvature, back-arc rift evolution, and tectonic escape in subduction systems. Rollback of the subducting slab within the mantle will certainly enhance the processes we describe but it is not the only driving force. Wallace, L. M., S. Ellis, and P. Mann (2009), Collisional model for rapid fore-arc block rotations, arc curvature, and episodic back-arc rifting in subduction settings, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 10, Q05001,

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“…During opening of the North Fiji Basin, Fiji has rotated anticlockwise by more than 100°away from a position on the Vitiaz arc originally along strike from the Vanuatu and Tongan arcs. The Vanuatu section of the Vitiaz arc, in contrast, has rotated clockwise (Musgrave & Firth 1999), creating the North Fiji Basin in the manner of opening double gates (Falvey 1975(Falvey , 1978Taylor et al 2000). The Hunter Ridge transform, linking Fiji and the southernmost part of the Vanuatu arc along the southern margin of the North Fiji Basin, constituted a short-lived subduction zone between ca 7 and 3 Ma as rotation of Fiji forced subduction of crust in the northeast South Fiji Basin (Figure 3c).…”

Section: Vitiaz Arcmentioning

confidence: 99%

120 to 0 Ma tectonic evolution of the southwest Pacific and analogous geological evolution of the 600 to 220 Ma Tasman Fold Belt System

Crawford¹,

Meffre²,

Symonds³

2003

Evolution and Dynamics of the Australian Plate

152

258

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Rapid rotation of Fiji: Paleomagnetic evidence and tectonic implications

Cited by 44 publications

References 42 publications

Shoshonites in Southern Tibet Record Late Jurassic Rifting of a Tethyan Intraoceanic Island Arc

Shoshonites in Southern Tibet Record Late Jurassic Rifting of a Tethyan Intraoceanic Island Arc

Collisional model for rapid fore‐arc block rotations, arc curvature, and episodic back‐arc rifting in subduction settings

120 to 0 Ma tectonic evolution of the southwest Pacific and analogous geological evolution of the 600 to 220 Ma Tasman Fold Belt System

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