Variable plate kinematics promotes changes in back-arc deformation regime along the north-eastern Eurasia plate boundary

Abstract

The stretching of the lithosphere leading to back-arc basins formation generally develops behind arc-trench systems and is considered the consequence of slab retreat relative to the upper plate. Here, we examine the deformation regime evolution within the overriding plate due to subduction processes, using thermo-mechanical numerical simulations. We explore the north-eastern Eurasia plate boundary and the mechanisms of subducting Pacific plate since 57 Ma. During this time interval, several extensional basins formed along the Eurasia margin, such as the East China Sea, the Japan Sea, and the Kuril basin. Here, we increased the simulation complexity, with the inclusion of (i) the kinematic variability of the Pacific plate over the geological past with respect to a fixed Eurasia, incorporating time-dependent (i.e., temporally evolving) velocities computed from plate motion reconstructions; (ii) a Low-Velocity Zone within the asthenosphere, and (iii) a horizontal eastward mantle flow. Our results show a crucial role of the mantle flow for the development of lithospheric extension and back-arc basin opening, and a main kinematic control of the subduction trench position, which advances and retreats, into distance intervals in the order of $$\sim$$ ∼ 100 km, and providing stages of compression and extension in a back-arc basin.