GEOCHEMICAL AND TECTONIC RELATIONSHIPS IN THE EAST INDONESIAN ARC-CONTINENT COLLISION REGION - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SUBDUCTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN PASSIVE MARGIN
Mj. Vanbergen et al., GEOCHEMICAL AND TECTONIC RELATIONSHIPS IN THE EAST INDONESIAN ARC-CONTINENT COLLISION REGION - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SUBDUCTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN PASSIVE MARGIN, Tectonophysics, 223(1-2), 1993, pp. 97-116
Variations in the isotopic signatures of volcanics along the East Sund
a Banda Arc reflect changes in the nature and amount of sedimentary ma
terial supplied by the northeast Indian Ocean floor and the adjacent A
ustralian passive continental margin, which form the two major domains
of the Indian Ocean plate that approach the arc system. A compilation
of isotopic data for 200-500-km-long arc sectors shows that the trend
in magmatic signatures follows distinct subduction/collision stages r
eached by the corresponding oceanic and continental-margin sections en
tering the trench system. Maximum amounts of magma source contaminatio
n are inferred for volcanics near an extinct sector north of Timor, wh
ere the Australian continent started to collide with the arc first. Pb
-Nd isotopic source mixing models point to contamination by sediments
with variations in composition, similar to observed along-arc changes
in sediments entering the trench. The results indicate an increasing c
ontribution of subducted continental material in the direction of the
collision region. Mass-balance calculations, considering the magmatic
output and minimum input of subducted continental material required to
generate the composition of the volcanic arc in the collision region,
are difficult to reconcile with subduction of ocean-floor sediments a
lone. Thicknesses of sediments presently covering oceanic crust near t
he margin are close to calculated thicknesses of the sediments fluxed
into the trench and magmatically returned to the arc crust, but cannot
account for the additional volumes of material accreted on the overri
ding plate in the same period of time. It is inferred that leading por
tions of the Australian continental margin have reached magma generati
on zones in the easternmost Sunda arc and western Banda arc, which imp
lies subduction to depths greater than 100 km.