Japan in a subduction zone
Volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain building are major characteristics of the Japanese Islands in an active continental margin, which are closely related to plate subduction.
Convergent boundary
The boundaries of plates covering the surface of the Earth are
classified into three: convergent, divergent, and transform types.
Convergent boundaries occur where one plate subducts underneath another
plate lower in density (continental or oceanic plate) or collides with
another plate, not subducts, in the case that both plates are composed
of continental material relatively low density. Divergent boundaries
occur where new lithosphere is produced and plates move away from each
other at spreading ridges. Transform boundaries occur where one plate
laterally slides past another, displacing spreading ridge.
The Japanese Islands are situated in the northwestern margin of the
Pacific Ocean surrounded by plate boundaries. Most of these boundaries
are of the convergent type. As an oceanic plate subducts underneath
another plate, such area is called a subduction zone. Convergent
boundaries are characterized by active crustal movement making
geomorphological and geological structures complex, such as
deformation, volcanism, earthquakes, mountain building, and metamorphism.
The active crustal movement zone surrounding the Pacific Ocean is
called the circum-Pacific orogenic belt, and also known as Ring of
Fire. The Japanese Islands in a subduction zone are emerged parts of
volcanic island arcs, extending for about 3000 km.
In and around Japan
Fig. 2
Map in
and around Japan [
]
The following island chains are located in and around Japan: four major islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu), the Kuril Islands extending to the Hokkaido, the Izu-Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands chaining southward from central Honshu, and the Nansei Islands situated to the southwestern of Kyushu. On the Pacific Ocean side, trenches run parallel to these islands: in the order from the north, the Kuril Trench, the Japan Trench, the Izu-Bonin Trench, the Nankai Trough, and the Ryukyu Trench. Short troughs, the Suruga Trough and the Sagami Trough, are situated on the west and east sides of the Izu Peninsula in central Honshu, respectively. The Suruga Trough connects with the Nankai Trough. Trenches and troughs are long, narrow submarine depressions. They are classified by depth as follows: trenches for 6000 meters or more and troughs for less than 6000 meters. (However, in this site, “trench” is mainly used as the term meaning the depressions where a plate subducts in general descriptions about subduction zones and so on.)
The Japanese Islands are in marginal areas of the Pacific Plate, the Philippine Sea Plate, the North American Plate, and the Eurasian Plate (Figure 3). A triple junction at which the Pacific, the Philippine Sea, and the North American Plates meet one another is situated off the Boso Peninsula in central Honshu (Kanto). Oceanic plates, the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate, subduct along trenches/troughs. The Pacific Plate descends underneath the North American Plate along the Kuril Trench and the Japan Trench and underneath the Philippine Sea Plate along the Izu-Bonin Trench. The Philippine Sea Plate descends beneath the Eurasian Plate along the Suruga-Nankai Troughs and the Ryukyu Trench. The leading edge of the Pacific Plate reaches under the Eurasian Plate. Figure 4 below shows depth contours of the surfaces of the subducting Pacific Plate and Philippine Sea Plate. The lines of the Pacific Plate drawn parallel to the trenches at even intervals indicate that the leading edge dives into the mantle at a constant angle. However, each angle of the leading edge is different in the Japan Trench, the Izu-Bonin Trench, and the Kuril Trench. The slope descending from the Japan Trench is the gentlest and that from the Izu-Bonin Trench is the steepest. On the other hand, the lines of the Philippine Sea Plate are more complicated. The contours in and around the Kii Peninsula (central Honshu) take the form of an S-shape, suggesting the flexure of the leading edge. The Philippine Sea Plate subducted along the Sagami Trough is in contact with the leading edge of the Pacific Plate.
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| Fig. 3 Plates in Japan | Fig. 4
Depth contours of the surfaces of
subducting plates [] |
Marginal seas are defined as parts of ocean incompletely bordered by islands and peninsulas situated in the margin of continent. In island arc areas, marginal seas are expanded on basins on the back arc side (back arc basin), generally situated between island arcs and the continent. The Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan, and the East China Sea are marginal seas. The Philippine Sea is surrounded by the Philippine Islands, Taiwan, the Nansei Islands, southwest Japan, the Izu-Bonin Islands, and the Mariana Islands. This sea consists of the Shikoku Basin and the Philippine Basin, geomorphologically divided from the northwestern Pacific Basin. Although the Philippine Sea corresponds to the ocean side (forearc side) of the Southwest Japan Arc and the Ryukyu Arc, it is also a marginal sea (backarc side) of the Izu-Bonin Arc and the Mariana Arc. (See Figure 5 for “forearc” and “backarc”, or the page of Division of island arcs)
Arc-trench system
Fig.
5 Arc-trench system []
In a subduction zone, plate subduction forms a trench and uplift area parallel to the trench and causes igneous activity and earthquakes. Such uplift area is called a volcanic island arc or island arc because it is a curved chain of islands and volcanoes. Volcanic arcs formed on the edge of continent without marginal seas are continental margin arcs.
The arrangement of major landforms, distribution of volcanoes, and
geotectonic units of southwest Japan are parallel to trenches off
the Japanese Islands. Plate subduction along trenches is responsible
for these features, and island arcs and trenches, hence, can be
regarded as an arc-trench system. It is mainly characterized by the
following: (1) major landform arrangement, ocean–trench–island
arc–marginal sea (backarc basin)–continent, (2) igneous activity, (3)
earthquakes occurring at depths of ≥70 km in addition to shallow-focus
earthquakes, and (4) accretionary prisms and metamorphic rocks produced
by plate subducting.
Five island arcs are located in and around Japan: in the order from the north, the
Kuril, the Northeast Japan, the Izu-Bonin, the Southwest Japan, and the Ryukyu Arcs
(Figure 2). The Kuril Arc collides with the Northeast Japan Arc in
central Hokkaido. The Northeast Japan Arc meets the Southwest Japan Arc
in central Honshu, and the Izu-Bonin Arc collides with these two arcs.
The Southwest Japan Arc meets the Ryukyu Arc in central Kyushu. In
these areas called the arc-arc collision zone, the directions of the
island chains change and geomorphological and geological structures are
complicated.
Each island arc is accompanied with a trench in parallel: Kuril
Arc–Kuril Trench, Northeast Japan Arc–Japan Trench, Izu-Bonin
Arc–Izu-Bonin Trench, Southwest Japan Arc–Nankai Trough, and Ryukyu
Arc–Ryukyu Trench. These trenches are divided into two series. The
first series is the line of the Kuril, the Japan, and the Izu-Bonin Trenches,
and the second is the line of the Nankai Trough and the Ryukyu Trench. The
arc-trench system in Japan, therefore, is classified into two systems:
the eastern Japan arc system (the Kuril, the Northeast Japan, and the Izu-Bonin
Arcs) and the western Japan arc system (the Southwest Japan and the Ryukyu
Arcs). Tectonism and volcanism in the eastern Japan arc system and in
the western Japan arc system are mainly regulated by the Pacific Plate
movement and the Philippine Sea Plate movement, respectively.
Igneous activity
Igneous activity resulting from plate subduction plays an important role in forming island arcs. Magma produced under island arcs form felsic plutonic rocks (granite), some of which erupts on the surface to make volcanoes. Large scale formation of granites develops the crust of island arc. See the chapter “Continental crust and development of island arcs” and the section "Volcanoes" for the details of Japanese volcanoes.
