Tectonics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Semail ophiolite provides evidence for geological processes that form oceanic crust, however, its deep structure remains debated. Here, the authors use geophysical imaging to determine that the ophiolite is bound by a thrust fault in the west, and a normal fault in the east, bounding a rapidly subsiding basin, implying the ophiolite may not be rooted in the Gulf of Oman crust.

    • M. Y. Ali
    • , A. B. Watts
    •  & T. Ambrose

  • Article
    | Open Access

    CH4 seepage mostly occurs in petroleum-bearing sedimentary basins, but the role of tectonics in degassing is mostly only known at a local scale. Here, the authors conduct a global scale analysis of seeps, faults, sedimentary basins, petroleum fields and heat flow, and find that geological CH4 seepage preferably develops in convergent basins, while gas seeps can occur along any brittle tectonic structure.

    • Giancarlo Ciotoli
    • , Monia Procesi
    •  & Guido Ventura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The dynamics of continental subduction is largely controlled by the rheological properties of rocks involved along the subduction channel. Here, the authors reveal a prominent, yet previously undetected, low-velocity body beneath the Western Alps, along the plate interface between the European slab and the overlying Adriatic mantle, which they interpret as a serpentinite layer.

    • Liang Zhao
    • , Marco G. Malusà
    •  & Stefano Solarino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Retreating subduction zones are enabled by the development of faults at the edges of the slab, but the physical mechanisms controlling fault propagation remain debated. Here, the authors find that oceanic crust recycling is controlled by weakening of fractures forming at the edges of slabs.

    • Jessica Munch
    • , Taras Gerya
    •  & Kosuke Ueda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors here present a stress map of the North American crust that gives a new view of dynamics of the continent. The results can be applied to probabilistic seismic hazard analysis and resource development as well as to provide constraints for theoretical models of crustal dynamics.

    • Jens-Erik Lundstern
    •  & Mark D. Zoback

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Indian continental subduction can explain crustal deformation, magmatic activity and uplift of the Tibetan Plateau following collision, however, the nature of the Indian subducting slab beneath Myanmar and the related tectonic regime remain unclear. Here, the authors present direct structural evidence of present-day Indian continental subduction beneath Asia.

    • Tianyu Zheng
    • , Yumei He
    •  & Myo Thant

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topography at active forearc margins is controlled by numerous competing tectonic and erosional processes acting at different timescales, yet separating their respective contribution remains a challenge. Here, the authors evidence Myr-scale, uplift-then-subsidence cycles controlled by transient accretion at the base of the forearc domain.

    • Armel Menant
    • , Samuel Angiboust
    •  & Raphael Grandin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study investigates deep intracontinental earthquakes. Based on field data from exhumed lower crustal pseudotachylytes and mylonites from Lofoten, northern Norway, the authors describe a novel model of earthquake nucleation in the lower crust as a transient consequence of ongoing localised aseismic creep.

    • L. R. Campbell
    • , L. Menegon
    •  & G. Pennacchioni

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The composition and tectonic affiliation of Earth's earliest crust remains disputed. Here, the authors find that Archean Jack Hills zircons crystallized from melts with compositions similar to andesite formed in modern subduction settings, which they suggest is consistent with an early onset of modern-style plate tectonics on Earth.

    • Simon Turner
    • , Simon Wilde
    •  & Yi-Jen Lai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the authors investigate thermal alteration of organic biomarkers to detect paleo earthquakes in the Japan Trench. The study shows that large earthquakes like the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake can slip through different types of sediment rather than being restricted to the weakest layers.

    • Hannah S. Rabinowitz
    • , Heather M. Savage
    •  & James D. Kirkpatrick

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cratons represent the ancient cores of continental plates and are generally thought to have been stable since the Archean. Here however, the authors combine seismic analysis with kimberlite data to infer complete destruction of cratonic lithosphere in some places of the African continent.

    • Nicolas Luca Celli
    • , Sergei Lebedev
    •  & Carmen Gaina

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Some of Earth’s earliest continental crust has been previously inferred to have formed from partial melting of hydrated mafic crust at pressures above 1.5 GPa (more than 50 km deep), pressures typically not reached in post-Archean continental crust. Here, the authors show that such high pressure signatures can result from melting of mantle sources rather than melting of crust, and they suggest there is a lack of evidence that Earth’s earliest crust melted at depths significantly below 40 km.

    • Robert H. Smithies
    • , Yongjun Lu
    •  & Marc Poujol

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Low seismic velocity anomalies reveal a complex scenario of plume upwellings from a deep thermo-chemical anomaly (superplume) in the mantle below the East African Rift, however, geophysical observations alone are insufficient to identify the extent of plume influence on the magmatism along the rift. Here, the authors use Sr-Nd-Pb isotope data to show that superplume mantle underlies the entire rift system, from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean south of Mozambique.

    • John M. O’Connor
    • , Wilfried Jokat
    •  & Anthony A. P. Koppers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The tectonic evolution of southwestern North America remains debated. Here, the authors present a complete time-dependent geodynamic model of the tectonic evolution of southwestern North America, which can explain the extensional collapse of the Basin and Range Province since the Late Eocene.

    • Alireza Bahadori
    •  & William E. Holt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The geodynamic evolution of mountain ranges can be reconstructed using the pressure recorded by minerals in metamorphic rocks, under the key assumption that rock pressure is lithostatic. Here, the authors challenge the lithostatic pressure paradigm by showing that there can be significant outcrop-scale pressure gradients due to compression- and reaction-induced stress.

    • Cindy Luisier
    • , Lukas Baumgartner
    •  & Torsten Vennemann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The India-Asia collision has formed the highest mountains on Earth and is associated with extensive intraplate deformation. Here, the authors present geodynamic experiments of continental deformation across Central, East, and Southeast Asia which suggest that the Pacfic and Sunda subduction zones played an active role during intraplate deformation.

    • W. P. Schellart
    • , Z. Chen
    •  & F. M. Rosas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Al-Idrissi Fault System in the Alboran Sea is a major tectonic structure in its initial stage. By using bathymetric and seismic reflection data, the authors unravel a 3D geometry for the AIFS, which corresponds to a crustal-scale boundary and provides a unique model of the inception and growth of a young plate boundary fault system.

    • Eulàlia Gràcia
    • , Ingo Grevemeyer
    •  & César R. Ranero

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The point in time in which the ancient stagnant-lid tectonic regime with episodic plate subduction changed to continuous plate subduction is still topic of scientific debate. Here, the authors present vast geochemical dataset covering the last 3.5 billion years of Earth’s history and date the onset of continuous subduction to about 2.1 billion years ago.

    • He Liu
    • , Wei-dong Sun
    •  & Ming Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controversy surrounds the fixity of both hotspots and large low shear velocity provinces (LLSVPs). Here, the authors present new paleomagnetic data to show that the great bend in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain can be attributed to mantle plume motion and that LLSVPs are mobile.

    • Richard K. Bono
    • , John A. Tarduno
    •  & Hans-Peter Bunge

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tectonic plate motions are often reconstructed based on the assumption that mantle plumes are fixed within the mantle. Here, the authors provide geochemical and geodynamic evidence to suggest that the asymmetry of the Azores thermal anomaly can be explained by northward motion of the Azores plume.

    • Maëlis Arnould
    • , Jérôme Ganne
    •  & Xiaojun Feng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The genesis of hotspot magmatism remains controversial especially at continental margins such as offshore West Africa. Here, by analysing trace element and Pb isotopes of intraplate basalts, the authors conclude that their generation was caused by the melting of two fusible regions of subcontinental lithospheric mantle.

    • Iyasu Getachew Belay
    • , Ryoji Tanaka
    •  & Eizo Nakamura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The tectonic evolution of the Laxmi basin, in the northwest Indian Ocean, remains controversial. Here, the authors present new geochemical and seismic data which indicate the Laxmi basin formed by a subduction initiation event during the break-up of Gondwana.

    • Dhananjai K. Pandey
    • , Anju Pandey
    •  & Scott A. Whattam

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Continuous continental rift zones evolve from enigmatic interactions between individual propagating rift segments. Here, the authors document progressive focusing of tectonic and magmatic activity caused by interactions between the Kenyan and Ethiopian rift segments of the East African Rift.

    • Giacomo Corti
    • , Raffaello Cioni
    •  & Anne Glerum

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the 1000 km long Izu-Bonin subduction zone to the south of Tokyo, the Pacific Plate descends beneath the Philippine Sea Plate. Here the authors use teleseismic double-difference tomography to image the complex morphology of the Izu-Bonin slab, especially in the mantle transition zone.

    • Haijiang Zhang
    • , Fan Wang
    •  & Hao Guo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phyllosilicate minerals are critical components of seismogenic fault, shear and subduction zones. Here, the authors provide a new deformation mechanism for phyllosilicates, based on newly discovered crystallographic defects in biotite (ripplocations), affecting our understanding of fault zone processes.

    • Joe Aslin
    • , Elisabetta Mariani
    •  & Michel W. Barsoum

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tectonic faults weaken during slip in order to accelerate and produce earthquakes. Here the authors show a mechanism for weakening faults through the transformation of quartz to amorphous nanoparticulate wear powders that lubricate friction experiments, and transform back to quartz under geologic conditions.

    • Christie D. Rowe
    • , Kelsey Lamothe
    •  & Stefano Aretusini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Weak lower crustal flow in Tibet has been invoked to reconcile geophysical observations, yet viscosity estimates vary from 1016 to 1021 Pa·s. Here the authors show that viscous buckling of the upper crust in response to lower crust flow (viscosity ~1020 Pa·s) is responsible for the observed extension in Tibet.

    • Sarah H. Bischoff
    •  & Lucy M. Flesch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Earth degassing of CO2-rich fluids contributes significantly to the global carbon budget but its link to tectonic regimes remains unclear. Here, the authors use global geological datasets to show that there is a positive spatial correlation between CO2 discharges and extensional tectonic regimes.

    • Giancarlo Tamburello
    • , Silvia Pondrelli
    •  & Dmitri Rouwet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bend faulting prior to subduction is considered to promote hydration, yet the relationship remains ambiguous. Here, via analysis of seismic surveys from the Japan and Kuril trenches junction, the authors show that pre-subduction bend faulting and post-subduction plate hydration are strongly correlated.

    • Gou Fujie
    • , Shuichi Kodaira
    •  & Tomoaki Yamada

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Tibetan plateau is manifested by contrasting along-strike lithospheric structures, but the correlation with multi-terrane configuration remains challenging. Here, the authors show the crucial roles of the original geometric shape of accreted terranes in regulating the lithospheric evolution of Tibetan plateau.

    • Pengpeng Huangfu
    • , Zhong-Hai Li
    •  & Yaolin Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lamprophyres represent hydrous alkaline mantle melts that are a unique source of information about the composition of continental lithosphere. Here the authors use isotopic compositions of lamprophyres to map a hidden terrain boundary and an unknown fragment of Armorica in the mantle lithosphere of southwest Britain.

    • Arjan H. Dijkstra
    •  & Callum Hatch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Creeping serpentinite shear zones may host large earthquakes, but direct evidence of frictional heating and rupture have been missing. Here, the authors demonstrate via laboratory experiments that earthquake ruptures can propagate through serpentinite shear zones shown by high-temperature reaction products.

    • Matthew S. Tarling
    • , Steven A. F. Smith
    •  & James M. Scott

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Great megathrust earthquakes arise from the sudden release of strain accumulated during centuries of interseismic plate convergence. Here, the authors reconstruct interseismic strain accumulation since the 1960 Chile earthquake, finding a transient evolution at decadal scale with implications for estimating the probability of future events.

    • Daniel Melnick
    • , Shaoyang Li
    •  & Zhiguo Deng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The West Antarctic rift system, which divides the East and West Antarctic plates, was believed to be active until 26 Myr. Here, the authors demonstrate through new geophysical data that rifting within the West Antarctic rift system lasted until 11 Myr, providing a new interpretation on the development of Antarctica.

    • Roi Granot
    •  & Jérôme Dyment

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role Tibetan Plateau uplift played in Asian inland aridification remains unclear due to a paucity of accurately dated records. Here, the authors present a continuous aeolian sequence for the period >51–39 Ma, analysis of which indicates that aridification was driven by global climatic forcing rather than uplift.

    • J. X. Li
    • , L. P. Yue
    •  & Q. S. Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rapid tremor migration in subduction zones has been associated with aseismic, shear strain at the plate interface. Here, the authors develop a physical model that shows that pore-pressure waves at the plate interface are likely to generate secondary slip fronts triggering rapid tremor migrations with speeds and pathways similar to those observed in subduction zones.

    • Víctor M. Cruz-Atienza
    • , Carlos Villafuerte
    •  & Harsha S. Bhat

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Accumulation of interseismic strain may now be constrained by satellite observations. Here, the authors show that strain accumulation rates on the North Anatolian Fault are constant for the interseismic period indicating that lower-crustal viscosities from postseismic studies are not representative.

    • Ekbal Hussain
    • , Tim J. Wright
    •  & Andrew Hooper

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The rheology of the upper mantle is key to understanding how plate tectonics may evolve. Here, using GPS and tide-gauge measurements along the Sumatran subduction zone, the authors’ show that a bi-viscous rheology model is needed to explain the stress and strain evolution of the upper mantle following earthquakes.

    • Qiang Qiu
    • , James D. P. Moore
    •  & Emma M. Hill

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multiple complex tectonic and climatic processes have formed the Andes, which today provides a unique ecological niche. Here, Scott et al. investigate how the chemical composition of lavas from stratovolcanoes can be used to give insight on the uplift of the Andes over the last 200 million years.

    • Erin M. Scott
    • , Mark B. Allen
    •  & Mihai N. Ducea

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using mantle plumes to reconstruct past plate motion is complicated, because plumes may not be fixed. Here, the authors demonstrate using 40Ar/39Ar ages that the Rurutu plume is relatively stable compared to the rapidly moving Hawaiian plume, yet it has a similar deep mantle origin.

    • Kevin Konrad
    • , Anthony A. P. Koppers
    •  & Matthew G. Jackson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding subduction zone mechanics and resulting volcanism remains challenging. Here, the authors present seismic reflection profiles from the Mediterranean Sea where serpentinite diapirs are present on the external subduction system of the Calabrian Arc and may be linked to recent volcanism at Etna.

    • A. Polonia
    • , L. Torelli
    •  & M. Carlini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Large-scale changes in continental water storage have been shown to have an impact on seismicity. Here, the authors show that variation in the rate of microearthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone coincides with hydrological loading in the Mississippi embayment at both annual and multi-annual timescales.

    • Timothy J. Craig
    • , Kristel Chanard
    •  & Eric Calais

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Earthquakes frequently occur in the brittle-ductile transition near the base of the seismogenic zone. Using shear experiments on calcite faults, here the authors show that microscale cavitation plays a role in controlling the brittle-ductile transition, and in nucleating earthquakes at the base of the seismogenic zone.

    • Berend A. Verberne
    • , Jianye Chen
    •  & Christopher J. Spiers

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