Skip to main content
Earth, Planets and Space
Download PDF
  • Article
  • Published:

Seismic tomography of the uppermost mantle beneath southwestern Japan: Seismological constraints on modelling subduction and magmatism for the Philippine Sea slab

Earth, Planets and Space volume 55, pages 443–462 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Many studies have been made on the subduction of the Pacific slab and the magmatism in northeastern Japan, but not on the subduction of the Philippine Sea slab and the magmatism in southwestern Japan. Primary reasons may be that seismological networks in southwestern Japan were sparse as compared with those in northeastern Japan and that geology including volcanism of southwestern Japan is more complicated than that of northeastern Japan. However, recent instrumental development of dense seismological networks in the Japanese Islands has provided us with high quality data not only for northeastern Japan but for southwestern Japan. One of the outcomes from the development is the increase of accuracy of arrival time readings of P- and S-waves and resultant hypocenter determination. We attempt to elucidate fine image of the uppermost mantle structure beneath the Japanese Islands and to find evidence for the relation between the magmatism and subduction process. We apply travel time tomography to 216,247 P- and 98,207 S-wave arrival times observed at 1,328 seismic stations from 5,242 earthquakes in and around the Japanese Islands, and obtain three-dimensional variations of P- and S-wave velocity structure. In Chubu and Kyushu, the subducting Philippine Sea slab bends downward in the depth range of 50 to 70 km. In some nonvolcanic regions, remarkable anomalies of high Poisson’s ratio (and low S-wave velocity) are seen in the depth range of 25 to 40 km near the upper boundary of the Philippine Sea slab or the Moho discontinuity, and approximately coincide with the hypocenter distribution of deep low-frequency earthquakes. The anomalies of high Poisson’s ratio are also seen near the upper boundary of the Philippine Sea slab or the overlying mantle wedge down to a depth of about 60 km, but are not seen after the downward bending of the slab, in the forearc region. The anomalies are probably caused by separated fluid or hydrous minerals. These characteristics should be taken into account in numerical modelling of the subduction of young slabs (e.g., Philippine Sea slab) and associated phenomena (e.g., magmatism).

References

  • Aramaki, S. and T. Ui, Major element frequency distribution of the Japanese Quaternary volcanic rocks, Bull. Volcanol., 41, 390–407, 1978.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, N. I., Poisson’s ratio and crustal seismology, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 3139–3156, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamada, N., Re-examination of travel time tables for local earthquakes, Pap. Meteorol. Geophys., 35, 109–167, 1984 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirahara, K., Three-dimensional seismic structure beneath southwest Japan: the subducting Philippine Sea plate, Tectonophysics, 79, 1–44, 1981.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirahara, K., Detection of three-dimensional velocity anisotropy, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 51, 71–85, 1988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honda, S. and I. Nakanishi, Shape of the Philippine Sea slab in the mantle and volcanism in the Chubu region, Central Japan, Geophys. Bull. Hokkaido Univ., 65, 167–177, 2002 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hori, S., H. Inoue, Y. Fukao, and M. Ukawa, Seismic detection of the un-transformed ’basaltic’ oceanic crust subducting into the mantle, Geophys. J. R. Astr. Soc, 83, 169–197, 1985.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurukawa, N. and M. Imoto, A non double-couple earthquake in a subducting oceanic crust of the Philippine Sea Plate, J. Phys. Earth, 41, 257–269, 1993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inoue, H., Y. Fukao, K. Tanabe, and Y. Ogata, Whole mantle P-wave travel time tomography, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter, 59, 294–328, 1990.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isacks, B. L. and M. Barazangi, Geometry of Benioff zones: lateral segmentation and downward bending of the subducted lithosphere, in Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-Arc Basins, edited by Talwani, M. and W. C. Pitman III, 470 pp, Amer. Geophys. Union, Washington, D. C., 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwamori, H., Compositional zonation of Cenozoic basalts in the central Chugoku district, southwestern Japan: Evidence for mantle upwelling, Bull. Volcanol. Soc. Jpn., Ser 2, 34, 105–123, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwamori, H., Transportation of H2O and melting in subduction zones, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett, 160, 65–80, 1998.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Japan Meteorological Agency, The Seismological and Volcanological Bulletin of Japan for January 2002, Japan Meteorological Agency, Tokyo, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Japan Meteorological Agency, http://www.jma.go.jp/JMAHP/jma/press/0301/21a/yochiren.pdf, 2003.

  • Kamiya, S. and Y. Kobayashi, Seismological evidence for the existence of serpentinized wedge mantle, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 819–822, 2000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaneko, T., A kinematic subduction model for the genesis of back-arc low-K volcanoes at a two-overlapping subduction zone, central Japan: another volcanic front originated from the Philippine Sea plate subduction, J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 66, 9–26, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimura, J. and T. Yoshida, Magma supply system beneath the Norikura volcanic belt, Earth Monthly, 18, 97–103, 1996 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kincaid, C. and I. S. Sacks, Thermal and dynamical evolution of the upper mantle in subduction zones, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 12295–12315, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinoshita, Y. and I. Nakanishi, Subcrustal seismicity beneath the southern part of the Chugoku region, Japan, J. Phys. Earth, 45, 307–312, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsuzawa, T., N. Umino, A. Hasegawa, and A. Takagi, Upper mantle velocity structure estimated from PS-converted wave beneath the northeastern Japan Arc, Geophys. J. R. Astr. Soc, 86, 767–787, 1986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mibe, K., T. Fujii, and A. Yasuda, Control of the location of the volcanic front in island arcs by aqueous fluid connectivity in the mantle wedge, Nature, 401, 259–262, 1999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miyoshi, T. and K. Ishibashi, Geometry of the upper surface of the Philippine Sea slab (Preliminaries), Proc. Meet., DPRI, Kyoto Univ., 13K-7, 127–137, 2002 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakajima, J., T. Matsuzawa, A. Hasegawa, and D. Zhao, Three-dimensional structure of Vp, Vs, and Vp/Vs beneath northeastern Japan: Implications for arc magmatism and fluids, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 21843–21857, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura, M., H. Watanabe, T. Konomi, S. Kimura, and K. Miura, Characteristic activities of subcrustal earthquakes along the outer zone of southwestern Japan, Ann. Disas. Prev. Res. Inst. Kyoto Univ., 40, 1–20, 1997 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura, M., Y. Yoshida, D. Zhao, K. Yoshikawa, H. Takayama, G. Aoki, H. Kuroki, T. Yamazaki, J. Kasahara, T. Kanazawa, T. Sato, H. Shiobara, H. Shimamura, and A. Nakanishi, Three-dimensional P and S wave velocity structure beneath central Japan, Pap. Meteorol Geophys., 53, 1–28, 2002 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakanishi, I., Precursors to ScS phases and dipping interface in the upper mantle beneath southwestern Japan, Tectonophysics, 69, 1–35, 1980.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakanishi, I., K. Suyehiro, and T. Yokota, Regional variations of amplitudes of ScSp phases observed in the Japanese islands, Geophys. J. R. Astr. Soc., 67, 615–634, 1981.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakanishi, I., Y. Kinoshita, and K. Miura, Subduction of young plates: A case of the Philippine Sea plate beneath the Chugoku region, Japan, Earth Planets Space, 54, 3–8, 2002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Obara, K., Nonvolcanic deep tremor associated with subduction in southwest Japan, Science, 296, 1679–1681, 2002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ochi, F., M. Nakamura, and D. Zhao, Deep structure of the subducting Philippine Sea slab under southwestern Japan, Earth Monthly, 23, 679–684, 2001 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Oda, H. and T. Douzen, New evidence for a low-velocity layer on the subducting Philippine Sea plate in southwest Japan, Tectonophysics, 332, 347–358, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohkura, T., Structure of the upper part of the Philippine Sea plate estimated by later phases of upper mantle earthquakes in and around Shikoku, Japan, Tectonophysics, 321, 17–36, 2000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seno, T., D. Zhao, Y. Kobayashi, and M. Nakamura, Dehydration of ser-pentinized slab mantle: Seismic evidence from southwest Japan, Earth Planets Space, 53, 861–871, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shiomi, K., Heterogeneous structure of seismic velocity beneath the Chugoku and Shikoku regions based on receiver function analysis, Ph.D. Thesis, Tohoku Univ., 152 pp., 2002 (in Japanese).

  • Shiomi, K., K. Obara, and H. Sato, Location of subducting Philippine Sea Plate beneath Chugoku-Shikoku region revealed from receiver function analysis, Programme and Abstracts, Fall Meeting, Seismol. Soc. Jpn., A51, 2002 (in Japanese).

  • Takahashi, M., Island Arc, Magma and Tectonics, 322 pp, Univ. Tokyo Press, Tokyo, 2000 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatsumi, Y., Migration of fluid phases and genesis of basalt magmas in subduction zones, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 4697–4707, 1989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ueno, H., S. Hatakeyama, T. Aketagawa, J. Funasaki, and N. Hamada, Improvement of hypocenter determination procedures in the Japan Meteorological Agency, Quarter. J. Seismol, 65, 123–134, 2002 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Um, J. and C. Thurber, A fast algorithm for two-point seismic ray tracing, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 77, 972–986, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uto, K., Volcanoes and age determination: Now and future of K-Ar and 40Ar/39 Ar dating, Bull. Volcanol. Soc. Jpn., S40, 27–46, 1995 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Uto, K. and Y. Tatsumi, Quaternary volcanism of the Japanese Islands, Island Arc, 5, 250–261, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wakita, H., Y. Sano, and M. Mizoue, High 3He emanation and seismic swarms observed in a nonvolcanic, forearc region, J. Geophys. Res., 92, 12539–12546, 1987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamane, T, I. Nakanishi, and S. Kamiya, P-wave velocity structure of the Philippine Sea plate subducting from the Nankai trough and its relation with seismicity and volcanism in Southwestern and Central Japan, Bull. Earthq. Res. Inst. Univ. Tokyo, 75, 335–374, 2000 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamaoka, K. and M. Nishihara, Geometry of subducting Philippine Sea plate and its relationship with the volcanism in Chubu district, Japan, Bull. Volcanol. Soc. Jpn, S42, 131–138, 1997 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamauchi, M., K. Hirahara, and T. Shibutani, High resolution receiver function imaging of the seismic velocity discontinuities in the crust and the uppermost mantle beneath southwest Japan, Earth Planets Space, 55, 59–64, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamazaki, F. and T. Ooida, Configuration of subducted Philippine Sea plate beneath the Chubu district, central Japan, J. Seismol. Soc. Jpn, Ser 2, 38, 193–201, 1985 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, D., A. Hasegawa, and S. Horiuchi, Tomographic imaging of P and S wave velocity structure beneath northeastern Japan, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 19909–19928, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, D., F. Ochi, A. Hasegawa, and A. Yamamoto, Evidence for the location and cause of large crustal earthquakes in Japan, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 13579–13594, 2000a.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, D., K. Asamori, and H. Iwamori, Seismic structure and magmatism of the young Kyushu subduction zone, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 2057–2060, 2000b.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geophysics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    S. Honda & I. Nakanishi

Authors
  1. S. Honda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. I. Nakanishi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Honda, S., Nakanishi, I. Seismic tomography of the uppermost mantle beneath southwestern Japan: Seismological constraints on modelling subduction and magmatism for the Philippine Sea slab. Earth Planet Sp 55, 443–462 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03351779

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03351779

Key words