Uplift, rupture, and rollback of the Farallon slab reflected in volcanic perturbations along the Yellowstone adakite hot spot track

• Published in: Journal of geophysical research. Solid earth 2017-09, Vol.122 (9), p.7009-7041
• Main Authors: Camp, Victor E., Ross, Martin E., Duncan, Robert A., Kimbrough, David L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ancestral Cascade arc; Arc heating; Ascent; Basalt; Cascades; Columbia River Basalt; Decompression; Destruction; Dislocation; Dislocations; Dye dispersion; Earth; Earth mantle; Erosion; Extrusion; Geochemistry; Geochronology; Geophysics; Heat diffusion; Heating; Hot spots; Hot spots (geology); Lava; Magma; Mantle; mantle plume; Mantle plumes; Melting; Migration; National parks; Oceanic crust; Offshore; Pacific northwest; Perturbations; Plates (tectonics); Radiometric dating; Rivers; Rock; Rocks; Rupture; Rupturing; Segments; Sinking; Subduction; Subduction (geology); Tearing; Uplift; Volatiles; Volcanic ash; Volcanism; Yellowstone hot spot
• ISSN: 2169-9313; 2169-9356
• DOI: 10.1002/2017JB014517

Field, geochemical, and geochronological data show that the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades arc advanced into the Oregon back‐arc region from 30 to 20 Ma. We attribute this event to thermal uplift of the Farallon slab by the Yellowstone mantle plume, with heat diffusion, decompression, and the release of volatiles promoting high‐K calc‐alkaline volcanism throughout the back‐arc region. The greatest degree of heating is expressed at the surface by a broad ENE‐trending zone of adakites and related rocks generated by melting of oceanic crust from the Farallon slab. A hiatus in eruptive activity began at ca. 22–20 Ma but ended abruptly at 16.7 Ma with renewed volcanism from slab rupture occurring in two separate regions. The eastern rupture resulted in the extrusion of Steens Basalt during the ascent and melting of a dry mantle (plume) source contaminated with depleted mantle. The contemporaneous western rupture resulted in renewed subduction, melting of a wet mantle source, and the rejuvenation of high‐K calc‐alkaline volcanism near the Nevada‐California border at 16.7 Ma. Here the initiation of slab rollback is evident in the westward migration of arc volcanism at 7.8 km/Ma. Today, the uplifted slab is largely missing beneath the Oregon back‐arc region, replaced instead by a seismic hole that is bound on the south by the adakite hot spot track. We attribute slab destruction to thermal uplift and mechanical dislocation that culminated in rapid tearing of the slab from 17–15 Ma and possible foundering and sinking of slab segments from 16 to 10 Ma. Key Points Volcanic perturbations in the Cascadia back‐arc region are derived from uplift and dismemberment of the Farallon slab from ~30 to 20 Ma Slab uplift and concurrent melting above the Yellowstone plume promoted high‐K calc‐alkaline volcanism and adakite generation Creation of a seismic hole beneath eastern Oregon resulted from thermal erosion and slab rupture, followed by a period of slab rollback Plain Language Summary Yellowstone National Park is underlain by a rising plume of hot rock from the Earth's deep mantle that has provided the melt source for three supereruptions over the last 2 million years. This hot spot, or mantle plume, appears to be a long‐lived feature that resided offshore beneath the oceanic Farallon plate before being overridden by the westward moving North American plate about 42 million years ago (Myr). Between 42 and 17 Myr the Yellowstone plume was shielded beneath the subd