Deep sea-lithosphere fluid exchange in subduction zones and its effects: A critical review

doi:10.13745/j.esf.sf.2021.9.16

Abstract

Abstract:

The subduction zone has the most complex and intense tectonic activities on Earth and is also an important part of the Earth's material circulation system. In-depth study of subduction zones will help deepen our understanding of the earth system. According to published results, it is believed that the oceanic lithosphere brings large amounts of water into the mantle through subduction at the boundary of the convergent plate, and this phenomenon is responsible for the control of subduction earthquakes, mantle melting, magma production, continental crust formation, and even mineral enrichment. The lithospheric mantle of the fore-arc uplift area is intensively hydrated by deep seawater infiltration along faults, and mantle hydration is one of the main ways of water accumulation in the lithosphere. With the increase of subduction depth, the hydrous serpentinized mantle dehydrates under certain temperature and pressure conditions, leading to intermediate earthquakes in the subduction zone. Moreover, due to differences in water migration, the separated water not only can cause hydrofracturing in the plate, but also can affect subduction interface coupling to form slow slip zones. Hence, fluid exchange between the deep sea and lithosphere in the subduction zone and its effect in the deep earth are complex dynamic processes with multiphysics couplings between chemical reaction, temperature, fluid migration and stress deformation. However, current researches mainly focus on exploratory observation and analysis of specific factors, phenomena or processes under certain conditions. Future research, therefore, needs to focus on the comprehensive, multidisciplinary study of multiphysics coupling dynamics from the perspective of earth system science, integrating fluid migration and chemical reaction into conventional solid earth research to quantitatively characterize/analyze the deep sea-lithosphere fluid exchange and its effects on the subduction dynamics at multiple spatiotemporal scales.

Key words: subduction zone, fluid exchange, phase changes, fluid migration, multi-physics coupling dynamics

CLC Number:

P313

XING Huilin, WANG Jianchao, PANG Shuo, WANG Ruize, LIU Dongyu, MA Zihan, ZHANG Yuling, TAN Yuyang. Deep sea-lithosphere fluid exchange in subduction zones and its effects: A critical review[J]. Earth Science Frontiers, 2022, 29(5): 246-254.

Figures/Tables 5

Fig.1 Hydration fault channels in the uplift area at the trench front detected by various geophysical methods. a,b,d modified after [41]; c modified after [33]; e modified after [47].

Fig.2 Dehydration induced phase transition in serpentinized oceanic lithospheric mantle. Modified after [55-56].

Fig.3 Summary of serpentine rheological behavior according to p-T conditions. Modified after [52].

Fig.4 Schematic of microscopic intraplate fluid migrations along fractures and discrete faults. Modified after [70-71].

Fig.5 Schematics of fault-mediated plate hydration (left) and stress propagation along faults (right). Modified after [74].

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