Collaborative Research: Crustal Accretion and Mantle Processes Along the Subduction-Influenced East Lau Spreading Center

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Wiens et al.AbstractThis is a combined active and passive seismic experiment along the Eastern Lau Spreading Center to test the following hypotheses. 1. Circulation in the mantle wedge is dominated by slab driven flow. 2. Interaction of the arc and backarc magma production controls the character of the ridge by influencing melt flux, petrology, and geochemistry. 3. Variations in the mantle melt supply control ridge crest features such as morphology, thermal structure, and hydrothermal venting. The passive experiment consists of 55 broadband ocean bottom seismographs and five land seismographs deployed for 10 months to image the larger-scale structure of the melt production region and the mantle flow pattern. The active source experiment consists of 100 ocean bottom seismographs deployed along a 250 km section of the spreading center extending from the inflated Vala Fa region to the magma-starved northern Eastern Lau Spreading Center where the axial melt lens is absent.In broader terms this experiment addresses a first order problem in ridge dynamics in a unique subduction zone setting and is essential for the stated goals of R2K program. Graduate students will be supported by all four PIs.