Collaborative Research: Investigating the Relationships Between Magmatic 'Flare-Ups', Crustal Rheology, and Arc Collapse

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Subduction zones, or areas where oceanic tectonic plates are pulled into the deep Earth, are one of the most dynamic locations on our planet. Importantly, they facilitate the transfer of magma from the Earth’s interior mantle layer to its surface. This magmatism is most clearly expressed as volcanic eruptions, and several lines of evidence suggest that this process is how continental crust has been made throughout Earth’s history. Nevertheless, the rate of magma transfer is not constant. There are well-documented periods of intense magmatism within subduction zones that are known as magmatic ‘flare-ups’. These punctuated events represent a large transfer of material and thermal energy into the Earth’s crust, and delineating their causes and consequences is important for understanding the long-term evolution of these dynamic tectonic settings. This study is focused on the relationship between magmatic flare-ups and deformation of the crust by comparing two periods of intense magmatism within the North Cascade Range, Washington, that occurred 78–60 and 50–45 million years ago. This area is ideal for the study because subsequent tectonic events, combined with erosion, have juxtaposed rocks that represent a variety of crustal depths during both flare-up events and have exposed these rocks at the Earth’s surface. The researchers will use this natural laboratory to create a detailed timeline of magmatic input compared to regional evidence for thickening and subsequent thinning of the Earth’s crust, faulting, and flow of ductile, weak crust. As part of this project the researchers will produce a scientific podcast that will communicate the results of this study to the general public. The podcast will highlight the role of women geoscientists in the project, with the goal of increasing recruitment to and retention of women in STEM-related careers. The proposed research will document the rheological evolution of continental arc crust during and between magmatic flare-up events. The researchers propose to exploit a well-exposed and relatively well-studied crustal section in the North Cascades, Washington, which preserves a record of magmatism, metamorphism, and deformation in the deep to upper crust during and between two flare-up events in the latest Cretaceous and Paleogene. Underthrusting and incorporation of sediment into the deep levels of the arc occurred during part of the older flare-up, and the end stage of the younger flare-up is coeval with exhumation of the deep arc crust. The researchers will utilize cutting-edge geochemical, geochronologic, thermobarometric, and field techniques on a combination of igneous intrusions and metasedimentary rocks within the arc, including those exposed within major fault systems. A key component of this study will be to create a high temporal resolution record of magma addition during the two flare-up events using uranium-lead zircon geo-/thermochronology that can be directly compared to a similar record of metamorphism, ductile deformation, and faulting determined by a combination of uranium-lead zircon, monazite, and titanite geo-/thermochronology, application of the new quartz in garnet geobarometer, and traditional field and microstructural study. This approach will provide a holistic understanding of magmatic flare-ups and how they affect the rheology of subduction zone crust on a 1-million-year-scale. In particular, the principal investigators will address: the temporal relationship between a weakened deep crust and flare-up magmatism; when the arc-bounding fault systems became active relative to flare-ups; how deformation was partitioned across different lithologies and structures; if and when crustal melting occurred during a flare-up; and if crustal thickness stayed constant during and between flare-ups. The broader impacts will include training of graduate students and creating a long-lasting program for public outreach through the development and advertisement of a podcast series tied to the roadside geology of the proposed research area, which is in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.