LATE JURASSIC-EARLY CRETACEOUS INTRA-ARC SEDIMENTATION AND VOLCANISM LINKED TO PLATE MOTION CHANGE IN NORTHERN JAPAN

Abstract

The Sorachi Group, composed of Upper Jurassic ophiolite and Lower Cretaceous island-arc volcano-sedimentary cover, provides a record of Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous sedimentation and volcanism in an island-arc setting off the eastern margin of the Asian continent. Stratigraphic changes in the nature and volume of the Sorachi Group volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks reveal four tectonic stages. These stages resulted from changes in the subduction direction of the Pacific oceanic plate. Stage I in the Late Jurassic was characterized by extensive submarine eruptions of tholeiitic basalt from the back-arc basin. Slab roll-back caused rifting and sea-floor spreading in the supra-subduction zone along the active Asian continental margin. Stage II corresponded to the Berriasian and featured localized trachyandesitic volcanism that formed volcanic islands with typical island-arc chemical compositions. At the beginning of this stage, movement of the Pacific oceanic plate shifted from northeastward to northwestward. During Stage III, in the Valanginian, submarine basaltic volcanism was followed by subsidence. The Pacific oceanic plate motion turned clockwise, and the plate boundary between the Asian continent and the Pacific oceanic plate changed from convergent to transform. During Stage IV in the Hauterivian-Barremian, in situ volcanism ceased in the Sorachi-Yezo basin, and the volcanic front migrated west of the Sorachi-Yezo basin. © 2006 Cambridge University Press.