Volcanic Arcs - Vignette 04

This animation illustrates the formation of various continental volcanic arcs and oceanic islands arcs in the western Pacific. Geographic area of interest: Japan, Taiwan, China, Philippines, SE Asia and India. Geological Time Interval: late Eocene (40 Ma) to Modern.
keywords: plate tectonics, subduction, eustasy, subduction zones, back-arc basin, continental volcanic arc, island arc, volcanism, volcanicity, Pacific Ocean, Western Pacific, eastern Asia, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Asia, India collision, Scotese, animation
Please cite as:
Scotese, C.R., & van der Pluijm, B., 2020. Deconstructing Tectonics: Ten Animated Explorations, "Valcanic Arcs & Backarc Basins", Earth and Space Science,
7, e2019EA000989. doi. org/10.1029/2019EA000989
More Info:
Trenches are linear or curvilinear troughs that mark the boundary, at Earth’s surface, between the downgoing (or subducting) plate and the overriding plate (Mitchell and Reading, 1971). The floor of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific reaches a depth of over 11 km (Figure 6), which is deeper than the highest mountains (Mt. Everest is ~ 9 km high). Trenches form as the downgoing oceanic lithosphere pulls the ocean floor into the mantle.
A volcanic arc is a chain of volcanoes that forms along the edge of the overriding plate about 200-300 km from the trench and about 100-150 km above the surface of the subducted oceanic lithosphere. Most of the magma that rises to feed the volcanic arc forms by partial melting of mantle above the downgoing oceanic slab. Partial melting takes place primarily because volatiles (H2O) released from the downgoing plate reduce the melting point of the overlying mantle rock.

The region on the other side of the volcanic arc, away from the subducting oceanic lithosphere, is the back-arc region (Karig, 1970; Uyeda and Kanamori, 1979). Its character varies with tectonic setting, and can be contractional, extensional, or tectonically stable. Extensional back-arc settings contain rift zones that may evolve into basins floored by oceanic lithosphere. One example of a large back-arc basin with active seafloor spreading occurs behind the Mariana Volcanic Arc in the western Pacific Ocean. Another example of a back-arc basin in the northwestern Pacific is the Japan Sea, which formed about 30 million
years ago by rifting of the Japan Volcanic Arc from eastern Asia, due to subduction along the Japan Trench.

Back-arc regions may also be contractional, producing fold-thrust belts and basement uplifts, such as those found along the Andean margin of South America. Lastly, back-arc region where no deformation occurs are called stable back-arcs, such as the Bering Sea that is located north of the Aleutian Islands, which connects Alaska and Kamchatka.

[@jonrolfson1686]

Spent a fair bit of time wandering about in Sunny Southeast Asia since the early 1970s; often wondered about the formation of the repeated series of more-or-less parallel north-to-south running valleys and ranges across Burma, Northern Thailand and Laos. This video provided a good look at the continental scale torsion and compression that stemmed from India’s T-bone collision with Asia, centered slightly to the west of what is now Southeast Asia.

[@TheErik249]

This is beautiful work.
Our HOME heaving and sighing like a living breathing organism.

[@edwardlulofs444]

As a physicist, I think about the chaotic motion of the earth fractures and convection currents in a sphere from continent size down to molecules. Did you see the Philippines racing to the west and then grind to a stop? Amazing.

[@RogeliusZ]

It's fascinating I hope there will soon be a video about the Andes
greetings from Bolivia

[@swarapapua]

Great work. We need Austalian, Papua plate animation from Silurian, Cretazous until today ... Thanks Prof.

[@mrbyzantine0528]

I have no clue if the motions are independent or not, but it appears that India ramming into Asia caused Indonesia to be thrown into the sea. A similar thing appears to have happened to Japan.

[@Electrostarboi207]

1:05 all of human history at once

[@pba4591]

nice

[@SecretUser2]

I can see Philippines

[@FractalEarth]

The Pacific Arc Pattern and Crustal Symmetry: ruclips.net/video/V1RYBC6ITqc/видео.html

[@koala71783]

i think coast was alot futher at ice age.but im not expert

[@yulilestariknappdaily5382]

&appy belated new years, Sorry when i am spamming. I !m to poor to even look after my own billing

[@ELRONDGASAL]

4 new videos in 2 days
Nice.

[@WikiSnapper]

This one is really awesome! I love it! Thank you!!!

[@JudgePlaysRoblox]

I like your continental drifts

[@ufodeath]

This is one of the clearest tectonic animation videos I've seen showing how Japan got to its present location. I'd love to see a video go even further back, with Japan still firmly attached to the rest of Asia, before the formation of the Japanese sea. Thank You for providing this!

[@dawnmorning]

Awesome.

[@terraspace1100]

Love this.

[@TheSpaceEnthusiast-vl6wx]

True.

[@nazxa]

Hello,
Christopher
I subscribed to your channel

[@Epsilonmoosik]

The himalayas was formed 0:40