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Rifting of Kyushu, Japan, based on the fault-controlled concurrent eruption of oceanic island basalt-type and island arc-type lavas

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Abstract

The tectonic environment of Kyushu, Japan is affected both by the subduction of the Philippine Sea plate and by the extensional tectonics related to rifting of Okinawa Trough at the eastern margin of the Eurasia Plate. We found that the Sendai fault zone acts as a channel for concurrent eruption of oceanic island basalt (OIB)-type and island arc (IA)-type basaltic rocks, propagating west to east in the Sendai region of southern Kyushu. The location of the Sendai fault zone is likely to correspond to the left-lateral shear zone in southern Kyushu as inferred by GPS Earth Observation Network. A similar magmatic association is present in the Beppu–Shimabara (BS) graben system in central Kyushu. The associate magmas of OIB-type rocks in Kyushu can be classified into typical, EM II-like and their intermediate OIB-type magmas in addition to MORB-like OIB-type magma in 87Sr/86Sr–Nb/Y systematics. Typical OIB-type and intermediate OIB-type magmas are erupted within the Sendai fault zone and BS graben system, respectively. The former is characterized by highest Nb/Y but low 87Sr/86Sr similar to MORB-like OIB-type magma erupted in northern Kyushu and the latter has intermediate Nb/Y and 87Sr/86Sr between typical and EM II-like OIB-type magmas. Almost all the IA-type rocks within the Sendai fault zone are generated from parental IA-type magma in Kyushu and characterized by weak crustal assimilation, having the lowest 87Sr/86Sr similar to typical OIB-type magma but the highest 143Nd/144Nd of arc magmas in Kyushu. The ages of both types of basaltic rocks within the Sendai fault zone range from 1.6 to <0.01 Ma clearly younger than those of andesitic rocks on northern and southern outsides of the fault zone and become younger from west to east. Initial formation of the fault zone has been induced by the counterclockwise rotation of southern Kyushu during the last 2 Ma as well as the BS graben system. Kyushu has continued to be split into three parts by the Sendai fault zone and BS graben during the Quaternary; northern, central, and southern zones. Their initial formation ages are likely to be linked to the initial rifting age of the middle Okinawa Trough back-arc basin.

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Acknowledgment

This work was partially supported by a grant from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (nos. 06222204 and 06640627). We are deeply grateful to Prof. Y. Kuwahara of Kyushu University for his fruitful comments. We also appreciate the manuscript reviewers (Jennifer Wenner and an anonymous reviewer) and associate editor (Michael A. Clynne) for their helpful comments and polishing up our English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Changes, Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Itsuro Kita

  2. Faculty of Engineering and Resource Science, Akita University, Akita, 010-8502, Japan

    Yoshitada Asakawa, Tsutomu Yuri, Mitsuhiro Yasui, Yoichi Shimoike & Masatsugu Yamamoto

  3. Institute for Environmental Sciences, Aomori, 039-3212, Japan

    Hidenao Hasegawa

  4. Faculty of Science, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, 814-0180, Japan

    Sachihiro Taguchi

  5. Geochemical Research Center, Graduate school of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Hirochika Sumino

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  1. Itsuro Kita
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  2. Yoshitada Asakawa
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  3. Tsutomu Yuri
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Kita, I., Asakawa, Y., Yuri, T. et al. Rifting of Kyushu, Japan, based on the fault-controlled concurrent eruption of oceanic island basalt-type and island arc-type lavas. Bull Volcanol 74, 1121–1139 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-012-0587-z

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