A 60-Myr record of continental back-arc differentiation through cyclic melting
Nature Geoscience, ISSN: 1752-0908, Vol: 12, Issue: 3, Page: 215-219
2019
- 63Citations
- 63Captures
Metric Options: CountsSelecting the 1-year or 3-year option will change the metrics count to percentiles, illustrating how an article or review compares to other articles or reviews within the selected time period in the same journal. Selecting the 1-year option compares the metrics against other articles/reviews that were also published in the same calendar year. Selecting the 3-year option compares the metrics against other articles/reviews that were also published in the same calendar year plus the two years prior.
Example: if you select the 1-year option for an article published in 2019 and a metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019. If you select the 3-year option for the same article published in 2019 and the metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Citation Benchmarking is provided by Scopus and SciVal and is different from the metrics context provided by PlumX Metrics.
Example: if you select the 1-year option for an article published in 2019 and a metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019. If you select the 3-year option for the same article published in 2019 and the metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Citation Benchmarking is provided by Scopus and SciVal and is different from the metrics context provided by PlumX Metrics.
Article Description
Continental crust forms and evolves above subduction zones as a result of heat and mass transfer from the mantle below. The nature and extent of this transfer remain debated. Although it has been recognized that arc magmatism at active continental margins can be cyclical at 50- to 1-Myr timescales, such cyclicity has not been recognized in the back-arc. Here we investigate the melting of sedimentary rocks in the continental back-arc of the western Gondwana margin during the Cambrian–Ordovician Famatinian orogeny of Northwest Argentina. We determine the U−Pb ages of zircons that formed during crustal melting and find that they range from 505 to 440 million years ago, concentrated into age groups spaced by 10–15 Myr. This suggests multiple and cyclical melting events in the continental back-arc, which matches the more than 60 Myr duration of the magmatic activity in the arc and demonstrates that thermal and magmatic cyclicity also extends to the continental hinterland. We conclude that back-arc melting reflects a long-lasting, pulsating, cyclical heat transfer from mantle to crust that leads to thorough crustal reworking, transforming sedimentary rocks into crystalline continental crust. Thus, while magma transfer from the mantle promotes crustal growth in convergent margins, cyclical melting promotes crustal maturation of the back-arc.
Bibliographic Details
Provide Feedback
Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know