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Understanding the age and dynamics of the overriding plates allows an assessment of competing subduction initiation hypotheses. The Izu‐Bonin‐Mariana margin in the Western Pacific is a key example of initiation and hence it is important to constrain the age and origin of the oldest igneous crust of the supra‐subduction Philippine Sea Plate. We present geochronological and geochemical data of igneous rocks from the oldest ocean basins of the Philippine Sea Plate: the West Philippine and Palau Basins. Basalts from these basins have enriched geochemical characteristics similar to the EM‐2‐like mantle component found in OIB‐like basalts associated with the Oki‐Daito mantle plume. Ages of basalts from the northernmost West Philippine Basin (WPB) and the Palau Basin range from 43.5 to 50.5 Ma, which is similar to the oldest samples associated with the Oki‐Daito mantle plume (48–50 Ma). This implies that the plume contributed to magmatism from the onset of basin formation. It also provides support for the proposition that rifting of the Mesozoic arc terrane and subsequent seafloor spreading of the WPB was triggered by the arrival of the Oki‐Daito mantle plume at the base of the lithosphere. The age of these Philippine Sea Basins implies that only the Mesozoic Daito Ridge Group and the Gagua Ridge existed as Philippine Sea Plate crust before subduction initiation. A major fault activity after 37 Ma in the northernmost WPB demonstrates that careful reconstruction of the Eocene Philippine Sea Plate is critical to understanding plate dynamics during subduction initiation in the Western Pacific. Plain Language Summary: This study investigates the formation of the crust beneath the Philippine Sea Plate. An outcome of this research is a clearer understanding of the plate tectonic configuration in the Western Pacific at the point when volcanic activity started. We collected rock samples from what is thought to be the oldest sections of the West Philippine Basin and the Palau Basin, and determined their age and chemical composition. These rocks were erupted between 43.5 and 50.5 million years ago, and are of a similar age and composition to the volcanic rocks known to be associated with the Oki‐Daito mantle plume (48–50 million years old). These similarities imply that the initial volcanism on the Philippine Sea Plate was triggered by the arrival of the upwelling Oki‐Daito mantle plume. A consequence of the hot and buoyant mantle plume was to stretch the existing crust and develop a new ocean basin by volcanic activity. The new ages for the oldest ocean basins in the Philippine Sea Plate reveal that only the Mesozoic arc terrane existed as the Philippine Sea Plate crust before subduction initiation. This provides new constraints on the conditions under which subduction can initiate between the two plates. Key Points: New dating indicates that a major part of the oldest Philippine Sea Plate basins formed after c. 51 MaOcean crust of the oldest Philippine Basins is affected by the Oki‐Daito mantle plumeOnset of spreading of the West Philippine Basin could have been triggered when the Oki‐Daito plume hit the base of preexisting lithosphere [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary andesitic magmas could be an important component of arc magma genesis and might have played a key role in the advent of continents. Recent studies hypothesized that primary andesitic magmas occur in the oceanic arc, where the crust is thin. The Kermadec arc has the thinnest crust among all the studied oceanic arcs (<15 km in thickness); however, there are no studies that corroborate the formation of primary andesitic magmas in the arc. The aim of this study is to develop a better understanding of primary andesites in oceanic arcs through the petrology of the Kermadec arc. Here, we present the petrology of volcanic rocks dredged from the Kibblewhite Volcano in the Kermadec arc during the R/V SONNE SO-255 expedition in 2017. Magma types range from andesite to rhyolite at the Kibblewhite Volcano, but basalts dominate at the neighboring cones. This study focuses on magnesian andesites from the northeastern flank of this volcano. The magnesian andesites are nearly aphyric and plagioclase free but contain microphenocrysts of olivine (Fo84–86) and clinopyroxene (Mg# = 81–87). Using olivine addition models, the primary magmas were estimated to contain 55–56 wt % SiO2 and 10–12 wt % MgO, similar to the high-Mg andesites observed in other convergent plate margins, indicating the generation of primary andesitic magma beneath the Kibblewhite Volcano. The trace element and isotopic characteristics of the magnesian andesites are typical of volcanic rocks from the Kermadec arc. This indicates that the subduction of a young plate or melting of a pyroxenitic source is not necessary to produce magnesian andesites. Instead, we propose that the magnesian andesites were produced by the direct melting of the uppermost mantle of the Kermadec arc. The thin crust of the Kermadec arc should yield low-pressure conditions in the uppermost mantle, allowing the sub-arc mantle to generate primary andesitic melts. This study supports the hypothesis that primary andesitic magmas generate in the arc where the crust is thin and provides a new insight into the magma genesis of the Kermadec arc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between plutonic and volcanic components of magmatic plumbing systems continues to be a question of intense debate. The Oki-Dōzen Islands, Sea of Japan, preserve outcrops of temporally associated plutonic, hypabyssal, and volcanic rocks. Post-intrusion uplift juxtaposed Miocene syenites in inferred faulted contact with volcanic trachytes that are cut by rhyolite hypabyssal dikes. This provides a window deep into the timing and origins of magma storage architecture and dynamics. Zircon is ubiquitous in all samples; our aim is to determine what its age and composition can reveal about the plutonic-volcanic connection. Here we show magma source characteristics are recorded in zircon Hf isotopes; source composition and assimilation of heterogeneous hydrothermally altered crust in zircon O isotopes; and extensive fractional crystallization in zircon trace elements. Combined with new U-Th-Pb SHRIMP zircon ages, 6.4–5.7 Ma, compositional data show pluton formation was by protracted amalgamation of discrete magma pulses. The rhyolite dike preserves an evolved fraction segregated from these discrete magmas. Synchronous with plutonism was a volcanic eruption of trachyte magma derived from the same source, which may have stalled at a relatively shallow depth prior to eruption. Stalling occurred at least above the amphibole stability zone because amphibole-compatible Sc and Ti were not depleted in the trachyte melt resulting in elevated values of these in volcanic compared to plutonic zircon. Identifying smaller episodic magma pulses in a larger magmatic complex places constraints on potential magma fluxes and eruptible volumes. High-flux, large volume, plume-related ocean island magmatic systems may have extensive vertically distributed multi-stage magmatic reservoirs and subduction-related systems transcrustal magma reservoirs. By contrast, Oki-Dōzen was a low-flux system with incremental pluton growth and small- to moderate-scale eruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ∼50 Myr old Izu–Bonin–Mariana (IBM) arc consists mostly of Oligocene middle and lower crust that underlies the upper crust; these units are in turn covered by Quaternary volcanic rocks. Seismic imaging, forearc geology, Ocean Drilling Program drilling and magnetic anomalies suggest that most IBM arc crust was created in Eocene–Oligocene times. However, remnants of this old crust have never been found at the northern end of the arc, where it is colliding with the Honshu arc (Izu collision zone). Two batholiths in this collision zone (the Tanzawa tonalites and the Kofu Granitic Complex) were emplaced during the Miocene (4–17 Ma). Major elements, Zr/Y, rare earth element ratios and normalized abundance patterns, and Sr–Nd isotopic data indicate that these plutonic bodies are compositionally similar to the Oligocene IBM volcanic rocks, and that they are dissimilar to the Miocene, Pliocene and Quaternary IBM lavas and volcaniclastic rocks. We suggest that the Miocene plutonic rocks in the Izu collision zone were derived from partially melted Oligocene middle crust. A model is proposed in which IBM arc middle crust in the collision zone was partially melted during the collision and then intruded into the overlying upper crust of the Honshu and IBM arcs. This resulted in the complete loss of chronological information related to their original source. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Three-quarters of the Earth's volcanic activity is submarine, located mostly along the mid-ocean ridges, with the remainder along intraoceanic arcs and hotspots at depths varying from greater than 4,000 m to near the sea surface. Most observations and sampling of submarine eruptions have been indirect, made from surface vessels or made after the fact. We describe here direct observations and sampling of an eruption at a submarine arc volcano named NW Rota-1, located 60 km northwest of the island of Rota (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). We observed a pulsating plume permeated with droplets of molten sulphur disgorging volcanic ash and lapilli from a 15-m diameter pit in March 2004 and again in October 2005 near the summit of the volcano at a water depth of 555 m (depth in 2004). A turbid layer found on the flanks of the volcano (in 2004) at depths from 700 m to more than 1,400 m was probably formed by mass-wasting events related to the eruption. Long-term eruptive activity has produced an unusual chemical environment and a very unstable benthic habitat exploited by only a few mobile decapod species. Such conditions are perhaps distinctive of active arc and hotspot volcanoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]