Future accreted terranes: a compilation of island arcs, oceanic plateaus, submarine ridges, seamounts, and continental fragments

Crustal volumes of the continents and of oceanic and continental submarine plateaus

Global topographic data and the assumption of Airy isostasy have been used to estimate the crustal volumes of the continents and the oceanic and continental submarine plateaus. The calculated crustal volumes are 7182 X lo6 km3 for the continents, 242 x lo6 km3 for continental submarine plateaus, and 369 X lo6 km3 for oceanic plateaus. The Falkland Plateau and the Lord Howe Rise are the two larg...

Oceanic- and continental-type metamorphic terranes: Occurrence and exhumation mechanisms

Continental crust generated in oceanic arcs

Thin oceanic crust is formed by decompression melting of the upper mantle at mid-ocean ridges, but the origin of the thick and buoyant continental crust is enigmatic. Juvenile continental crust may form from magmas erupted above intraoceanic subduction zones, where oceanic lithosphere subducts beneath other oceanic lithosphere. However, it is unclear why the subduction of dominantly basaltic oc...

Deep-sea coral distribution on seamounts, oceanic islands, and continental slopes in the Northeast Atlantic

A database of deep-water (> 200 m) antipatharians, scleractinians, and gorgonians has been assembled for the NE Atlantic to determine what their distribution and diversity was before coral habitats became heavily impacted by bottom fishing gear. Benthic sampling expeditions from 1868–1985 have provided 2547 records showing the deepwater distribution of 22 species of antipatharians, 68 species o...

Alpine and Pacific styles of Phanerozoic mountain building: subduction-zone petrogenesis of continental crust

The geological complexities of contractional orogenic belts have been studied for two centuries, yet our understanding of them is still rapidly changing. Most mountain belts form at or near the active edges of continents and/or fringing island arcs. Virtually all result from consumption of lithospheric plates, involving the underflow of oceanic crust, and the consequent transport and descent of...