Tonga slab deformation: The influence of a lower mantle upwelling on a slab in a young subduction zone

Abstract

There are fundamental geographic variations in the deformation of slabs in the transition zone. The seismic energy release and morphology of the Tonga slab show that it is deforming faster and has accumulated more deformation than any other slab. We show that Tonga overlies the edge of the large-scale Pacific superplume. There is no substantial aseismic penetration into the lower mantle beneath Tonga, consistent with initiation of subduction during the Eocene. Other major subduction systems overlay seismically fast structures. For long-lived subduction systems, the lower mantle tends to pull down on slabs while in Tonga the lower mantle pushes upward, partially accounting for the intense deformation. The perturbation to the state of slab stress due to large-scale mantle flow is 10 to 40 MPa — nearly as large as that expected from slab pull.