Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Melting Processes And Fluid And Sediment Transport Rates Along The Alaska-Aleutian Arc From An Integrated U-Th-Ra-Be Isotope Study, Rhiannon George, Simon Turner, Chris Hawkesworth, Julie Morris, Chris Nye, Jeffrey G. Ryan, Shu-Hui Zheng

Geology Faculty Publications

A comprehensive data set for young lavas erupted along the Alaska-Aleutian arc is used to examine how fluid and sediment transport rates and melting processes vary in response to systematic changes in subduction rate and dip along the arc and across the ocean-continent boundary. Positive correlations between convergence rate, volcano volume, and ²³⁸U excesses suggest that magmatic output is closely linked to the size of the fluid flux which occurred <10 kyr prior to eruption. Sediment-sensitive tracers like Th/Nb, Ce/Ce*, and ¹⁰Be/⁹Be also increase with convergence rate. However, the inferred ¹⁰Be/⁹Be ratio of this component is low relative to that in the incoming sediments, …