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GEODYNAMICS

Scraped by flat-slab subduction

During flat subduction, material is scraped off the base of the continental mantle lithosphere, building a migrating
keel. This testable mechanism for flat subduction recreates features of the Laramide orogeny.

Marc-André Gutscher

I
n most subduction zones, the oceanic plate
descends below an overriding continental
plate from a deep-sea trench and down
into the mantle. The oceanic plate descends
at an angle and this slab dip angle generally
increases from a few degrees at the trench to
30° or more at depth. In some cases, the slab
dip can reach extremes of close to vertical
or horizontal. In cases of near horizontal
dip, having reached 20° to 30°, the slab dip
decreases and the subducting plate proceeds
for several-hundred kilometres almost
horizontally, sliding along the underside
of the overriding plate’s belly1. Writing in
Nature Geoscience, Axen et al.2 present
numerical simulations showing that during
this horizontal phase, the flat slab scrapes
off 20 to 50 km of the overriding continental
mantle lithosphere.
An episode of flat-slab subduction
some 80 to 50 million years ago during the

a Old view (Gutscher et al.)

Block fault uplift/transpression
0 Trench
Oceanic
crust Continental crust
Moho

50 Continental mantle
lithosphere
Increased interplate coupling
Depth (km)

Oc 1,300 °C
ea (compressional shear stress) Asthenosphere
nic
100 mantle lithosphere

Flat slab
Asthenosphere 1,300 °C
150

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Length (km)

b New view (Axen et al.)

Modelled compressional stress
Trench
0
Extension! Extension!
Oceanic Continental crust
crust
Modelled deviatoric stress
Moho
50
Continental mantle
lithosphere Bulldozed keel
Depth (km)

Oc
ea
nic
100 mantle lithosphere

Flat slab
Asthenosphere
1,300 °C Asthenosphere
150

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Length (km)

Fig. 1 | Less basal shear, more scraping in flat subduction. a,b, Compressional features of flat subduction, such as the uplifted block faults and transpression,
were previously explained by basal shear from the undersliding plate1 (a). However, Axen et al.2 present numerical simulations that instead suggest that
accumulated material from the continental mantle lithosphere forms a bulldozed keel. This keel drives a belt of compressional deformation far inboard of the
trench and results in extension above the flat slab (b). Green circles represent crustal seismicity in the upper plate, along the subduction interface, and within
the down-going slab.

Nature Geoscience | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience

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Laramide orogeny has strongly affected
the modern-day landscape and geology
of the western United States3,4. Support
for Laramide flat subduction comes from
the 1,500 to 2,000 km migration of arc
magmatism inboard from the trench and
later retreat back towards the trench5.
Typically, for normal slab dip, the distance
between the volcanic arc and trench is 200 to
300 km, with the arc forming when the slab
reaches roughly 100 km depth. Therefore,
arc magmatism some 1,000 km from the
trench indicates an extremely shallow slab
dip only achievable through flat subduction.
In addition, tomographic images of the
upper mantle beneath North America
document currently subducting and fossil
slabs where the slab has resubducted6. When
this flat-slab phase ended, the underlying
slab peeled away and sank into the mantle.
This triggered widespread volcanic
eruptions, pyroclastic flows and ignimbrite
flare ups in the Basin and Range7, and
the formation of economically important
porphyry copper ore deposits.
Axen and colleagues2 present numerical
simulations for the initiation and evolution
of flat subduction. They find that the
flattened slab advances and scrapes the
base of the overriding plate. This scraped-
off mantle lithosphere accumulates at
the nose of the advancing flat slab, in the
form of a bulldozed keel (Fig. 1b), and
fills the asthenospheric wedge. This filling
inhibits convection in the asthenospheric
wedge, where water would typically
be released from the downgoing slab
causing partial melting. Thus, arc
magmatism ends. They specifically apply
their model to the Late Cretaceous Laramide
orogeny in North America and show that
it can recreate features such as block fault
uplift in the interior of the overriding
continental plate.
Flat subduction is relatively rare in
modern times, only observed in about
10% of the world’s subduction zones,
such as Peru and Central Chile. The
causes of flat subduction have long been
debated. Previous studies attributed
it to a combination of factors such as
slab buoyancy, plate kinematics and
asthenospheric dynamics that can combine
to produce favourable conditions1,4,8.
Numerical models have previously simulated
flat-slab subduction below North America9,
but some of the key observations were
difficult to reproduce. For instance, there is
a belt of compressional structures — block
fault uplifts — that progress in age from the
Colorado Plateau in the west to the high
plains (such as the Big Horn range, South
Dakota) in the east. These were previously
attributed to compressional deformation
throughout the overlying portion of the
upper plate driven by basal shear exerted
from the flat slab below (Fig. 1a). However,
the lack of compressional deformation above
the flat portion of the slab, as demonstrated
by active normal faulting observed in field
studies in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru10,
was difficult to reconcile with the basal shear
model (Fig. 1a)1.
Behind the observed and modelled
compressional deformation belt, the
simulations by Axen et al.2 actually predict
a zone of elevated extensional stress in the
upper plate. This prediction can be tested
by examining stress field indicators above
flat-slab regions. These include in-situ
measurements, for example, elongation
of boreholes during breakouts, field
observations and analysis of earthquake
focal mechanisms. Initial assessment of the
focal mechanisms for crustal earthquakes
above flat-slab zones in Central and
Southern Peru reveals a low level of
seismicity in general, with four normal
faulting mechanisms out of a total of six.
The focal mechanisms and mapped normal
faults indicate ongoing extension and are
therefore supportive of the predictions
made by the Axen et al. model2. A large-
scale seismology survey above the southern
Nature Geoscience | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience
edge of the Peruvian flat slab succeeded in
imaging the deep slab, where resubduction
occurs11, and the impact on the upper
plate (Fitzcarrald Arch) uplift was also
explored and tentatively explained by basal
shear12. This interpretation may need to
be reconsidered in light of the Axen et al.
study. Future passive seismological work
here could target the interior portion of the
upper plate and offer direct images of the
bulldozed keel.
Axen et al.2 offer an elegant explanation
of the observations specific to the Laramide
orogeny of western North America.
But, beyond this regional significance,
the proposed mechanism of a scraped
continental mantle lithosphere and
regional extension may be important to
flat subduction zones more generally, today
and in the past. The modern Peruvian
Andes may yet prove to be an analogue
for the Basin and Range of 50 to 60 million
years ago. ❐
Marc-André Gutscher
Univ. Brest/French National Centre for Scientific
Research, Laboratoire Géosciences Océan,
Plouzané, France.
e-mail: gutscher@univ-brest.fr
Published: xx xx xxxx
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0270-x
References
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0263-9 (2018).
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Geology 45, 223–226 (2017).
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