Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 10 0 0 08

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Geosystems and Geoenvironment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geogeo

Passive magmatism on Earth and Earth-like planets

Sanzhong Li a,b, Xiyao Li a,b, Jie Zhou a,b,∗, Huahua Cao a,b, Lijun Liu c, Yiming Liu a,b,
Guozheng Sun a,b, Yanhui Suo a,b, Yang Li d, Shengyao Yu a,b, Zhaoxia Jiang a,b
a
Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Key Lab of Submarine Geosciences and Prospecting Techniques, MOE, College of
Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
b
Laboratory for Marine Mineral Resources, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China
c
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61820, USA
d
State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Magmatism has occurred throughout Earth’s history. From the early Earth to the modern plate-tectonic
Received 15 October 2021 Earth, the amount of magmatism has varied, but it has always occurred on multiple scales, in various tec-
Accepted 19 October 2021
tonic environments and at various depths in the crust and mantle. Magma compositions also vary. In this
paper, we argue that the mechanism of magma emplacement has generally been passive at all stages of
Keywords: Earth evolution. We conclude that most magmatism related to subduction, rifting, mid-oceanic spread-
Passive magmatism ing, flood basalts and large igneous provinces and related to mantle upwellings, magma underplating,
Plate tectonics slab windows, orogenic collisions as well as Archean TTG formation are predominantly passive from the
Mantle plumes lithosphere-scale to the crystal-scale. Our results weigh against the view that magmatism drives plate
Emplacement
motions. Most of the magmatism on other Earth-like planets is also passive regardless of the tectonic
environments.
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Ocean University of China.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Plate-related magmatism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1. Mantle convection-generated magmatism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2. Magma accretion at mid-oceanic spreading centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3. Passive large igneous provinces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3.1. Shatsky rise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3.2. Iceland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3.3. Hawaiian-Emperor island-seamount chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3.4. Afar flood basalt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4. Passive magma underplating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4.1. Collisional magma underplating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4.2. Subduction-related magma underplating and granitic plutonism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4.3. Hotspot-related magma underplating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4.4. Rifting-associated magma underplating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4.5. Dynamic mechanisms of magma underplating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.5. Passive subduction-related island-arc magmatism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5.1. Characteristics of island-arc magmatism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5.2. Passive petrogenetic process of island-arc magma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zj888@ouc.edu.cn (J. Zhou).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geogeo.2021.10.003
2772-8838/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Ocean University of China. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al. Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008

2.6.Passive orogeny-related plutonic emplacement . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.6.1. Continental margin orogen. . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.6.2. Intercontinental orogen . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.6.3. Intracontinental orogen . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.6.4. Passive plume-related supercontinental fragmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3. Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Author statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Declaration of Competing Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

1. Introduction
Traditionally, magma emplacement on the pluton scale is classi-
fied into two basic types: "forceful"(or "active"), including doming,
diapirism and ballooning; and "passive" or "permitted", involving
stopping, cauldron subsidence and sheeting (Hutton, 1988). How-
ever, the relationship between these two types is obscure. Most
geologists know that magma in a pluton expands transversely and
compresses wall-rocks, resulting in an emplacement mechanism
involving increased magma volume similar to an expanding bal-
loon. This mechanism is called active or forcing emplacement. Its
driving force is thermal buoyancy. Given that pluton-scale magma
always has positive buoyancy, which, according to the above def-
inition, implies that all magma emplacement should be active.
Therefore, we suggest that it is not appropriate to distinguish ac-
tive versus passive magmatism based on the local buoyancy of
the plutonic or magmatic body. Instead, it has been consistently
shown that, on the reginal scale, almost all magmatism is syn-
tectonic (Karlstrom, 1989; Vigneresse, 1999; Petford et al., 20 0 0),
because lithospheric deformation clearly controls multi-scale gran-
ite emplacement, strongly influences the ascent and segregation
of melt in continental gneissic rocks, and indirectly so during the
phase of initial melting (Vigneresse, 1999; Petford et al., 20 0 0;
Brown, 2013). According to this definition, most magmatism is pas-
sive in that its emplacement is subject to tectonic encouragement
or permission. Thus the defined syn-tectonic "passive" magma em-
placement contrasts with "active" or "forceful" mechanisms such
as balloon swelling or magma diapirs that are due to density over-
turn at pluton scale regardless of the tectonic environments.
Hutton (1988) suggested that if the magma filling rate exceeds
the tectonic opening rate, active emplacement occurred, and if not,
the emplacement process is passive. High magma fluxes relative
to crustal strain rates could strongly influence the magmatic sys-
tem from below (Menand et al., 2010). However, this would not
violate the tectonically driven nature of magma emplacement that
determines the regional tectonic opening rate. In this paper we at-
tempt to distinguish active and passive magma emplacement from
the initial control or driving mechanism to the pumping force of
magma segregation, migration and filling of voids during emplace-
ment. We define active magmatism as the process by which the
magma controls its own movement by its positive buoyancy, and
passive magmatism as the process by which magma enters an ac-
commodation space that is made available by tectonic or environ-
mental processes.
The problem of magma emplacement mechanism is fundamen-
tally related to the discussion of top down vs. bottom up pro-
cesses (Anderson, 2001) and the onset of plate tectonics on Earth
(Korenaga, 2013; Palin et al., 2020). There are two main viewpoints
regarding the fundamental driver of magmatism on Earth, i.e.
top down (negative buoyancy) and bottom up (positive buoyancy)
(Anderson, 2007), equating to passive and active magma emplace-
ment, respectively. In this paper we first summarize multi-scale,
multi-level and various tectonic environmental magma emplace-
ment phenomena in the modern Earth in order to clarify the pro-
cesses that drive magmatism. We then extend this problem from
the present Earth to the early Earth and from there to the other
Earth-like planets. We then review the proposal that magmatism is
a driver of plate motion. Finally, we focus on the later, plate-related
magmatism, to review whether different types of magmatism are
active or passive on the Earth and whether it is valid to apply the
present-day tectono-magmatic processes to those in the Archaean
and those on the other planets (Bogatikov, 20 0 0).
2. Plate-related magmatism
It could be challenging to distinguish proposed hotspot from
non-hotspot volcanism. The latter may be unrelated to ac-
tive mantle processes but instead due to lithospheric extension
(Foulger, 2010). For example, there are several linear volcanic
chains in the Pacific Ocean (Lynch, 1999) whose ages are incom-
patible with the mantle plume paradigm but can be better ex-
plained by transient extensional stress when plate motion changes
(Anderson et al., 1992; Sandwell et al., 1995; Wessel et al., 1996).
2.1. Mantle convection-generated magmatism
The concept of mantle convection goes back a century to the
initial proposal that convection currents in Earth’s mantle actively
drive continental drift and that crustal deformation is a passive re-
sponse (Holmes, 1931). In general, the active mantle convection is
symmetric and often seen in Early Earth, but the passive man-
tle convection is asymmetric and usually seen under plate tec-
tonic regime. Coltice et al. (2017) stress the importance of self-
organization and plate-like behaviors emerging in convection mod-
els. They proposed a global structure of mantle flow and surface
tectonics emerging spontaneously from dynamic interactions at lo-
cal plate boundaries. The plate re-organization comes from dis-
tributed feedbacks and is not controlled by forces or structures
forced from the outside. So global tectonics is traditionally consid-
ered to be a passive expression of active mantle convection. For ex-
ample, it is traditionally considered that magma ascending beneath
the mid-oceanic ridge causes a seafloor spreading and a sideway
push of the ocean floor, namely, "ridge push". In this case the as-
cending magma must be active.
In contrast, Anderson (2007) and Davies (2011) proposed that
lithospheric plate motion drives mantle convection by a top-down
mechanism. The plates in the top thermal boundary layer are inte-
gral parts of mantle convection, lithospheric plates move as blocks,
mantle flow under them is continuous and asymmetric, they con-
trol where magma rises and sinks, and each plate drives a asym-
metric "convection cell" or roll-like flow. Thus, magma ascent re-
lated to asymmetric mantle convection is also passive in this case.
A key "ingredient" for plate tectonics is the tectonic plates
that are cold and rigid. Only under this circumstance can plates
subduct and continue subducting and therefore drive plate motion.

2
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
Intense magmatism, especially with high intrusive rates as pre-
dicted for early Earth leads to the warming up of plates, making
them weaker. This therefore does not satisfy the thermodynamic
conditions for plate tectonics (van Hunen and van der Berg, 2008;
Fischer and Gerya, 2016; Lourenço et al., 2020; Fischer et al., 2021).
But plates are heated by magmatism as a feedback of mantle con-
vection or flow. It also indicates that the mantle convection is pos-
sibly changed by the changing plate motion in a passive way, and
the magmatism that follows is controlled by the changing plates.
Coevally the areas of melting in the Earth’s outer layers are more
and more obviously controlled in some way by mantle geodynam-
ics or by the ascent of heated asthenospheric material, where the
melts will ascend through the cooler and more viscous lithosphere
to the Earth’s crust. Although irregular ascent in the form of di-
apirs (plumes) of different shapes and sizes results in lithosphere-
plume/pluton interaction in complex tectonic settings observed at
the Earth’s surface, the magma ascending is also passive. In spite
of present-day magmatism and geodynamics are undoubtedly in-
terrelated and operated closely in the past as two aspects of the
same process of planetary evolution, but the fundamental pro-
cess of plutonic emplacement is controlled by tectonic processes
in the surface Earth. Thus, it is important to consider magmatic
and geodynamic processes together to understand better the prin-
cipal features of the evolution of Earth as a self-developing system
(Bogatikov, 20 0 0).
Although mantle flow generated by plates and plumes can in-
teract, plates and plumes are viewed as playing different roles in
the mantle convection (Bogatikov, 20 0 0). One of the most fun-
damental differences is that plate cooling is regarded as decreas-
ing mantle temperature while plume activity is considered to de-
crease the temperature of the core (Davies, 2011). Upwelling un-
der mid-oceanic ridges creates plates at the top thermal boundary
layer, removing heat from the mantle. At the base of the man-
tle heat enters from the core (Davies, 2011) to produce mantle
plumes (Burke et al., 2008). The mantle plume paradigm proposes
that plumes carry heat from the core and transfer it to the mantle,
crust and surface, but mantle plume activity is also passive because
it originates from the pre-existing mantle heterogeneity controlled
by early Earth’s dripping process and later Earth’s subducting slabs
(Burke et al., 2008; Davies, 2011).
In subduction zones, plates are thought to be driven by the
negative buoyancy of subducted mantle lithosphere (Forsyth and
Uyeda, 1975). Observations do not support the view that buoy-
ancy under mid-oceanic ridges drives the plates. Magma from mid-
oceanic ridges is passively driven by heat transfer through the hot
and cold thermal boundary layers. Even most plume-ridge interac-
tions are very common based on the recent plate reconstructions
(Madrigal et al., 2016; Sager et al., 2016), less mantle plume such as
the Hawaii Hotspot within the plate is exceptional (Foulger, 2010).
This indicates that most of the traditionally-considered active man-
tle plumes are also passive and under the control of plate tec-
tonic processes. The typical example is that subducting slabs in-
duce toroidal cells in subduction zones (Király et al., 2017). These
toroidal cells or small-scale mantle flow are obviously induced and
controlled by slab shapes.
The upwellings that occur beneath mid-oceanic ridges are not
active but passive and a response to far-field stress change due
to changing tectonic processes along subduction zones or orogens
(Li et al., 2018). If active upwellings existed, anomalously high
seafloor topography would be expected. Seafloor subsides as a re-
sult of thermal expansion, causing it to sink slower than predicted
by the square root of seafloor age cooling relationship, when it
moves away from the spreading center. This may break the rela-
tionship between depth of the seafloor and the square root of age.
It means that local mantle plumes cannot change regional mantle
convection. Instead they passively contribute to the whole man-
3
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
tle convection. In particular the nature of intra-plate magmatism
varies little between the continents and the oceans, indicating the
high homogeneity of the asthenospheric material supplied by man-
tle convection, as well as the relatively-high upwelling of astheno-
spheric material to keep its minimum interaction with the host
lithospheric rocks (Bogatikov, 20 0 0). Also, the solid-state mantle
convection in the Earth mantle shapes the first-order or second-
order tectonic activities of the Earth, and some plumes as broad
hot regions are chemically distinct from the surrounding regions
in deep lower mantle.
One typical example comes from the South Atlantic mid-
oceanic ridge. The strike of the divergent crustal-level spread-
ing center deviates from the strike of the divergent lithospheric
mantle-level spreading center (Fig. 1) as revealed by seismic to-
mographic images (Liu et al., 2018). This implies that the upper
spreading center in the crust and the lower spreading center in
the lithospheric mantle of the South Atlantic Ocean are decoupled
in a scissor-like way. This decoupling is induced by asymmetrical
extensional tectonics with a regional detachment fault across the
South Atlantic Ocean. The asymmetrical extensional tectonics re-
sulted in diverse magma emplacements between the upper crust
and the lower lithospheric mantle. Most of these phenomena show
that the mantle convection under plate tectonic regime is passive.
In addition, some microplates on the mid-ocean ridge such
as the Galapagos, Easter and Juan Fernandez microplates are lo-
cated over mid-oceanic ridge upwellings (Li et al., 2018). How can
microplate-scale mantle convection form within this upwelling?
Neighboring spreading centers propagated toward one other to
separate the upwelling into small-scale mantle cells which grew
and rotated in a toroidal convection style. Thus, the reorganized
toroidal convection is passively controlled by the propagation of
two interactive spreading centers.
2.2. Magma accretion at mid-oceanic spreading centers
The rise of magma beneath mid-oceanic ridges is also passive
and results from far-field plate drag forces in subduction zones
(Forsyth and Uyeda, 1975; Davies, 2011). This model could be chal-
lenged, e.g., there is no subduction zone and no far-field plate
drag around the Atlantic Ocean, but there is still magmatic ac-
tivity at its mid-oceanic ridge. In this case, it means that mag-
matism should be active beneath the Atlantic mid-oceanic ridge.
However, if the Atlantic Ocean is viewed in a global context, its
mid-oceanic spreading could be driven by the deep African LLSVP
(Burke et al., 2008) and the retreat of the eastern Pacific subduc-
tion zones (Doglioni et al., 2015). In fact, any magmatic zoning in
age and petrochemistry should be a passive process controlled by
tectonic processes in either divergent or convergent plate margins.
In addition, the formation of narrow Cenozoic volcanic zones at
mid-oceanic ridges has been studied using mantle electromagnetic
imaging (MELT) which deployed seismic, electrometric and mag-
netic instruments on the East Pacific seafloor (Team, 1998). The
observations were used to test two models of how magma rises
to the surface. One model proposes that melt forms in a narrow
zone beneath the mid-oceanic ridge and moves vertically upward
through buoyancy generated by the melting process. Mantle den-
sity decreases due to the extraction of the molten material. The
second model proposes that the degree of melting of the mantle is
low. Melt first appears near the mid-oceanic ridge, moves horizon-
tally toward the lower part of the mid-oceanic ridge, and upwells
from there. The location and morphology of the melting zone, im-
aged using seismic observations, shows that melt is distributed
throughout a wide range beneath the East Pacific Rise. The degree
of melting is 1–2% within several hundred kilometers of the East
Pacific Rise and can extend to depths of 100 km or more beneath
the ocean floor. The observations favor the second model. The mid-
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al. Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008

Fig. 1. Decoupling between active migration of the South Atlantic mid-oceanic ridge and passive mantle convection beneath the divergent lithospheric mantle-level spreading
center. The neutrally buoyant compositional anomalies are deduced to be detached lithospheric mantle (Hu et al., 2018). Based on this model, the toroidal and poloidal
mantle convection under the South Atlantic Ocean is passively controlled by the combined effect of plume, slab window, LLSVP (Hu et al., 2018) and asymmetric extension
(Blaich et al., 2011). In the Neo-Mesozoic, the African Plate was relatively fixed and the South American Plate drifted westward with a clockwise rotation (Hu et al., 2017;
2018).

oceanic ridge is a weak zone in the lithospheric plate. Thus, melt
moves passively in response to pressure gradients. Therefore, the
magma rising beneath a mid-ocean ridge is also a passive process.
Furthermore, most studies of buoyant flow and melting show
that buoyancy caused by changes in heat content and chemi-
cal composition can increase the rate of mantle upwelling be-
neath spreading centers, but cannot change the passive upwelling
mode beneath mid-oceanic ridge axes (Sotin and Parmentier, 1989;
Scott and Stevenson, 1989; Cordery and Phipps Morgan, 1992).
Thus, if the rate of melt formation increases, a significant propor-
tion will be retained in the mantle and the buoyancy of the re-
sulting mantle increases. This will concentrate mantle upwelling
flow. Meanwhile, if the permeability of the mantle is low enough,
a proportion of the melt will remain in the mantle and the melt-
ing area under the spreading center will be reduced to only 20–
40 km wide (Rabinowicz et al., 1984; Scott and Stevenson, 1989;
Cordery and Phipps Morgan, 1992). If melt fraction of the mantle
increases (≥15%), the viscosity will be greatly reduced and mantle
upwelling will be confined to a very narrow area.
Three-dimensional numerical simulation of mantle flow and
melting indicates that buoyant flow in the mantle can affect the
amount of melt formation along the spreading center. The com-
ponent of buoyancy produced by inhomogeneous extraction of the
melts will result in mantle upwelling being divided into the wider,
enhanced upwelling region and the weaker upwelling region along
the ridge axis. In the region where mantle upwelling is enhanced,
the degree of melting of the mantle is large. In the region where
mantle upwelling is weak, the degree of melting of the mantle
is small and there is little or no melting (Parmentier and Mor-
gan, 1990). The buoyancy induced by thermal processes can also
affect the axial variation of melting processes, and further enhance
and concentrate mantle upwelling, but it will not significantly af-
fect the size of the melting area (Sparks and Parmentier, 1993). The
main effect of thermal buoyancy on melting of the mantle beneath
a mid-oceanic ridge is that it can lead to melting of the local edge
of the hot mantle convection cell far from the spreading center. In
summary, all the melts are passively controlled by mantle flow.
On a small scale, porous flow along particle boundaries
(Waff and Bulau, 1979; Watson, 1982; Cooper and Kohlstedt, 1986)
controlled by a constant wetting angle (Laporte et al., 1997) and
flow through networked fractures (Shaw, 1980; Spence and Tur-
cotte, 1985; Sleep, 1988; Ryan, 1988; Stevenson, 1989) are two pos-
sible mechanisms for melt migration. Both of these must occur in
specific regions of the mantle. Melt is produced at the boundary
between crystals. It initially migrates through the pre-existing pore
space around the crystals. However, when the spreading center is
near the surface, the mantle is in the sub-solidus state. When the
melt migrates in the crystal pore space, it maintains heat balance
with the solid matrix. The melt cannot move in pores where the
temperature is lower than the solidus. In this case, the melts must
move in the lithosphere through fractures or faults that function
as melt channels. It is seen, whatever the spatial scale, that melt
or magma migration is passive.
Because the releasing layer forms along the top or crest of the
melting region, it is critical for melt extraction from the spread-
ing center. As the distance from the spreading center increases,
cooling gradually affects the whole melt and solid matrix system.
The top slope of the melting region reduces with distance from the
spreading axis. Thus, magma emplacement in the mid-ocean ridge
is controlled by cooling of the overriding oceanic plate. The posi-
tion and slope of each layer are controlled by the temperature dis-
tribution because the releasing layer is generally located at the top

4
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
of the melting zone. The upwelling and temperature distribution
determine the spatial distribution of melting. Because the consoli-
dation boundary layer is at the top of the melting zone, the shape
of the melting zone and the direction of melt migration can be
controlled. This supports the idea that migration and emplacement
of melts are passive in the mid-ocean ridges.
2.3. Passive large igneous provinces
Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) are produced by large-volume
magmatic events in the Earth involving extensive partial melt-
ing of the mantle (Coffin and Eldholm, 1994; Xu et al., 2004;
Sheth, 2007; Bryan and Ferrari, 2013). Global tomography indicates
that large low-shear velocity provinces (LLSVPs) exist beneath the
Pacific and Africa, and the majority of LIPs were generated along
their edges (Burke et al., 2008; Torsvik et al., 2010). Meanwhile,
some LIPs, such as the Iceland, Central Atlantic, Karoo, Parana-
Etendeka, Afar and Deccan areas, represent large-volume, long-
lived melt production on divergent plate boundaries (Foulger et al.,
20 03; Chorowicz, 20 05; Guan et al., 2021). In these regions, pre-
magmatic continental extension often precedes the major mag-
matic production phase (Guan et al., 2021). Seafloor spreading
usually initiates within volcanic passive margins and then prop-
agates away to create non-volcanic passive margins as a conse-
quence of the consumption and cooling of a sub-lithospheric posi-
tive thermal anomaly (Guan et al., 2021). Major transform faults of-
ten exist between volcanic passive margins and non-volcanic pas-
sive margins during the breakup of a supercontinent, acting as me-
chanical barriers to mantle melting and magmatism transporta-
tion. It clearly indicates that magmatism in passive continental
margins is controlled by rifting, spreading and transform move-
ments. However, It is a longstanding controversy whether such
LIP magmatism is related to mantle plumes or to plate tectonic
processes (Foulger, 2010). Some passive LIP magmatism was re-
cently reported, the best example is the Columbia River Flood
basalt that originated from fast passive upwelling due to a slab
tear (Liu and Stegman, 2012). Another example is from plate re-
construction showing that the locations of oceanic LIPs when they
formed are linked to LLSVPs and mid-oceanic ridges, implying po-
tential interactions between mid-oceanic ridges and the LLSVPs
(Madrigal et al., 2016). In this case, plume-related magmatism
could be a passive response (adiabatic melting) controlled by the
upwelling of deep mantle materials from the LLSVPs, but also in-
fluenced by mid-ocean ridges or triple-junction tectonics where
thin lithosphere enables decompression melting. In this way, melt
upwelling forming LIPs is driven by thinning of the overriding
lithospheric plate (Anderson, 2007).
2.3.1. Shatsky rise
Shatsky Rise is one of the largest oceanic plateaus with an area
of approximately 5.3 × 105 km2 in the northwest Pacific Ocean.
The Tamu, Ori, and Shirshov massifs display 2–3 km of bathymet-
ric relief relative to the surrounding seafloor (Shimizu et al., 2013;
Sager et al., 2016). The Nd-Hf-Pb isotope compositions of basaltic
lavas from Shatsky Rise show that their mantle source became
more heterogeneous with time (Heydolph et al., 2014). Meanwhile,
geochemical features, such as high-Nb and low 3 He/4 He ratios
favor the interpretation that a mantle plume carried subducted,
recycled crustal materials to the surface from the deep mantle
(Hanyu et al., 2015). This leads to a formation model involving a
mantle plume.
Nevertheless, Shatsky Rise is located at the intersection of NW-
trending Hawaiian magnetic lineations and SW-trending Japanese
magnetic lineations, showing that it formed along the trace of a
triple junction (Sager et al., 1999). The formation track of Tamu,
Ori, and Shirshov massifs is consistent with movement of the
5
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
triple-junction (Sager, 2005). Some lavas from Shatsky Rise have
geochemical and Nd-Hf-Pb isotope compositions similar to modern
East Pacific Ridge basalts (Heydolph et al., 2014).
The single plume model cannot explain several other obser-
vations from Shatsky Rise. For example, the initial eruption was
coincident with reorientation of the Pacific-Izanagi-Farallon ridge
and an 800-km jump of the triple junction (Sager et al., 2016).
It has been suggested that the formation of Shatsky Rise in-
volved interaction between a plume head and spreading ridges
in a triple junction during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
(Fig. 2; Sager, 2005). Meanwhile, recent plate tectonic reconstruc-
tions for the circum-Pacific plate boundary show that Mesozoic
LIPs in the Pacific Ocean usually formed at the edges of the Pa-
cific LLSVP, at mid-oceanic ridges, and some are close to triple-
junctions (Madrigal et al., 2016). Similarly, some oceanic LIPs
formed at triple-junctions in the Pacific Plate, such as Shatsky
Rise and the Ontong-Java-Manihiki-Hikurangi Plateau (Sager, 2005;
Madrigal et al., 2016).
Recent comprehensive study suggests that the Tamu Massif
formed via an interaction between the mid-ocean ridge at a
triple-junction and a mantle plume head, accompanied by seafloor
spreading. The Ori Massif then formed off the mid-ocean ridge
with no obvious preferred stress field, and is attributed to a mantle
plume tail interacting with the mid-oceanic ridge (Li et al., 2016).
These features emphasize that the magmatism of Shatsky Rise is
a consequence of passive overflow under the decompression con-
ditions of a spreading ridge on a triple-junction to guide an up-
welling of high-temperature materials from the deep mantle such
as the Jason LLSVP (Madrigal et al., 2016). In the Shatsky Rise,
nine ridge jumps in a short time span reorganized the northwest
margins of mantle convection under the Pacific plate (Sager et al.,
2019). Its close correlation to a mid-oceanic ridge indicates not
only passive mantle convection in motion but also passive oceanic
LIP magma emplacement.
2.3.2. Iceland
Iceland is considered as a classic example of a hotspot originat-
ing from the deep lower mantle (Shen et al., 1998) possibly at a
known ultralow velocity zone (French and Romanowicz, 2015). Ice-
land is close to a version of the northern margin of the Africa or
Tuzo LLSVP (Burke et al., 2008). However, Iceland is also suggested
to represent relatively normal magmatic rates, with the unusually
thick crust being largely stretched continental crust (Foulger et al.,
2020). The Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf compositions of basalts around Iceland re-
quire the existence of at least four mantle components in their
source, such as continental lower crust and mantle lithosphere,
along with shallow N-MORB source mantle.
Geophysical evidence shows that the conduit of the Iceland
hotspot is vertically oriented in the deep mantle, but upwelling
materials turned horizontally and appear to meander through the
upper mantle above 500 km (French and Romanowicz, 2015). The
horizontal channeling of plume-derived materials down the nearby
ridge could explain the wide mixing of MORB-like mantle and the
Iceland Plume around the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Magmatism relating
to the Iceland hotspot track between 70 Ma and today is related to
drifting since the onset of oceanic spreading in the North Atlantic
Ocean, following the breakup of Eurasia and North America.
In the early stage, the Iceland plume head may have spread out
more widely beneath a lithospheric cap, allowing a decompres-
sion melting only at thin spots (Kempton et al., 20 0 0). Then, mag-
matism in Iceland occurred when the Mid-Atlantic Ridge moved
above the upwelling materials from deep mantle. The primary
cause of ongoing excess magmatism is long-term tectonic dise-
quilibrium inherited from continental breakup across major older
lithospheric structures (Foulger, 2017). On the one hand, upwelling
materials flowed horizontally and promoted mantle heterogene-
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al. Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008

Fig. 2. Tectonic evolution of plume-ridge interaction of Shatsky Rise (massifs in blue) and its adjacent ocean (Sager, 2005). Black line represents lineation at a given time,
gray line represents transform faults perpendicular to lineations, red line represents mid-ocean ridges meeting at the triple junction, and black arrow represents jump
trajectory of the triple junction. Yellow area in the Pacific Plate represents an oceanic microplate. a, 151 Ma; b, 144 Ma; c, 139 Ma; d, 131 Ma.

ity and thermal anomalies. On the other hand, oceanic spreading
induced an extensional setting and promoted passive melting of
the heterogeneous mantle beneath Iceland.
2.3.3. Hawaiian-Emperor island-seamount chain
The Hawaiian-Emperor island-seamount chain is built of age-
progressive volcanism and is the typical example of a hotspot
track formed as the Pacific Plate moved over a deep-rooted man-
tle magma source (Wilson, 1963). It consists of over one hundred
volcanoes and extends for more than 60 0 0 km across the north-
ern Pacific Basin (Sharp and Clague, 2006). The Hawaiian-Emperor
seamount chain is considered to be a LIP, or Large Basaltic Province
(Coffin and Eldholm, 1994; Sheth, 2007).
Geochemical studies of lavas in the Hawaiian Islands show two
lava series-the Loa and Kea trends. The Loa series mainly repre-
sents the mantle plume component, and the Kea component is
sourced from passively upwelling asthenosphere (Hauri, 1996). The
Hawaiian hotspot is considered to have a deep plume origin, and
shear wave velocity anomalies at 2800 km depth show that the
original eruption site of the Hawaiian Hotspot overlies high hori-
zontal gradients in seismic velocity peripheral to the Pacific LLSVPs
(Burke and Torsvik, 2004). However, mantle shear velocity anoma-
lies in a wide cross-section across the Hawaiian chain do not con-
tinue into the lower mantle as near-vertical cylindrical anomalies
(Ritsema and Allen, 2003).
The three-dimensional rendering of the Hawaiian Hotspot
shows that the plume conduit is vertically oriented in the lower
mantle and rooted at the base of the mantle, which could co-
incide with an ultralow velocity zone. The conduit is deflected
WNW-wards into the mantle transition zone above approximately
10 0 0 km and appears to interact with a low-velocity finger ori-
ented in the Pacific Plate absolute plate motion direction above
500 km (French and Romanowicz, 2015). Moreover, features of
the anomaly change at around 10 0 0 km and show that horizon-
tally elongated arms branch out from the plume stem, implying
deep mantle upwellings may have encountered resistance to di-
rect continuation into the upper mantle (French and Romanow-
icz, 2015). The Hawaiian Hotspot thus represents primary up-
wellings in the lower mantle from the Pacific LLSVP, and the up-
wellings spread horizontally above a depth of 500 km and are
entrained into upper-mantle circulation. Decompressive melting

6
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
at shallower depths then resulted in eruptions along weak litho-
spheric zones.
2.3.4. Afar flood basalt
The Afar flood basalt in East Africa erupted in the period 31–
28 Ma. Little volcanism continues to the present. Afar lies at the
center of a triple junction where the three branches are the Red
Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the East African Rift (Chorowicz, 2005;
Foulger, 2010). Three-armed rifts and uplifting domal topography
have been suggested to indicate that the magmatism under this R-
R-R-type triple junction is active (Chambers et al., 2021). However,
Chambers et al. (2021) suggested that the overall crust contains
vertical micro-cracks and dykes during early continental breakup
when a new rift is narrow and sill formation is the dominant
magma or melt storage mechanism. As the rift widens, vertical
dyke intrusion becomes dominant and is likely controlled by vari-
ations in crustal thickness and stress state. Furthermore, magmatic
evolution transforming mafic mantle melts to more felsic compo-
sitions depends strongly on the depth of storage. At depth, it re-
sulted from a deep plume which rose on the northern margin of
the Africa LLSVP (Burke et al., 2008). That means that the emplace-
ment of magma is passive on a multi-scale view.
The geochemistry of the basalts suggests at least three domains
for their mantle source, namely subcontinental lithospheric man-
tle, a plume source with high-μ Sr-Nd-Pb-He isotopic affinities,
and a plume source analogous to some ocean island basalts with
high 3 He/4 He values (Furman, 2007). Meanwhile, thinner litho-
sphere formed by continental break-up processes in the Afar re-
gion, which shows all the stages from rift initiation to break-up
and incipient oceanic spreading (Corti, 2009). The magmatism of
the Afar flood basalt was most probably a passive response to the
wide continental rifting under Afar and surrounding regions. This
induced passive decompression melting of the heterogeneous man-
tle which mingled with thermal anomalies controlled by the up-
welling of deep mantle materials that rose from the LLSVP.
2.4. Passive magma underplating
Magma underplating is an important process for vertical con-
tinental growth. On the one hand, magma underplating refers to
the process of basaltic magma (generated by partial melting of the
upper mantle or decompression melting in the asthenosphere) in-
truding or adding to the bottom of the lower crust. On the other
hand, the basaltic magma causing underplating provides a large
amount of heat and CO2 , which leads to the increase of regional
heat flow and induces partial melting of lower crustal rock to form
magma. Thus the concept also means the process by which partial
melting intrudes and adds to the mid-upper crust. It is generally
believed that mantle materials enter the crust through underplat-
ing and lithospheric roots enter the mantle through block delami-
nation, so the crust and mantle evolve through interaction of these
two processes. Since magma underplating is one of the main pro-
cesses of crust-mantle interaction, it is of great significance in the
study of granitic genesis, anomalous crustal accretion, basin evolu-
tion, regional mineralization, and other subjects (Du et al., 2003).
Magma underplating is observed in a variety of tectonic set-
tings, including island arcs, wide extensional continental areas, rift
zones, continental margins and palaeo-suture zones in Precam-
brian crust (Fig. 3; Thybo and Artemieva, 2013). Magma under-
plating generally occurs in four geological settings:  1 continental
collision and crustal thickening; 2 subduction at the active conti-
nental margin;  3 hot spots such as continental flood basalts and
oceanic hot-spot basalts in Hawaii; and  4 continental rifts devel-
oping mafic rocks. The latter is the most widely distributed and
well-studied.
7
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
2.4.1. Collisional magma underplating
Delamination occurs when continental collision and extrusion
lead to crustal thickening and eclogtization, resulting in grav-
ity instability of the lithospheric mantle or lower crust. Then,
denser lithospheric mantle overlies lower density asthenospheric
mantle and causes mantle convection (Houseman, 1996). When
there is suitable tectonism, the lithospheric mantle destabilised
and sinks into the asthenospheric mantle. Delamination leads
to transition from contraction to extension, as well as uplift of
the asthenosphere, decompression melting and basaltic magma.
Thus, basaltic magma passively rises to the crust-mantle bound-
ary and intense magma underplating occurs in the lower crust
previously deformed by the continental collision. As the temper-
ature of the lower crust rises, local deep melting occurs, and the
magma generated by melting intrudes along secondary strike-slip
faults to cause large-scale magmatism (Gao and Jin, 1996;Li, 2019).
Similar to the numerical simulation results of Larsen and
Yuen (1997), the formation of plume/magma underplating is trig-
gered by cold downwelling reaching the lower boundary layer
(Fig. 4a).
Magma underplating seems to be widespread in East China,
where a typical case of magma underplating caused by continental
collision and crustal thickening is the Lower Yangtze zone revealed
by a deep seismic profile (Lv et al., 2004). In the Late Triassic to
Early Jurassic, the South China and North China blocks collided and
fused on a large scale, resulting in intense continental contraction
and transpression with a large-scale strike-slip fault system. At the
same time, the thickened (>40 km) lower crust and mantle litho-
sphere in the Lower Yangtze resulted in an eclogite-phase transi-
tion in the mafic lower crust. Then delamination of the lower crust
or the lithospheric mantle occurred due to gravitational instabil-
ity (Fig. 4b). About the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous, delami-
nation of a mantle micro-block caused uplift of the asthenosphere,
accompanied by magma underplating of the lower crust. This also
led to the collapse of the "Eastern North China Plateau" and sub-
sequent large-scale magmatism and mineralization in the middle-
lower reaches of the Yangtze River (Zhang et al., 2001; Lv et al.,
2004). Thus, all the volcanism and plutonism at that time was pas-
sively induced by collision-related magma underplating or delami-
nation in the Lower Yangtze River region.
Seismic reflection profiles in stable continental regions have
demonstrated that magma underplating is often associated with
Archean crustal blocks that were reworked in the Proterozoic,
probably in collisional environments (Thybo and Artemieva, 2013).
A well-documented example of magma underplating comes from
the Lithoprobe seismic refraction profile across three Archaean
crustal domains (Fig. 5): the Hearne Province (Loverna Block) in
central Alberta, the Medicine Hat Block (MHB) in southern Al-
berta and the Phanerozoic-modified Archaean Wyoming Craton in
central Montana (Fig. 5a; Clowes et al., 2002). A sharp change in
crustal thickness and velocity structure of the lower crust corre-
sponds to the Vulcan Structure, which is a major tectonic bound-
ary between the Hearne and Wyoming provinces clearly defined in
potential-field data and interpreted as a zone of palaeo-collision.
Based on seismic refraction and xenolith data, the high-velocity
lower crustal layer is interpreted to be the result of Palaeoprotero-
zoic magma underplating (Clowes et al., 2002). This underplated
layer extends southward from the suture beneath the Phanerozoic-
modified Archean Wyoming Craton.
A somewhat similar crustal structure is observed in the Baltic
Shield (Fig. 5b). Crustal thickening is associated with the presence
of a 0∼5 km thick high-velocity layer at the base of the crust.
Thus, the high-velocity lower crustal layer is attributed to Protero-
zoic basaltic magma underplating and mixing with pre-existing Ar-
chaean mafic granulites as a response to accretion of the Svecofen-
nian arc complex to the cratonic margin.
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al. Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008

Fig. 3. Global locations of major magma underplating (after Thybo and Artemieva, 2013). The lines represent seismic profiles; inset map shows detail in Europe.

Fig. 4. (a) Four snapshots of the temperature field for a non-Newtonian model (after Larsen and Yuen, 1997). The dimensional temperature field ranges from 450 K (blue)
to 1950 K (red). (b) The magma underplating and micro-block delamination under the lower-middle reaches of Yangtze River (after Lv et al., 2004). YC, Yangtze Block; DB,
Dabie ultra-high-pressure transition zone; NCB, North China Block.

It is worth noting that magma underplating adds mafic mate-
rial to the bottom of the continental crust and increases crustal
thickness (Zhang et al., 2016a), leading to delamination of the up-
per mantle and lower crust. This in turn leads to new magma
underplating of basaltic melts (Warner, 1990; Lv et al., 2004). How-
ever, there remains the classical chicken-and-egg dilemma regard-
ing which comes first. In any case, magma underplating and de-
lamination are usually two stages of the same dynamic process
(Lv et al., 2004; Li, 2019), which are coupled to each other and
produce material circulation between the crust, lithospheric man-
tle and asthenosphere (Gao and Jin, 1996). However, both are pas-
sive processes, and gravitational instability is the driving force.
2.4.2. Subduction-related magma underplating and granitic plutonism
To a first order, regional spatio-temperal magmatic zoning is
often passively dominated by advancing or retreating subduction

8
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
Fig. 5. Seismic velocity structure along crustal profiles in Precambrian terranes including interpreted underplated bodies. (a) N-S-striking profiles across the Canadian-US
border between three Archaean crustal domains: the Loverna Block in central Alberta, the Medicine Hat Block (MHB) in southern Alberta, and the Archaean Wyoming Craton
in central Montana (after Clowes et al., 2002). (b) SW-NE-striking profile from the Baltic Shield, showing an interpreted underplated body in the suture zone between the
Archaean Karelian Craton and the Proterozoic (Svecofennian, ca. 1.9 Ga) mobile belt (after Korsman et al., 1999).
and rollback of subducting slabs such as along the West Pacific
continental margin (Li et al., 2019a). In the mantle wedge, it is
commonly thought that hot diapiric flow prevails above subduct-
ing slabs (Gerya and Yuen, 2003). However, hydration and partial
melting along the slab can enable a Rayleigh-Taylor instability to
develop at the top of a cold subducting slab (Gerya and
Yuen, 2003; Li et al., 2019). When the oceanic plate subducts to
a depth of 80–100 km (T<650◦ C, P: 30–40 kb), the crust dehy-
drates and quartz eclogtization occurs (Fig. 6a). When the oceanic
plate subducts to a depth of 10 0–20 0 km (T: 70 0–90 0 °C), talc, ser-
pentine, and brucite in the oceanic crust become unstable and de-
hydrate, resulting in partial melting of the quartz-eclogitic oceanic
crust and magma underplating. Finally, a series of calcium-alkaline
magma forms, mainly composed of andesite but including basalt to
rhyolite (Fig. 6b). Strain partitioning in the continental margin de-
velops during the magma ascent that facilitates melt flow, which
bears consequences for the chemical evolution of the magma
(Vigneresse, 1999).
3-D magma underplating is suggested to form from thermal-
chemical instabilities developed at a depth of around 10 0–20 0 km
as a result of dehydration of serpentines and subsequent hydra-
tion reactions involving peridotites (Fig. 7a; Ulmer and Tromms-
dorff, 1995). Gerya and Yuen (2003) investigated using two-
dimensional (2-D) numerical modeling the geodynamically plau-
sible scenario of cold but compositionally lighter plumes emerg-
ing from the upper surface of the slab due to a supercritically
unstable situation in thermal-chemical convection. According to
the numerical and visualization results, from 25 to 34 Myr, there
emerges a Rayleigh-Taylor instability driven by compositional vari-
ations along the upper surface of the serpentine-free (light bright-
blue) hydrated peridotite zone (Fig. 7c). This instability is related
to the strong density contrast between the hydrated lower-density
layer and the higher density of the overriding dry asthenosphere
(Hall and Kincaid, 2001). Hydration leads to a sharp decrease in
density and viscosity of mantle rocks, creating favorable condi-
tions for the development of a compositionally driven Rayleigh-
Taylor instability along the propagating hydration front (Figs. 7b
and 7c). Then magmatic underplating occurs. The diapirs rise up-
9
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
ward from the subducting plate and then pass up into the hotter
mantle wedge.
Some typical examples are also identified in geophysical imag-
ing, such as the Kuril Arc, which is located in the subduction zone
of the Pacific and Eurasian plates. The presence of a large body of
rocks with high seismic velocity in the lower crust is interpreted
as an underplated body which, through fractionation, has provided
magma that today forms the new upper crust (Fig. 8). This separa-
tion between an upper body with “normal continental crust” and
a lower body with high velocity is suggested to be an effective fac-
tory for producing continental crust (Taylor, 1967; Tatsumi, 2005).
However, it is unclear if the associated subduction delaminates the
underplated material into the mantle (Thybo and Artemieva, 2013).
In short, magma underplating is more common in subduction
systems. The generation mechanism is that pressure-dependent
dehydration reactions within the basaltic crust of a subduct-
ing oceanic plate release water into the overlying mantle wedge
(Liu et al., 2021), creating a thin layer of hydrous peridotite above
the slab that extends along the slab surface at this depth. This
layer is less dense and less viscous than peridotite in the overlying
mantle wedge and develops Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities (Li et al.,
2019b). Thus, the primary cause of passive magma underplating is
Rayleigh-Taylor instability due to density and viscosity contrasts.
2.4.3. Hotspot-related magma underplating
A hotspot is the part of a mantle plume that is exposed on the
surface or ocean floor. A mantle plume is a cylindrical thermoplas-
tic flow of rising solid material, that is, a column of hot mantle
material formed by ascent from the asthenosphere or lower mantle
that penetrates the lithosphere. Christensen and Harder (1991) pro-
posed a three-dimensional mantle convection model, and believed
that the formation and development of mantle plumes are due to
significant differences in the viscosity between different layers of
the Earth. The following numerical models (Fig. 9) are all based on
this principle and carry out initial simulations of mantle plumes.
It is thought that the viscosity of the materials plays an im-
portant controlling role in the formation of a mantle plume. The
greater the depth, the greater the viscosity of the fluid, which leads
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
Fig. 6. Passive magmatic activity in subduction zones controlled by dehydration and subduction.
to fluid viscosity contrast between upper and lower layers. This
difference in viscosity is an important driving force for the forma-
tion and evolution of mantle plumes (Gerya and Yuen, 2003; Li and
Wang, 2004; Gerya and Burg, 2007; Meng et al., 2015).
The quantitative model of mantle plume dynamics is based
on the principle of heat-driven mantle flow. When the fluid in a
certain layer of the Earth is heated by a source in the lower layer
or within itself, the fluid undergoes thermal expansion, lowering
the fluid density of the layer. This results in a density contrast be-
tween the upper and lower layers, and thermal buoyancy. When
the thermal buoyancy is large enough to overcome the viscosity
barrier, the lower fluid will move upward and the top fluid will
move downward, thus completing convective exchange of material
(Li and Wang, 2004).
In terms of mantle plume initiation, most scholars believe that
mantle plumes are driven by thermal buoyancy and originate from
the core-mantle boundary or a discontinuous interface. Mantle
plumes rise through the crust-mantle boundary in the form of
magma underplating. Mechanisms of localized upward fluid/melt
transport include hydrofracture (Clemens and Mawer, 1992), dif-
fusion (Scambelluri and Philippot, 2001), porous flow (Scott and
Stevenson, 1986; Connolly and Podladchikov, 1998; Vasilyev et al.,
1998; Ricard et al., 2001) and reactive flow (Spiegelman and Kele-
10
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
men, 2003). Propagation of magmatic rocks from the channel
into the crust develops spontaneously and is mainly controlled by
crustal rheology and density. Viscous and plastic strain of both the
lithosphere and the crust take an active role and make an impor-
tant contribution in injecting high-density magma into lower den-
sity rocks.
From the above, upward magma transport from sublithospheric
depths is driven by the positive buoyancy of the partially-molten
rocks with respect to the overriding colder mantle lithosphere.
Gravitational balance controls the height of the column of molten
rock (Gerya and Burg, 2007). In conclusion, magma underplating
related to hotspots is a passive process controlled by gravitational
balance.
2.4.4. Rifting-associated magma underplating
A continental rift is an extensional zone within a continent, tra-
ditionally associated with the uplift of the mantle asthenosphere.
The large-scale emplacement of basaltic magma is one of the main
features of continental rifting. Continental rifting can be generally
divided into active rifting and passive rifting. Active rifting is tra-
ditionally a consequence of long-term upwelling convection in the
mantle, which causes the continental lithosphere to collapse due to
thinning and uplift. Examples are the East African Rift and the Gulf
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
Fig. 7. (a) Conceptual 3-D model of the cold-plume/underplating generation process (after Gerya and Yuen, 2003); (b) 2-D numerical simulation of the subduction of oceanic
lithosphere (Ulmer and Trommsdorff, 1995); (c) Development of the geometry of the mantle wedge during ongoing subduction for a reference model (after Gerya and
Yuen, 2003).
of Aden. However, as mentioned earlier, we consider it passive on
a large scale. The active rifting has been passively dominated by
the supercontinent Pangea dispersal since 180 Ma. Passive rifting
occurs via thinning and rupture of the lithosphere due to crustal
extension or shearing. The initial fractures of the lithosphere are
caused by the stress contrast generated by edge convection or
interaction among lithospheric plates (Sengör and Burke, 1978;
Baker et al., 1971) such as the Baikal Rift.
Extension via continental rifting is favorable for magma to un-
derplate and collect in a magma chamber under the lower crust.
Continental rifting is a combination and superposition of tensile or
normal lithospheric faults and magma emplacement. Lithospheric
faults not only accelerate magma underplating, but also provide
a channel with little resistance for magma flow. Magma under-
plating accompanied by lithospheric fractures and the upwelling
of hydrothermal fluid contributes to the development of conti-
nental rifting (Pakiser et al., 1990; Richards et al., 20 0 0). How-
ever, is it the mantle uplift that causes the crust (lithosphere) to
crack and sag, or is it the crustal faults that provide the con-
ditions for uplift of the mantle and the upwelling of magma?
There is a causal problem here (Liu et al., 1989). It can be con-
cluded from the definition that the mechanism of active rift-
ing predicts uplift→volcanism→rifting, and passive rifting predicts
rifting→uplift→volcanism (Yang et al., 1995).
Active rifting is controlled by magma underplating/diapirism of
anomalous mantle, and passive rifting is controlled by the tensile
stress field. Magma underplating/diapirism in the anomalous man-
tle is diverse. Some features are related to thermal mantle plumes,
some are caused by melting of a subducted slab and equilibrium
11
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
destruction of the mantle, some by pressure release along conti-
nental fault zones, and some by delamination or gravity collapse.
Similarly, there are many conditions for the formation of a ten-
sile stress field. Some are caused by vertical mantle uplift or crustal
collapse, some by regional horizontal tension, and some are de-
rived from regional compression or shearing (Yang et al., 1995).
Therefore, the magma underplating associated with active rifting
is the reason for the formation of a rift, while formation of the
magma underplating itself is a passive process caused by the loss
of mantle equilibrium. As for magma underplating related to pas-
sive rifting, the rifting is the cause of the magma underplating. Due
to regional tensile stress, the lithosphere thinned and fractured,
providing a channel for upwelling of mantle-derived magma. Then
underplating occurs to restore isostatic balance, which is a passive
process initiated by the rifting.
At the Baikal and Kenya rift zones, there is strong evidence for
underplated material in the form of mafic sills in the lower crust
directly below the graben (Fig. 10a, b). Around the rift grabens, the
profile across the Baikal Rift as a typical pull-apart basin shows a
large, high-velocity body in the lower crust, and the profile across
the southern Kenya Rift shows a similar, smaller body above a
slight uplift of the Moho. The high-velocity bodies are interpreted
as mafic intrusions in the form of sills that compensate fully or
partially for the expected crustal thinning at the rift zones. The
high-velocity underplated layer restores crustal isostatic equilib-
rium across the rift zone (Thybo and Artemieva, 2013).
Another example is palaeo-rift zones. Around rift grabens, pro-
files across the Donbas Basin and the Oslo Rift show large high-
velocity bodies in the lower crust (indicative of magmatic com-
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al. Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008

Fig. 8. Seismic P-wave velocity structure of the crust along a profile across the Kuril Arc in northern Japan (after Nakanishi et al., 2009; Thybo and Artemieva, 2013).

Fig. 9. Numerical thermo-mechanical models of mantle plumes and magma underplating. (a, b) Distribution of rock layers in the intrusion area during emplacement of an
ultramafic body into the crust from below the lithosphere via a magmatic channel (a) and the strain rate (b) (after Gerya and Burg, 2007). Color code: 1 = weak layer
(air, water); 2 = sediments; 3 and 4 = upper crust (3, solid; 4, molten); 5 and 6 = lower crust (5, solid; 6, molten); 7 and 8 = mantle (7, lithosphere; 8, asthenosphere);
9 and 10 = peridotite (9, molten; 10, crystallized); 11 and 12 = gabbro (11, molten; 12, crystallized). Arrows show the calculated velocity field. (c) Four snapshots of the
temperature field for a Newtonian mode after Larsen and Yuen (1997).

pensation of crustal thinning). The interpreted underplated body is
highly reflective below the Donbas Basin, indicative of 30 0–50 0 m
thick sills (Lyngsie et al., 2007), and transparent below the Oslo
Graben, indicative of long-term cooling of a large magma cham-
ber (Fig. 10c, d). The underplated material intruded during the rift-
ing episodes. Seismic models complemented by gravity constraints
indicate that a layer up to 15 km thick in the lower crust was af-
fected by magma underplating (Behrendt et al., 1990; Hinze et al.,
1992).
Magma underplating related to rifting is the most widely dis-
tributed and most carefully studied at present. Magma underplat-
ing is a passive process in continental rifts and extensional regions.
Due to decompression of the upper mantle, a giant peridotite body
may intersect with the solidus to induce partial melting and intru-

12
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
Fig. 10. Seismic P-wave velocity structure of the crust along profiles across rift zones: The Baikal Rift zone in Siberia (a, after Thybo and Nielsen, 2009), southern Kenya Rift
(b, after Birt et al., 1997), Donbas Basin in Ukraine (c, after DOBRE fraction Working Group, 2003) and Oslo Graben in Norway (d, after Stratford and Thybo, 2011).
Fig. 11. Cenozoic passive plutonism in the northern South China Sea margin (a). (b) Seismic profile over large-scale extrusive structure; (c) stratigraphic architecture before
and after magma underplating.
sion of the basic magma to the bottom of the lower crust. Gabbro
and ultrabasic rocks are then formed by crystallization and differ-
entiation generates a new Moho or a thickened, diffuse Moho tran-
sition zone.
On the pluton scale, we also find outcropping plutons that in-
trude strata containing undeformed layered relic bedding the same
as that of the host strata. This is also seen in seismic profiles across
the continent-ocean transition zone of the northern South China
Sea (Fig. 11). In Fig. 12, we can easily see that normal faulting is
earlier than magma underplating and can deduce that the normal
faulting induced the decompression and the following magma un-
derplating. That implies that the magma underplating is a passive
process.
2.4.5. Dynamic mechanisms of magma underplating
"Magma underplating" refers to the “addition of mafic magma
to the lower crust and uppermost mantle around the Moho”. The
examples presented of crustal magma underplating by mantle-
derived basaltic materials demonstrate that the processes related
13
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
to magma intrusion at the base of the crust are highly variable
and the resulting structure may take on many forms (Fig. 12). We
highlight the following:
Case a: (a1) Classic magma underplating process; (a2) leading
to a large-scale underplated layer below the Moho; (a3) Parts of
such an underplated layer may eventually be metamorphosed to
eclogite facies; (a4) and possibly be partially delaminated at a later
stage.
Case b: (b1) Crustal stretching leading to massive mafic intru-
sion/underplating in the form of a crustal batholith; (b2) layered
intrusion/underplate along the Moho, possibly at a late stage of de-
velopment.
Case c: (c1) Classic passive rifting due to extension caused
by far field stresses leading to an uplifted Moho; (c2) successful
break-up may be accompanied by mafic intrusion/underplating at
the continent-ocean boundary.
Case d: (d1) Magma-compensated crustal thinning associated
with rift development creating mafic intrusions/underplating in
the lower crust and around the Moho; (d2) successful break-
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
Fig. 12. Conceptual models of processes associated with magma underplating (after Thybo and Artemieva, 2013). Cases a-d are all based on the same original model of the
crust and mantle.
up may be accompanied by mafic intrusion/underplating at the
continent-ocean boundary, with complicated resulting structure
from the two-phase development.
In cases b, c and d, all the magma underplatings are passive.
All of the fore-mentioned cases are pluton-scale effects, sec-
ondary processes induced by magma underplating. However, the
first-order control of the magma underplating are the tectonic pro-
cesses that produce the magmas. Magma underplating can take
place in a wide range of tectonic settings and models also vary
(Fig. 12). However, the cause of the magma underplating may be
the same in all cases.
The initial Moho is a compositional boundary at the base
of a primitive continental crust. However, during geologic evolu-
tion, the Moho is not necessarily a boundary between different
compositions, but instead a boundary between rocks in different
metamorphic states with different seismic and density properties
(Mengel and Kern, 1992). Because of the density contrast across
the Moho, mafic magma rising from the mantle may experience
neutral buoyancy around the Moho, in which case it may pond at
this level to create classic underplating and new crustal materi-
als. Examples of processes that could cause the Moho to change
are metamorphism, collision, delamination, subduction and rifting.
However, the ultimate mechanism is the density/viscosity contrast
between the upper and lower layers of the crust-mantle bound-
ary or a discontinuous interface. That means that the near-Moho
underplating is also controlled by many complex processes, pre-
existing structures and compositional heterogeneity.
When the thermal buoyancy generated by the density/viscosity
contrast is large enough to overcome the viscosity obstacle, the
lower fluid will move up and underplate. The top fluid will move
downwards to complete the convective exchange. At advanced
stages of a tectono-magmatic cycle, when the thermal structure of
the lower crust is perturbed sufficiently to cause pervasive partial
melting near the continental Moho, that mantle-derived magma
mostly underplates the Moho. From the point of view of the under-
plate, the magma underplating is active as it results from its own
buoyancy. However, if we consider the buoyancy is triggered by the
density/viscosity contrast, the magma underplating is passive as it
is driven by Rayleigh-Taylor instability resulting from perturbation
of the Moho thermal structure.
14
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
2.5. Passive subduction-related island-arc magmatism
2.5.1. Characteristics of island-arc magmatism
Island arc systems represent the sites of subduction of one
oceanic lithospheric plate beneath another oceanic/continental
lithospheric plate (Frisch et al., 2011; Kearey et al., 2009;
Wilson, 1989). Their characteristic features are linear or arcu-
ate chains of islands forming the volcanic front, often flanked by
marginal basins formed by seafloor spreading processes behind the
arc (Wilson, 1989). They are consequently typical of the margins of
shrinking oceans such as the Pacific, where the majority of island
arcs are located. They also occur in the western Atlantic, where the
Lesser Antilles (Caribbean) and the South Sandwich (Scotia) arcs
are formed at the eastern margins of small oceanic plates decou-
pled by transform faults from the general westward trend of move-
ment (Kearey et al., 2009).
Island arcs are generally 20 0–30 0 km in width, several thou-
sand kilometers in length, and are characterized by significant
magmatic activity (Winter, 2001). The points of volcanism, vol-
canic centers and surrounding crust, can remain fixed for long pe-
riods of time (∼1–10 Myr, depending on location), and the flux of
magma is low (∼2–10 km3 yr−1 ). The volcanism is also typically
more explosive, and strato-volcanoes are a common volcanic land-
form (Marsh, 2007).
The basic structure of island arcs in terms of the positions and
form of the volcanic centers is exceptionally clear. The arc begins
with a single sharp line of volcanoes. This is the volcanic front, as
named by Sugimura (1968), and by far the principal locus of vol-
canism. The vertical depth from the volcanic front to the Benioff-
Wadati Zone is between 100 and 200 km (Gill, 1981), with aver-
ages of about 110 km (Tatsumi et al., 1986). The front comprises
a series of unusually regularly spaced volcanic centers separated
by 50–65 km. The relatively young Scotia Arc shows this basic de-
velopmental form rather clearly. After about 3 Myr, secondary vol-
canic centers may appear behind the front, forming a weak sec-
ondary front. These are always smaller and spaced closer to the
front than the principal spacing between centers along the front.
Leskov Island in the Scotia Arc and Amak and Bogoslof islands in
the Aleutians are prime examples of these secondary centers. Ev-
ery arc seems to have them although other forms of volcanism,
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
especially on continents, sometimes complicate identification. On
a similar timescale, young centers also appear within the main
front at points approximately midway between the older initial
and well-developed centers. These centers never reach the strength
of the main centers (Marsh, 2007).
The types of volcanic rocks that occur in island arcs generally
form two volcanic series (Gill, 1981; Baker, 1982). 1) The low-
potassium tholeiitic series dominated by basaltic lavas associated
with lesser volumes of iron-rich basaltic andesites and andesites.
Tholeiitic magmas are dominant in the early stages of oceanic
island-arc genesis and are closer to the trench. 2) The calc-alkaline
series which is mainly composed of andesites (Thorpe, 1982) mod-
erately enriched in potassium, other incompatible elements, and
light rare-earth elements. The calc-alkalic magmas are most com-
mon in mature oceanic arcs and generally occur farther from the
trench than arc tholeiites. There is also a tendency in both suites
toward more silicic compositions with increasing arc maturity and
crustal thickness. Many calc-alkalic suites range from basaltic to
rhyolitic and are typified by an abundance of intermediate (an-
desitic) rocks.
All these characteristics show that the magma emplacement
and spatial distribution of volcanism in island arcs are con-
trolled by the shape or subduction angle of the subducting slab
(Kearey et al., 2009). This means that all island arc-related magma
emplacement is also passive in regional or deep tectonic settings.
2.5.2. Passive petrogenetic process of island-arc magma
Theoretically, oceanic island arcs should represent the prod-
ucts of the most complicated type of subduction-related magma-
tism, specifically one in which contamination of ascending magmas
by continental crustal materials is eliminated (Wilson, 1989). In a
normal subduction system, the subduction continuously transports
cold oceanic lithospheric materials deep into the upper mantle,
thus cooling the upper mantle (Murphy, 20 06; Winter, 20 01) and
lowering the temperature in the subduction zone and its vicinity
compared with the surrounding mantle at the same depth. There-
fore, near the subduction zone, the geothermal gradient (tempera-
ture increases with depth) and the heat flow to the surface are low
(Murphy, 2006), making subduction zone magmatism seem to be
a paradox (Frisch et al., 2011; Kearey et al., 2009; Marsh, 2007;
Winter, 2001). Without considering the thermal regime in sub-
duction zones, no adequate petrogenetic model can be developed
(Winter, 2001).
Over the past two decades, numerous thermal structure models
of subduction zones have been published (Anderson et al., 1980;
Furlong et al., 1982; Davies and Stevenson, 1992; Winter, 2001).
Any thermal structure model must include the effects of frictional
heating along the upper surface of the slab, convection within the
asthenosphere mantle wedge and dehydration in the subducting
oceanic crust (Marsh, 2007; Wilson, 1989).
During subduction, the cold oceanic crust is progressively
heated by conduction from the surrounding mantle, and also pos-
sibly by frictional heating at the surface of the slab (Marsh, 2007).
Meanwhile, the frictional resistance associated with the sub-
ducted plate pulls the adjacent mantle wedge down with it
(McCulloch and Gamble, 1991). This material must be replaced,
and induced flow in the mantle wedge forms an almost closed
ring. That is, wedge flow of asthenospheric mantle occurs
(Winter, 2001). Due to low thermal conductivity, the rate at
which the subducting oceanic plate heats up is slow compared
with the sinking speed (Winter, 2001). The subducting plate must
reach nearly 200 km for the basaltic ocean crust melt. This is at
odds with the fact that the magma source area is about 110 km
below the volcanic front of Benioff-Wadati Zones (Gill, 1981;
Marsh, 2007; Wilson, 1989). From this it may be deduced that the
subducting plate is too cold to melt and that the island arc mag-
15
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
mas must form from partial melting of the mantle wedge above
the subducted slab (Marsh, 2007; Wilson, 1989; Wyllie, 1984). This
is consistent with the simulation results of most thermal models-
the mantle wedge above the slab is sufficiently hot.
Water plays an important role in the formation of island arc
magmatism (Murphy, 20 06, 20 07; Peacock et al., 1994). The ad-
dition of water can reduce the solidus temperature of the mantle
wedge peridotite. When the oceanic crust subducts to a depth of
50 km or less, chlorite, phengite and other silicates begin to de-
compose, and the altered oceanic crust dehydrates (Winter, 2001).
With increasing pressure and temperature, prograde metamor-
phic reactions take place and basaltic components of oceanic
crust are converted through greenschist and amphibolite facies
minerologies to eclogite, and they dehydrate (Anderson et al.,
1980; Wyllie, 1984). When the subduction plate enters the as-
thenosphere and reaches a depth of 80–125 km, the dehydration
peaks (Frisch et al., 2011) and releases a large amount of water
as a separate fluid phase. Most H2 O rises into the overlying man-
tle wedge, lowers the mantle solidus, and magmas develop and
volcanism suddenly begins at the volcanic front (about 100 km,
Wilson, 1989). With the increase of subduction depth, the magma
source becomes deeper. With the increase of distance from the
magma front to the back arc, the water released from the subduc-
tion zone reduces and the magmatic activity decreases. When the
depth of the subduction zone reaches 200–250 km, most magma-
tism disappears (Frisch et al., 2011).
For pluton-scale or chamber-scale magmatism in continen-
tal margin arcs, trans-lithospheric and tectonically-controlled
magma plumbing systems likely feature a compositionally graded,
sub-vertical succession of intermittently connected and variably
crystal-rich storage chambers (Loucks, 2021). Deep entrapment
of buoyant magmas by orogenic tectonic stress produces conti-
nental crust, adakites, and porphyry copper deposits. The stress-
compensated effective buoyancy of the magmas tends to a critical
state of unsteady and transitory balance along the chamber at all
depths because, at every stalling depth, magma density changes
as it cools and crystallizes. Also, the externally imposed tectonic
stress waxes and wanes on time scales that are comparable to the
trans-lithospheric transit time of magma batches in compressive
arc segments. The volcanic-to-plutonic mass ratio in arc segments
is a sensitive function of the tectonic stress regime (Loucks, 2021).
Coevally fluid exsolution begins at lower- or mid-crustal depths
during ascent. Such melts escape to shallow depths as orogenic
stress begins to wane from peak values at Moho-vicinity depths.
The escape or exsolution of melts or fluids raises the solidus tem-
perature relative to its actual temperature, and induces crystalliza-
tion that reduces the mobility of the crystal mush. Ore-forming
intrusions have sub-vertical magmatic foliation, lineations and in-
trusive contacts. The space of fluid exsolution is often passively
controlled by deformation or decompression in magma chambers
so magmatic foliation and lineation is only a secondary expres-
sion of chamber-scale magma flow under the stress inside the
chamber.
In summary, the formation of all island-arc magmas and their
distribution of spatial emplacement are dominated by subduction
rate and the geometry and dynamics of the subducting slab, in-
cluding features such as slab windows, double saloon-door tec-
tonics, tearing, delamination, oceanic plateau subduction, frictional
heating, dehydration, degassing and toroidal or poloidal mantle
wedge convection. This implies that all the island-arc magma em-
placement is passive. It cannot drive plate subduction on regional
or plate scales. This means that plate tectonics is not magma-
driven, and magmatism is not an engine of plate motion even at
mid-oceanic ridges. The interaction of the subduction zone and the
asthenosphere with the mantle generates the melts that rise to
feed the volcanism typical of island arcs.
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
2.6. Passive orogeny-related plutonic emplacement
An orogenic belt is the product of plate convergence (Guo et al.,
2022). It is a narrow and intense compressional belt caused by
lithospheric tectonic evolution and reconstitution of material and
structure (Groves et al., 2022). The convergence of lithospheric
plates can be subdivided into three stages. The first stage in-
volves subduction of oceanic plate, forming the continental mar-
gin orogen (accretionary orogen, B-type/oceanic subduction). In the
second stage, subduction of the oceanic plate is completed and
collision between two continental blocks forms the intercontinen-
tal orogen (collisional orogen, A-type/continental subduction). In
the third stage, continuous plate convergence results in compres-
sional deformation extending to the continental blocks on both
sides, forming the intracontinental orogen (without A-type sub-
duction; Condie, 2007; Cawood et al., 2009; Xiao et al., 2010;
Zheng et al., 2013a; Zhang et al., 2016b). In either case, mountain
roots appear under the orogenic belts due to the superposition of
converging plate edges and lithosphere thickening. Magmatism in
orogenic belts occurs at every stage of oceanic subduction, conti-
nental collision and collapse of orogenic belts (Zheng et al., 2015).
2.6.1. Continental margin orogen
The continental margin orogen does not show evidence for
strong continental collision and deep subduction. It generally lacks
widespread crustal thickening and uplift, as well as ultrahigh pres-
sure eclogite facies metamorphic rocks related to deep continental
subduction. The existence of syn- and post-collisional magmatism
is doubtful, although thick continental arc crust can develop dur-
ing the oceanic subduction phase. The mechanisms of accretion are
characterized by oceanic subduction (B-type), arc magmatism and
continental collision (Song et al., 2015).
In the process of oceanic subduction, the lower sediments of
the accretionary wedge are brought under the continental litho-
spheric mantle wedge. Dehydration and melting will form vari-
ous felsic melts when they reach certain temperature and pres-
sure conditions (Zheng et al., 2011). If the accretionary wedge de-
posits are mainly derived from chemical weathering of ancient
crust on the continental margin, the resulting felsic melts gener-
ally have granitic composition and relatively enriched radiogenic
isotope composition (Zheng et al., 2007). On the other hand, if the
accretionary wedge sediments are mainly derived from chemical
weathering of island arc basalt, the resulting felsic melts generally
have granodioritic composition and relatively depleted radiogenic
isotope composition (Wu et al., 2006; Zheng et al., 2008). If the
accretionary wedge deposits are mainly derived from the chemi-
cal weathering of continental arc volcanic rocks, the resulting fel-
sic melts generally have granitic compositions and moderate radio-
genic isotopic compositions (Zheng et al., 2015).
Regardless of the various compositions, a portion of these melts
will react chemically with upper mantle peridotite to form mafic-
ultramafic mantle metasomatite (including pyroxenite or amphi-
bolite). Continental arc andesite and basalt can derive from the
partial melting of the metasomatite (Dai et al., 2012; Zhao et al.,
2011, 2013; Chen et al., 2014). The other parts of these various
melts are emplaced along the metamorphic subduction zone and
accretionary wedge to form common S-type granite (Zheng et al.,
2015). Since the source rocks of these granitic melts are accre-
tionary wedge rocks, S-type granites have similar geochemical
compositions to surrounding sedimentary rocks. Furthermore, dur-
ing the post-collisional lithospheric extension stage, orogenic col-
lapse results in dehydration and melting of metamorphic sedimen-
tary rocks under the accretionary wedge, which also contributes
to formation of post-collisional S-type granite (Gao et al., 2014;
Zhao et al., 2015). Thus, all the magmatism is dominated by tec-
tonic processes, so the magma emplacement, regardless of the var-
16
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
ious compositions in the continental margin orogen, is passive on
the orogen scale.
2.6.2. Intercontinental orogen
The continental collisional process can be summed up in three
steps: (1) after the oceanic crust disappears, one continental litho-
spheric plate is subducted beneath the other by gravitational drag
of the subducted oceanic crust. This results in intense crustal
thickening, ultrahigh pressure metamorphism (Palin, 2022), and
granitic rocks and veins which are generally small in scale and
originated from the melting of felsic crust and sedimentary rocks.
(2) When subduction reaches a certain depth (10 0–30 0 km) and
the oceanic crust breaks off from the continental lithosphere, ex-
humation and decompression melting of the subducted oceanic
and continental crust generates magmatic rocks that are pecu-
liar to intercontinental orogens (Li et al., 2022). At the same
time, breakoff of the oceanic crust leads to upwelling of mantle
source materials that heat and melt crustal materials (Wang and
Zhang, 2022; Meshram et al., 2022). (3) In the post-orogenic pe-
riod, when the continental crust stops subducting, the orogen un-
dergoes denudation, unrooting, collapse and asthenosphere up-
welling. The interaction between mantle and continental crust gen-
erates a post-collisional magmatic system in which the melts inter-
mingle (Song et al., 2015).
Therefore, two necessary requirements for deep continental
subduction are: (1) there must be prior oceanic subduction, and
(2) the subducted continent is closely linked to the oceanic litho-
sphere (passive continental margins) (Liou et al., 2004; Song et al.,
2006, 2014, 2015). Continental subduction/collision is crucial for
the interaction and exchange of materials between the continental
crust and upper mantle. Continental deep subduction and crustal
thickening are the main mechanisms for formation of collisional
orogenic magmatism. Magmatism can occur throughout the colli-
sional orogeny, while its timing depends on the lithosphere heating
mechanism.
Syn-collisional thrust thickening of continental crust results in
heating-induced melting. Post-collisional exhumation of subducted
oceanic or continental crust results in decompression melting.
Magmatism occurs simultaneously with ultrahigh pressure meta-
morphism over the subsequent 20–30 Myr. It mainly involves
partial melting of crustal materials (including subducted oceanic
and continental crust), forming tonalite and peraluminous gran-
ite, basically without the addition of mantle materials. In addi-
tion, metasomatism between the crustal melt formed during ex-
humation of deep subducted continental crust and the overlying
lithospheric mantle in subduction tunnels generates mafic mag-
matic rocks (Zhao et al., 2012). However, in some collisional oro-
genic belts, the deep subducted continental crust has too low a de-
gree of partial melt to form sizable magma intrusions. There, only
migmatites and heterogeneous solid inclusions in ultrahigh pres-
sure metamorphic rocks are found (Song et al., 2015). All the leu-
cosomes in migmatite are passively emplaced along weak fabrics,
gneissocity, schistosity or fractures, as has been observed in geo-
logical mapping.
The melting of ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks can occur
simultaneously with continental deep subduction, while prominent
partial melting occurs during the exhumation stage of ultrahigh
pressure metamorphic rocks (Chen et al., 2012, 2013; Yu et al.,
2012; Zhao et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2014). It is this type of melt-
ing that promotes exhumation of ultrahigh pressure metamorphic
rocks (Zheng et al., 2011; Chen et al., 2013). Deep continental sub-
duction can lead to exhumation of early subducted oceanic crust.
Decompression-heating and dehydration of hydrates (lawsonite-
zoisite) are the main mechanisms of partial melting. Further ex-
humation can lead to melting of the subducted continental crust.
The ultrahigh pressure metamorphic process during deep subduc-
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
tion of continental crust is accompanied by partial melting and
magmatism (Song et al., 2015). The generation of these melts
is generally attributed to decompression of eclogite and mineral
dehydration melting. Residual early subducted oceanic crust is
most likely the main source rock of sodium tonalite-trondhjemite
(Song et al., 2015). The related magmas are constrained in the sub-
duction channel or exhumed along with high pressure metamor-
phic rocks in the orogen.
Asthenospheric mantle rapidly upwells at the slab window af-
ter slab breakoff, resulting in partial melting of the metasomatic
upper lithospheric mantle through the action of subduction fluid
(Zhu et al., 2015). A series of high-K calc-alkaline and shoshonite
magmas forms according to the melting degree. With the intensi-
fication of asthenosphere upwelling the upward migration of man-
tle melt can also cause partial melting of rocks in the lower crust
of the overlying continent and even the upper crust (Zhu et al.,
2015). Some form bimodal magma assemblages with mantle de-
rived melts. Magmatism is usually accompanied by high temper-
ature metamorphism and later surface uplift. Magmatic rocks lin-
early distributed along large-scale strike-slip faults of the orogen
reflect the spatial distribution of deep melt sources or the distri-
bution of pathways for them to rise. Numerical simulation shows
that the time interval between slab breakoff and continental col-
lision is controlled by the initial thermal structure and rheological
characteristics of the subducted plate and thermal erosion of the
mantle (Gerya et al., 2004). Breakoff generally occurs 5–30 Myr af-
ter collision and associated magmatic activity lasts for 10–20 Myr.
Recent simulation studies have shown that the depth of slab
breakoff is generally greater than 200 km in large and deep
subduction-collisional orogens (van Hunen et al., 2011; Li, 2022).
This is consistent with the ultrahigh pressure metamorphic depth
of continental crust. There is no partial melting of the astheno-
spheric mantle without decompression at this depth (Davies and
von Blanckenburg, 1995). Shallow (< 70 km) slab breakoff could be
triggered by subduction of a mid-ocean ridge or juvenile oceanic
crust, resulting in decompression melting of the underlying up-
welling asthenospheric mantle to form magma with the geochem-
ical characteristics of depleted mantle (van de Zedde et al., 2001).
This is contemporaneous with, or only briefly separated from, the
alkaline magma derived from subducted fluid metasomatic man-
tle and followed by a large amount of continuous crustal melt-
ing and granitic magma. Slab breakoff is not a requirement for
the exhumation of ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks. Decou-
pling between the low-density continental mid-upper crust and
the lower crust-lithospheric mantle can also lead to exhumation
of ultra-high pressure metamorphic rocks (Chemenda et al., 1995,
20 0 0; Zheng et al., 2013b).
The post-collision stage generally refers to the late stage of the
continental orogenic cycle. Magmatism occurred in the relaxation
phase, accompanied by early large-scale horizontal movement of
plate boundaries and subsequent unrooting, collapse or unroof-
ing, lithospheric extension, asthenospheric mantle upwelling and
crust-mantle interaction. It marks the termination of the orogenic
cycle (Song et al., 2015). The magmatism can generally last 10–
40 Myr. The rock types include: (1) potassium and high-K calc-
alkaline magma derived from the metasomatic lithospheric man-
tle; (2) peraluminous granite derived from partial melting of conti-
nental upper crust; and (3) I-type granite, granodiorite and diorite
formed by crust-mantle interaction and partial melting of conti-
nental lower crust, accompanied by mantle-derived mafic dikes. All
the post-collisional magmas are emplaced along, and controlled by,
weak structural belts or levels.
The unrooting of orogenic belts generally refers to the separa-
tion of the lower part of orogenic belts from the upper lithosphere.
It requires lithosphere thickening, mineral phase and rheologi-
cal transformations, gravity, and asthenospheric mantle convection
17
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
(McKenzie, 1978; Bird, 1979; Houseman et al., 1981; Marotta et al.,
1998). Unrooting triggers the transformation of the local tectonic
environment from compression to extension. It manifests in exten-
sional tectonics, heat flow increase and regional uplift and collapse
of orogens.
According to Marotta et al. (1998), unrooting mainly comprises
two types: (1) convective erosion of the thermal boundary layer,
i.e. the lithospheric mantle is partially stripped off through erosion
by the asthenospheric mantle (Bird, 1979); (2) delamination, i.e.
the stripping of lithospheric mantle (generally including the lower
crust) (McKenzie, 1978; Houseman et al., 1981, 1997). The impor-
tant difference between them includes the existence of lithospheric
mantle melt during post-orogenic extension. The part-stripping of
lithospheric mantle usually results in partial melting of its up-
per part, forming potassium-rich magma with the characteristics
of metasomatic mantle. However, delamination of the lithospheric
mantle usually leads to asthenospheric upwelling and decompres-
sion melting forming mafic magma with the geochemical charac-
teristics of depleted mantle. This can interact with the middle- and
upper crust to cause partial melting (Wang et al., 2014). Mantle-
derived magma provides a heat source for the melting of lower
crust. The mantle components increase and the crustal materials
decrease with(?) metasomatism of the asthenosphere over time.
This reflects lithospheric extension and asthenosphere upwelling
late in the orogenic cycle.
Magmatism in collisional orogenic belts can thus occur in the
stages of continental deep subduction, exhumation and uplift after
breakoff, unrooting and collapse and unroofing of the orogen. The
dehydration of crustal materials, decompression of thickened litho-
sphere, and heat input of the mantle are the fundamental causes
of magmatism in different periods and on different scales. All these
processes produce passive magmatism that are controlled by tec-
tonic evolution in structural levels or belts.
2.6.3. Intracontinental orogen
Intracontinental orogens are characterized by multiple cycles of
syn-orogenic magma intrusion and volcanism. The magma source
has the characteristics of transition from a mantle source to a
crustal source over time (Song, 1999; Shao et al., 2005). There is
no spatial zonation of magmatic and volcanic rocks in composi-
tion and there is no migration trend of subduction-related mag-
matic intrusion and volcanic activity in the marginal orogenic belt.
In addition, syn-orogenic magmatism is weak in some intraconti-
nental orogens, indicating the influence of temperature is very low
(Shao et al., 2005).
The origin of intracontinental orogenic belts has been contro-
versial. Evolution of the Earth is unbalanced. From its formation
to the present, the Earth has been far from an equilibrium state,
and the transport of materials in the Earth is not complete. Verti-
cal adjustments of material continue to occur even though there is
gravitational stratification. The interface between layers is rugged.
The same is true of the thermal interface. Not only are there
large-scale mantle plumes but also many small mantle diapirs that
manifest as local thermal anomalies in the crust. After thick conti-
nental crust is consolidated it prevents internal heat from spread-
ing outwards. When the heat accumulates to a certain degree, the
consolidated upper crust is weakened, softened or broken by heat-
ing, resulting in crustal activation and deformation. This is a pre-
requisite for an intracontinental orogen (Song, 1999).
Small-scale mantle heat flow can only cause local thermal
anomalies and crustal weakening in rheology, leading to local ex-
tension and subsidence. As the heat dissipates, the cooling crust
contracts. Crustal composition is heterogeneous. Vertical hetero-
geneity is manifested in stratification of crust. There are obvious
differences in the mechanical properties of each layer due to their
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
different compositions, temperatures and pressures, which deter-
mine the stratified sliding and structural differences of the crust.
Horizontal heterogeneity of the crust is not only manifest in its
composition, but also its thermal state (Song, 1999; Shao et al.,
2005). Crustal mechanical properties are determined by geother-
mal gradient. Strain focuses in a weak area in a unified stress field,
determining the localization of an intracontinental orogenic belt
and the location of intracontinental magmatism.
At present, there are various opinions about the dynamic mech-
anism of intracontinental orogens, among which deep thermal ac-
tivity is popular. In addition, collision-related stress is also consid-
ered an important dynamic mechanism. Therefore, a combination
of deep thermal activity and collisional stress should be considered
in work to understand the intracontinental orogenic mechanism.
Delamination of a dense lithospheric layer due to far-field col-
lision or subduction is caused by its gravity instability and is
accompanied by asthenospheric upwelling. Continued subsidence
of high-density lithospheric layers will cause folding of weak-
ened crust. The thermal action of asthenospheric upwelling will
induce high grade metamorphism, metasomatism, migmatization
and granitic plutonism (Shao et al., 2005). Balanced uplift of the
thickened zone will eventually complete the orogeny. Therefore,
the magmatism or magmatic zoning is a passive result of plate mo-
tion along collisional or subduction zones during intracontinental
orogenic evolution.
2.6.4. Passive plume-related supercontinental fragmentation
The present plate reconstruction for the Tethyan Tectonic Do-
main shows that most supercontinents broke up first along the su-
percontinental margins (Li et al., 2018b). Furthermore, deformation
triggered the whole process of magma generation in the supercon-
tinental margins (Vigneresse, 1999). Depending on the stress rate,
a certain amount of magma is upwelled continuously or not and
thus is separated from its source region. Consequently, the control
deformation has on dynamic upwelling and emplacement is partly
reflected in the magmatic evolution (Vigneresse, 1999).
In addition, the lid effect of continents traps heat to trigger
large-scale crustal extension and breakup of supercontinents that
cause massive mantle plumes. However, the traditional idea is that
the lid effect of a supercontinent can directly trigger massive man-
tle plumes that cause large-scale crustal extension and breakup of
supercontinents. In the latter case, it is difficult to understand how
the shallow thermal effect of a lid-like supercontinent triggers a
superplume originating at the core-mantle boundary if there is no
top down mechanism.
The reconstructed early Mesozoic Gondwanide fold belt of
South America, southern Africa, and Antarctica, could have resulted
from a ‘plume-modified orogeny’-a flattening of a downgoing litho-
spheric slab due to the buoyancy of a plume rising beneath a con-
tinental margin subduction zone (Dalziel et al., 20 0 0). We believe
that such a plume could only play a modification role although
the ∼180 Ma Karroo and Ferrar LIPS associated with the ∼165 Ma
opening of the ocean basin between East and West Gondwanaland
resulted from impingement of such a plume (Dalziel et al., 20 0 0),
because the deep origin of mantle plume could be unrelated to
the shallow effect of thermal insulation beneath the Gondwana-
land sublithosphere. Therefore, we deduce that the initial breakup
in triple junctions of the Supercontinent Pangea caused the re-
gional extension due to the shallow effect of thermal insulation
beneath the Gondwanaland sublithosphere. This kind of supercon-
tinental fragmentation is only passive plume-related. The Late Pa-
leozoic ‘Ancestral Rockies’ deformation in the southwestern United
States could be driven by the same regional extension that initi-
ated the break-up of Pangea approximately 15 Myr earlier in the
Central Atlantic, and the related plume is passively accommodated
along the weak tectonic zones.
18
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
Similar to breakup and supercontinental fragmentation, some
LIPs within large continents also show some passive plume tec-
tonics. For example, tomographic inversions reveal unprecedented
detail of upper-mantle structures of the western USA and tightly
constrain geodynamic models simulating Farallon subduction influ-
encing the Yellowstone plume. The best-fitting geodynamic model
(Liu and Stegman, 2012) depicts an episode of slab tearing about 17
million years ago under eastern Oregon, where an associated sub-
slab asthenospheric upwelling thermally erodes the Farallon slab,
leading to formation of a slab gap at shallow depth. Driven by a
gradient of dynamic pressure, the tear ruptured quickly north and
south and within about two million years covered a distance of
around 900 km along all of eastern Oregon and northern Nevada.
Therefore, the Yellowstone plume originated passively from the
tearing of the Farallon Slab at depth. So the tearing of the sub-
ducting slab at depth is also considered as a new breakup regime
of continental slivers or micro-blocks of supercontinental margins.
3. Discussion
Magmatism is the main agent of mass and heat transfer from
mantle to crust, hydrosphere (oceanic and continental hydrother-
mics) and atmosphere (emissions of volcanic gas and ashes) on
Earth (Menand et al., 2010). Magmatism is widespread within the
inner Solar system and can be observed on the rocky planets
(Pozzobon et al., 2021). The thermal and chemical evolution of the
rocky planets is dominated by their surface tectonics and mag-
matic processes (Lourenço et al., 2020). Lourenço et al. (2020) pro-
posed by simulations using a viscoplastic rheology that the Earth-
like planets underwent three common tectonic/convective regimes
at low-to-intermediate intrusion efficiencies, i.e. stagnant-lid (a
one-plate planet with a thick crust, large yield stress values and
intermediate to high eruption efficiencies), episodic-lid (where the
lithosphere, with intermediate yield stress values and intermedi-
ate to high eruption efficiencies, is usually stagnant and sometimes
overturns into the mantle), mobile-lid (similar to plate tectonics at
low yield stress), and a plutonic squishy lid at high intrusion effi-
ciencies (≥70%). Venus is in an “episodic lid” regime characterized
by bursts of surface mobility due to episodic overturns of an un-
stable stagnant lid (Armann and Tackley, 2012) or internal mantle
instabilities (Bédard, 2018) but is possibly currently in a plutonic-
squishy lid regime (Lourenço et al., 2020).
Perhaps in the early Earth, lithosphere differentiation domi-
nantly controled early Archean or Hadean vertical tectonics as pro-
posed by Capitanio et al. (2019) and Fischer and Gerya (2016).
Thus it is possible that eclogtization, dripping or delamination
during lithosphere differentiation resulted in mantle thermal het-
erogeneity that triggered small, ephemeral plates with a thin
lithosphere (Ernst, 2017). Lithospheric drips resembled initial sub-
duction zones (Lourenço et al., 2020). This may be more likely
than magma intrusion resulting in small, ephemeral plates dur-
ing a plutonic-squishy lid stage or localized intrusions connect-
ing to each other to develop more diffuse plate boundaries
(Lourenço et al., 2020). Then under a mobile-lid stage, modern
plate tectonics and mantle convection control plume dynamics as
proposed by Arnould et al. (2020). Thus magmatism on Earth-like
planets can be divided into three stages in response to the three
tectonic stages of pre-plate, micro-plate and large-scale plate tec-
tonics. This is related to various Earth thermal regimes over time
(Bogatikov, 20 0 0), with concomitant changes in the type of geody-
namics involved-from plume tectonics in the early Precambrian to
plate tectonics after the Neoarchean.
General magmatic compositions also evolved over time
(Ernst, 2017), so the general trend of magmatism including mete-
orite impact-related magmatism would be passive under the differ-
ent tectonic regimes through Earth history. Mantle plumes under
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
modern plate tectonics are passive based on plate reconstructions
(Magdrial et al., 2016). What about mantle plumes under pre-plate
tectonics? In the Hadean Earth or Eoarchean, accretion and differ-
entiation was driven by iron-enriched drops or eclogitic dripping
toward the deep mantle (Fisher and Gerya, 2016; Lourenço et al.,
2020). These vertical tectonics during differentiation of the Hadean
Earth produced vertical mantle convection rather than modern
poloidal or poloidal mantle convection.
The magma ocean surface cooled readily after 4450 Ma
(Maruyama et al., 2018), leading to thermal heterogeneity and
mantle overturn. Even the theory of stagnant lid tectonics holds
that the post-4450 Ma Earth had one global plate mainly between
2800 Ma and 600 Ma (Piper, 2018; Stern et al., 2018). The breakup
of this single global plate or stagnant lid to form global ridge-
only tectonics was recently proposed to have been engineered by
cooling of the early Earth possibly by icy satellites (Tackley, 20 0 0;
Tang et al., 2018). This implies that magmatism between 4450 Ma
and 40 0 0 Ma or 380 0 Ma was also controlled by Earth surface
cooling. Thus, the magmatism at this time was not active emplace-
ment but a passive process relative to cooling.
On early the Earth at the pre-tectonic stage there are at present
few data available on microplate processes between 4.4 and 4.0
Ga (Ernst, 2017). However, numerical modeling shows that eclog-
itization in the early Earth significantly relaxes the limitation for
developed, ongoing subduction processes. Furthermore, the lower
viscosity leads to more frequent slab breakoff, and sometimes
to crustal separation from the mantle lithosphere. Early mantle
micro-blocks were not very buoyant, but too weak to enable ex-
humation of ultra-high pressure metamorphic rocks (van Hunen
and van den Berg, 2008).
Tectonic plates on Earth are generally considered rigid to a
first order. It was considered that the motion of Earth’s tectonic
plates is magma-driven, for example, in mid-oceanic ridges accord-
ing to the theory of Plate Tectonics. If so, then the intensive mag-
matism in early Earth should have produced plate tectonics, and
the early Earth or Hadean magmatism should have controlled top
down plate processes. The more violent the magmatism, the more
intense the plate tectonic process should be. However, it is not
thought that Hadean magmatism actively drove plate tectonics be-
cause the early Earth at the magma ocean stage had no plates. In
fact, magmatism in the early Earth was possibly passively driven
by gravitation or differentiation (Thébaud and Rey, 2013). Magma
in the shallow Earth may have undergone small-scale thermal con-
vection driven by gravity (Ernst, 2017).
Subsequently, the Archean TTG magma that is widespread in
the Neoarchean was passively emplaced by Taylor-Rayleigh insta-
bilities or controlled by gravity or eclogtization (Bogatikov, 20 0 0;
Thébaud and Rey, 2013). Many field observations confirm that em-
placement of the granitoids was controlled by shear zones reacti-
vated during oblique collision between micro-blocks and that plu-
tons were constructed by multiple injections of magmas, generat-
ing extensive hybridization (da Silva et al., 2020). Therefore, it is
clear in long-term Earth history that magmatism in the Hadean
and Archean Earth was passive. Oval gneissic domes in many
Archean terranes and cratons were commonly recognized by previ-
ous studies to be related to active magma diapirism resulting from
density overturns. However, growing evidence shows that gneis-
sic domes are composed of high-grade metamorphosed granitic
gneisses (Thébaud and Rey, 2013). The domal shape is a result of
crustal rheology or creeping and cannot be used as evidence for
active magma emplacement. The so-called active magmatism was
generally dominated by gravity-driven density overturns.
During the micro-plate stage of Earth’s evolution, the forma-
tion of early Precambrian granite-greenstone areas appears to have
begun at least 3.96 Ga ago, but mainly at 3.8–3.4 Ga. Accord-
ing to isotopic data, the Archaean lithosphere stabilized before at
19
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
least 3.5 Ga ago to form cratonic nuclei and its thickness was
about 200 km. Modern large-scale plate-like geodynamics did not
operate at this time (Pearson et al., 1995). There is no geologi-
cal evidence for large-scale plate tectonics in the Archaean. How-
ever, geological and petrological data shown that plume tectonics
with some microplates possibly dominated during this time, and
episodic subduction induced by frequent slab break-off initiated
(van Hunen and van der Berg, 2008). Low-grade granite-greenstone
belts formed above flattened plume heads and high-grade gran-
ulitic micro-blocks formed in some places above descending flows
of mantle material. Specific nappe-folded belts appeared between
low-and high-grade tectonic units (Bogatikov, 20 0 0) to develop
dome-and-keel tectonics. Andesites, dacites and rhyolites in the
upper parts of the lava sequences of some greenstone belts are
mainly high magnesian and similar to early Palaeoproterozoic
boninite-like series. Their origin was unlikely to be related to ac-
tive plate margins as in the Phanerozoic (Furnes and Dilek, 2022;
Yang et al., 2022).
Evidently, the granite-greenstone belts developed around the
confined granulite-gneiss belts. The excess crustal material from
neighboring granite-greenstone areas must have flowed and ac-
cumulated above the zones of descending convection currents
under the granulite-gneiss areas. Where mantle-derived magma-
tism was widespread simultaneously with extension, only crustal
enderbite-charnockite magmatism and syn-kinematic metamor-
phism occurred. There were no mantle diapirs or asthenospheric
lenses beneath these tectonic units, and the source of the heat had
another origin, not linked with mantle heat. Within high-grade tec-
tonic units, crustal material underwent sealing and heating dur-
ing flow, which led to the partial melting of descending material
and wasting away of newly formed acid melts. As a result, restites
became basic in composition but with specific features; high-iron
minerals, not typical of basic igneous rocks but typical of ender-
bites and charnockites, are widespread here (Sharkov et al., 2004).
They are represented by high-density garnet granulites and eclog-
ites, which could descend into the ultramafic mantle to the neces-
sary depths as mantle micro-blocks (Li et al., 2018b).
In early Earth or microplate stages without large-scale plate tec-
tonics, mantle convection can also occur due to primordial heat
left over from the accretion and differentiation, and internal ra-
dioactive decay (in some bodies tidal heating) under pre-plate
tectonic regimes. That means that top-down-dominated mantle
convection is passive. However, this mantle convection revealed
by sagduction-related vertical fabrics (Thébaud and Rey, 2013) is
different from modern plate-related asymmetric mantle convec-
tion. During the Paleoarchean to the Mesoarchean, cooling affects
zones of downwelling as greenstone belts are advected downward,
whereas adjacent domes generally composed of granulites warm
as deep and hot material is advected upward. Archean greenstones
sink into a less dense, hot and weak felsic crust. Then, long-lived
lateral heat exchange between domes and basins dominates as
domes cool while downwelling zones increasingly warm. There-
fore, sagduction was able to drive crustal-scale deformation and
magma emplacement in the interior of continents, away from plate
margins (Thébaud and Rey, 2013).
Vertical dripping or non-plate-involved mantle convection also
happens in bodies without significant lithospheric movement such
as in early Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury where mantle plumes
dominated or weak mantle convection operated (Redmond and
King, 2007; Lourenço et al., 2020). When large-scale plate tecton-
ics operated on Earth, plate tectonics can be the surface expression
of modern or poloidal mantle convection on Earth. It results from
mantle convection, but this mantle convection is poloidal. There-
fore, vertical mantle convection in early Earth and modern Venus is
not modern, plate-drive mantle convection that results from litho-
spheric movements. Furthermore, the idea that mantle convection
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
is continuous with surface motions seems to occur only in modern
Earth. That is the first order picture, but there is diverse hetero-
geneity in the mantle, phase changes, and strong feedbacks and
interactions. Finally, although not all the modern convective cells
actively control where magma rises and sinks, most mantle con-
vection cells actively control the movement and zoning of rock,
perhaps due to the conditions in a specific region where magma
is generated. This means that mostmagma emplacement is pas-
sive whether there is vertical or poloidal mantle convection and
whether there is plate tectonics or non-plate tectonics.
Mège and Masson (1996) adopted a plume tectonic model to
interpret the emplacement of the Tharsis province, Mars, but they
showed that the magma emplaced along rifted grabens. Some
scholars proposed the volcano chains including Tharsis were con-
trolled by initial plate subduction on Mars following the Plate Tec-
tonic theory. However, Pozzobon et al. (2021) reported that active
rifting along the fissures or faults on Mars was followed by a phase
of volcano growth and concentric magma intrusions when volcano
and magma chamber dynamics prevailed. This indicates that active
rifting controlling passive magma intrusions is common on Mars.
Even for Earth’s Moon, without tectonic activity, near-surface
regions are found to cool and then experience a resurgence of high
temperature in early Moon, as radionuclide-rich magmas from the
lunar interior accumulated near the surface (Wood, 1972). New
observations shows that residual diapiric buoyancy, and contin-
ued production and arrival of diapiric material, enhances melt vol-
ume and overpressurizes the source regions, producing sufficient
stress to cause brittle deformation of the elastic part of the overly-
ing lithosphere; a magma-filled crack initiates and propagates to-
ward the surface as a convex upward, blade-shaped dike (Head and
Wilson, 2017). However, meteorite impacts also induce regional
fracturing and local magma cannot trigger regional-scale linear
cracking but rather radial cracking. Thus its magmatism is also
probably controlled passively by fractures and heterogeneity of ra-
dionuclides. In particular, Michaut et al. (2020) reported that some
horizontal crater-centered magmatic intrusions were controlled by
floor-fractured craters on the moon.
4. Conclusions
On the basis of our discussion above, all magma emplacement
is active if we consider it on the scale of single plutons. However,
it is all passive if we consider it on a multi-scale regional or deep
tectonic setting in the modern plate regime. When we consider
the causes of magma generation and emplacement in early Earth
or other Earth-like planets without tectonic process, four factors
must be considered: decompression, heating, (de-)hydration, and
compositional heterogeneity of the magmatic source. Therefore, we
conclude:
1) The generation and emplacement of magmatism on Earth is
fundamentally dominated and driven by spatio-temporal ther-
mal heterogeneity and the thermal state and structure of
Earth at different stages. Thermal driving forces are a conse-
quence of the action of gravity, which means that most mag-
matism related to thermal evolution is fundamentally passive.
On a planet-scale view, only gravitation or top down process
in the Earth is strictly active in regional geological process,
and buoyancy and bottom up processes are strictly active in
pluton/plume-scale geological process for singe plutons or man-
tle plumes.
2) Most magmatism in different tectonic settings under the plate
tectonic regime of the Earth is passive. Even poloidal or toroidal
mantle convection is passive on a mantle scale.
3) Most magmatism, including melt migration or plutonism on
various scales, is passive on a larger scale than plutons.
20
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
4) Most magmatism in other Earth-like planets under pre- or no-
subduction environments is probably passive like that of the
early Earth.
Author statement
Sanzhong Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing- Original
draft preparation
Xiyao Li: Writing- Reviewing and Editing
Jie Zhou: Supervision, Writing- Reviewing and Editing
Huahua Cao: Visualization, Investigation,
Lijun Liu: Writing- Reviewing and Editing
Yiming Liu: Resources, Data Curation
Guozheng Sun: Reviewing and Editing
Yanhui Suo: Resources, Data Curation
Yang Li: Resources
Shengyao Yu: Editing
Zhaoxia Jiang: Reviewing and Editing
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (grants Nos. 42121005, 91958214 and U1606401),
the National Key Research and Development Program of China
(2017YFC0601401 and 2016YFC0601002), the National Program
on Global Change and Air-Sea Interaction, SOA (grant No. GASI-
GEOGE-01) and Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Sci-
ence and Technology (2016ASKJ13, 2017ASKJ02). This study was
also supported by the Taishan Scholar Programs (tspd20210305)
awarded to Prof. Sanzhong Li. We really appreciate Prof. Foulger
to review and polish our manuscripts several rounds. We’d like to
give our thanks to Prof. Carol Stein and two anonymous reviewers
for their constructive comments and suggestions.
References
Anderson, D.L., 2007. New Theory of the Earth. Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–
402. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139167291.
Anderson, D.L., 2001. Top-down tectonics? Science 293, 2016–2018.
Anderson, R.N., Schwarz, D.L.M., 1980. Asthenospheric Convection
and Seismicity in Subduction Zones. J. Geol. 88 (4), 445–451
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30062380.
Anderson, D.L., Zang, Y.S., Tanimoto, T., 1992. Plume heads, continental lithosphere,
flood basalts and tomography. In: Storey, B.C., Alabaster, T., Pankhurst, R.J. (Eds.),
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 68: Magmatism and the Causes
of Continental Break-up. London, pp. 99–124. doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1992.068.01.07
http://dx.doi.org/.
Arnould, M., Coltice, N., Flament, N., Mallard, C., 2020. Plate tectonics and mantle
controls on plume dynamics. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 547, 116439. doi:10.1016/j.
epsl.2020.116439.
Armann, M., Tackley, P.J., 2012. Simulating the thermochemical magmatic and tec-
tonic evolution of Venus’s mantle and lithosphere: two-dimensional models. J.
Geophys. Res. 117. doi:10.1029/2012JE004231, E12003.
Baker, P.E., 1982. Evolution and classification of orogenic volcanic rocks: In R.S.
Thorpe (ed.), Andesites. Orogenic Andesites and Related Rocks. John Wiley &
Sons. New York, pp. 11-23, http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/10023909424.
Baker, B.H., Williams, L.A.J., Miller, J.A., Fitch, F.J., 1971. Sequence and geochronol-
ogy of the Kenya rift volcanics. Tectonophysics 11, 191–215. doi:10.1016/
0 040-1951(71)90 030-8.
Bédard, J.H., 2018. Stagnant lids and mantle overturns: implications for Archaean
tectonics, magmagenesis, crustal growth, mantle evolution, and the start of
plate tectonics. Geosci. Front. 9 (1), 19–49.
Behrendt, J.C., Hutchinson, D.R., Lee, M., Thornber, C.R., Trehu, A., Cannon, W.,
Green, A., 1990. GLIMPCE seismic-reflection evidence of deep-crustal and upper-
mantle intrusions and magmatic underplating associated with the midconti-
nent rift system of North America. Tectonophysics 173, 595–615. doi:10.1016/
0040- 1951(90)90248- 7.
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
Bird, P., 1979. Continental delamination and the Colorado
Plateau. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 84, 7561–7571
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/JB084iB13p07561.
Birt, C.S., Maguire, P.K.H., Khan, M.A., Thybo, H., Keller, G.R., Patel, J., 1997. The in-
fluence of pre-existing structures on the evolution of the southern Kenya Rift
valley; evidence from seismic and gravity studies. Tectonophysics 278, 211–242.
doi:10.1016/S0 040-1951(97)0 0105-4.
Blaich, O.A., Faleide, J.I., Tsikalas, F., 2011. Crustal breakup and continent-ocean
transition at South Atlantic conjugate margins. J. Geophys. Res. 116, B01402.
doi:10.1029/2010JB007686.
Bogatikov, O.A., 20 0 0. Magmatism and Geodynamics: Terrestrial Magmatism
Throughout the Earth’s History. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers pp.1-475.
Brown, M., 2013. Granite: from genesis to emplacement. GSA Bull. 125, 1079–1113.
doi:10.1130/B30877.1.
Bryan, S.E., Ferrari, L., 2013. Large igneous provinces and silicic large igneous
provinces: progress in our understanding over the last 25 years. Bull. Geol. Soc.
Am. 125, 1053–1078. doi:10.1130/B30820.1.
Burke, K., Steinberger, B., Torsvik, T.H., Smethurst, M.A., 2008. Plume Gener-
ation Zones at the margins of Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces on
the core-mantle boundary. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 265, 49–60 http://www.
earthdynamics.org/torsvik/torsvik-papers/20 08/20 08-Burke-etal-EPSL.pdf.
Burke, K., Torsvik, T.H., 2004. Derivation of Large Igneous Provinces of the past 200
million years from long-term heterogeneities in the deep mantle. Earth Planet.
Sci. Lett. 227, 531–538. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2004.09.015.
Capitanio, F.A., Nebel, O., Cawood, P.A., Weinberg, R.F., Clos, F., 2019. Lithosphere
differentiation in the early Earth controls Archean tectonics. Earth Planet. Sci.
Lett. 525, 115755. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115755.
Cawood, P.A., Kroner, A., Collins, W.J., Kusky, T.M., Mooney, W.D., Windley, B.F., 2009.
Accretionary orogens through Earth history. Geol. Soc. Lond. Spec. Public. 318,
1–36. doi:10.1144/SP318.1.
Chambers, E.L., Harmon, N., Rychert, C.A., Keir, D., 2021. Variations in melt em-
placement beneath the northern East African Rift from radial anisotropy. Earth
Planet. Sci. Lett. 573, 117150.
Chemenda, A.I., Burg, J.P., Mattauer, M., 20 0 0. Evolutionary model of the Himalaya-
Tibet system: geopoem based on new modelling, geological and geophysical
data. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 174, 397–409. doi:10.1016/S0012- 821X(99)00277- 0.
Chemenda, A.I., Mattauer, M., Malavieille, J., Bokun, A.N., 1995. A mechanism
for syn-collisional rock exhumation and associated normal faulting: results
from physical modelling. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 132, 225–232. doi:10.1016/
0 012-821X(95)0 0 042-B.
Chen, D.L., Liu, L., Sun, Y., Sun, W.D., Zhu, X.H., Liu, X.M., Guo, C.L., 2012. Felsic veins
within UHP eclogite at Xitieshan in North Qaidam, NW China: partial melting
during exhumation. Lithos 187–200. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2011.11.006, 136-139.
Chen, L., Zhao, Z.F., Zheng, Y.F., 2014. Origin of andesitic rocks: geochemical con-
straints from Mesozoic volcanics in the Luzong basin, South China. Lithos 190,
220–239. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2013.12.011.
Chen, Y.X., Zheng, Y.F., Hu, Z.C., 2013. Synexhumation anatexis of ultrahigh-pressure
metamorphic rocks: petrological evidence from granitic gneiss in the Sulu
orogeny. Lithos 69–96. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.10.008, 156-159.
Chorowicz, J., 2005. The East African rift system. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 43, 379–410.
doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2005.07.019.
Christensen, U., Harder, H., 1991. 3-D convection with variable viscosity. Geophys. J.
Int. 104 (1), 213–226. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1991.tb02505.x.
Clemens, J.D., Mawer, C.K., 1992. Granitic magma transport by fracture propagation.
Tectonophysics 204, 339–360. doi:10.1016/0040-1951(92)90316-X.
Clowes, R.M., Burianyk, M.J.A., Gorman, A.R., Kanasewich, E.R., 2002. Crustal velocity
structure from SAREX, the Southern Alberta Refraction Experiment. Can. J. Earth
Sci. 39, 351–373. doi:10.1139/e01-070.
Coffin, M.F., Eldholm, O., 1994. Large igneous provinces: crustal structure, di-
mensions, and external consequences. Rev. Geophys. 32, 1–36. doi:10.1029/
93RG02508.
Coltice, N., Gerault, M., Ulvrova, M., 2017. A mantle convection perspective on global
tectonics. Earth Sci. Rev. 165, 120–150.
Condie, K.C., 2007. Accretionary Orogens in Space and Time. Geological Society of
America Memoirs 200, 145-158 doi:10.1130/20 07.120 0(09).
Connolly, J.A.D., Podladchikov, Y.Y., 1998. Compaction-driven fluid flow in viscoelas-
tic rock. Geodinamica Acta 11, 55–84. doi:10.1016/S0985-3111(98)80 0 06-5.
Cooper, R.E., Kohlstedt, D.L., 1986. Rheology and structure of olivine-basalt partial
melts. J. Geophys. Res. 91, 9315–9323. doi:10.1029/JB091iB09p09315.
Cordery, M.J., Phipps Morgan, J., 1992. Melting and mantle flow beneath a mid-
ocean spreading center. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 111, 493–516. doi:10.1016/
0012-821X(92)90199-6.
Corti, G., 2009. Continental rift evolution: from rift initiation to incipient break-up
in the Main Ethiopian Rift, East Africa. Earth Sci. Rev. 96, 1–53. doi:10.1016/j.
earscirev.20 09.06.0 05.
Dai, L.Q., Zhao, Z.F., Zheng, Y.F., Zhang, J., 2012. The nature of orogenic lithospheric
mantle: geochemical constraints from postcollisional mafic-ultramafic rocks in
the Dabie orogeny. Chem. Geol. 334, 99–121. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2012.10.009.
Dalziel, I.W.D., Lawver, L.A., Murphy, J.B., 20 0 0. Plumes, orogenesis, and superconti-
nental fragmentation. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 178, 1–11.
Davies, G.F., 2011. Mantle Convection for Geologists. Cambridge University Press,
pp. 1–232. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511973413.
Davies, J.H., Stevenson, D.J., 1992. Physical model of source region of subduc-
tion zone volcanics. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 97, 2037–2070. doi:10.1029/
91JB02571.
Davies, J., von Blanckenburg, F., 1995. Slab breakoff: a model of lithosphere detach-
21
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
ment and its test in the magmatism and deformation of collisional orogens.
Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 129, 85–102. doi:10.1016/0012- 821X(94)00237- S.
DOBRE fraction Working Group, 2003. “DOBREfraction ’99”- velocity model of the
crust and upper mantle beneath the Donbas Fold belt (East Ukraine). Tectono-
physics 371, 81–110. doi:10.1016/S0 040-1951(03)0 0211-7.
Doglioni, C., Carminati, E., Crespi, M., Cuffaro, M., Penati, M., Riguzzi, F., 2015. Tec-
tonically asymmetric Earth: from net rotation to polarized westward drift of the
lithosphere. Geosci. Front. 6, 401–418.
Du, Y.S., Liu, Y.H., Qin, X.L., Lou, Y.E., 2003. Research advancement of magmatic un-
derplating. Prog. Nat. Sci. 13 (3), 237–242 (in Chinese).
Ernst, W.G., 2017. Earth’s thermal evolution, mantle convection, and Hadean onset
of plate Tectonics. J. Asian Earth Sci. 145, 334–348.
Fischer, R., Gerya, T., 2016a. Early Earth plume-lid tectonics: a high-resolution 3D
numerical modelling approach. J. Geodyn. 100, 198–214. doi:10.1016/j.jog.2016.
03.004.
Fischer, R., Gerya, T., 2016b. Regimes of subduction and lithospheric dynamics in the
Precambrian: 3D thermomechanical modelling. Gondwana Res. 37, 53–70.
Fischer, R., Rüpke, L., Gerya, T., 2021. Cyclic tectono-magmatic evolution of TTG
source regions in plume-lid tectonics. Gondwana Res. 99, 93–109.
Forsyth, D., Uyeda, S., 1975. On the relative importance of the driving forces of plate
motions. Geophys. J. Int. 43 (1), 163–200.
Foulger, G.R., Plates v.s., 2010, plumes: a geological controversy. Lithos, 128-131,
148–149, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2011.10.001.
Foulger, G.R., 2017. Origin of the South Atlantic igneous province. J. Volcanol.
Geotherm. Res. 355, 2–20. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2017.09.004.
Foulger, G.R., Du, Z., Julian, B.R., 2003. Icelandic-type crust. Geophys. J. Int. 155, 567–
590. doi:10.1046/j.1365-246X.2003.02056.x.
Foulger, G.R., Doré, T., Emeleus, C.H., Franke, D., Geoffroy, L., Gernigon, L., Hey, R.,
Holdsworth, R.E., Hole, M., Höskuldsson, Á., Julian, B., Kusznir, N., Martinez, F.,
McCaffrey, K.J.W., Natland, J.H., Peace, A.L., Petersen, K., Schiffer, C., Stephen-
son, R., Stoker, M., 2020. The Iceland Microcontinent and a continental Green-
land-Iceland-Faroe Ridge. Earth Sci. Rev. 206, 102926.
French, S.W., Romanowicz, B., 2015. Broad plumes rooted at the base
of the Earth’s mantle beneath major hotspots. Nature 525, 95–99
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14876.
Frisch, W., Meschede, M., Blakey, R., 2011. Subduction zones, Island Arcs and Ac-
tive Continental margins. In: Plate Tectonics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg doi:10.
10 07/s0 0445- 011- 0538- 0.
Furlong, D.N., Aston, J.R., 1982. Adsorption of polyoxyethylated nonyl phenols at
silica/aqueous solution interfaces. Colloids Surf. 4 (2), 121–129. doi:10.1016/
0166-6622(82)80 0 02-4.
Furman, T., 2007. Geochemistry of East African Rift basalts: an overview. J. Afr. Earth
Sci. 48, 147–160. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2006.06.009.
Furnes, H., Dilek, Y., 2022. Archean versus Phanerozoic oceanic crust formation and
tectonics: ophiolites through time. Geosyst. Geoenviron. 1 (1) doi: XXXXXX.
Gao, P., Zhao, Z.F., Zheng, Y.F., 2014. Petrogenesis of Triassic granites from the Nan-
ling Range in South China: implications for geochemical diversity in granites.
Lithos 40–56. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2014.09.027, 210-211.
Gerya, T.V., Burg, J.P., 2007. Intrusion of ultramafic magmatic bodies into the con-
tinental crust: numerical simulation. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 160, 124–142.
doi:10.1016/j.pepi.2006.10.004.
Gerya, T.V., Yuen, D.A., 2003. Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities from hydration and melt-
ing propel ‘cold plumes’ at subduction zones. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 212, 47–62.
doi:10.1016/S0012- 821X(03)00265- 6.
Gerya, T.V., Yuen, D.A., Maresch, W.V., 2004. Thermomechanical modelling of slab
detachment. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 226, 101–116. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2004.07.022.
Gill, J.B., 1981. Orogenic Andesites and Plate Tectonics. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-642-68012-0.
Groves, D.I., Santosh, M., Müller, D., Zhang, L., Deng, J., Yang, L.Q., Wang, Q.F., 2022.
Mineral Systems: their advantages in terms of developing holistic genetic mod-
els and for target generation in global mineral exploration. Geosyst. Geoenviron.
1 (1) doi: XXXXXX.
Guan, H.X., Geoffroy, L., Xu, M., 2021. Magma-assisted fragmentation of Pangea: con-
tinental breakup initiation and propagation. Gondwana Res. 96, 56–75.
Guo, X.Y., Li, C.S., Gao, R., Li, S.Z., Xu, X., Lu, Z.W., Li, W.H., Xiang, B., 2022. The
India-Eurasia convergent system: late oligocene to early miocene passive roof
thrusting driven by deep-rooted duplex stacking. Geosyst. Geoenviron. 1 (1) doi:
XXXXXX.
Hall, P.S., Kincaid, C.J.S., 2001. Diapiric flow at subduction zones: a recipe for rapid
transport. Science 292, 2472–2475. doi:10.1126/science.1060488.
Hanyu, T., Shimizu, K., Sano, T., 2015. Noble gas evidence for the presence of recy-
cled material in magma sources of Shatsky Rise. Special Paper of the. Geol. Soc.
Am. 212, 47–62. doi:10.1130/2015.2511(03).
Hauri, E.H., 1996. Major-element variability in the Hawaiian mantle plume. Nature
382, 415–419 https://www.nature.com/articles/382415a0.
Head, J.W., Wilson, L., 2017. Generation, ascent and eruption of magma on the
Moon: new insights into source depths, magma supply, intrusions and effu-
sive/explosive eruptions (Part 2: pre dicte d emplacement processes and ob-
servations). Icarus 283, 176–223.
Heydolph, K., Murphy, D.T., Geldmacher, J.R., Romanova, I.V., Greene, A., Hoernle, K.,
Weis, D., Mahoney, J., 2014. Plume versus plate origin for Shatsky Rise oceanic
plateau (NW Pacific): insights from Nd, Pb and Hf isotopes. Lithos 200, 49–63.
doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2014.03.031.
Hinze, W.J., Allen, D.J., Fox, A.J., Sunwood, D., Woelk, T., Green, A.G., 1992. Geophysi-
cal investigations and crustal structure of the North American Midcontinent rift
system. Tectonophysics 213, 17–32. doi:10.1016/0040- 1951(92)90248- 5.
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
Holmes, A., 1931. Radioactivity and earth movements. Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow 18,
559–606.
Houseman, G., 1996. From mountains to basin. Nature 379, 771–772
https://www.nature.com/articles/379771a0.
Houseman, G.A., McKenzie, D.P., Molnar, P., 1981. Convective instability of a thick-
ened boundary layer and its relevance for the thermal evolution of continen-
tal convergent belts. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 86, 6115–6132. doi:10.1029/
JB086iB07p06115.
Houseman, G.A., Molnar, P., 1997. Gravitational (Rayleigh-Taylor) instability of a layer
with non-linear viscosity and convective thinning of continental lithosphere.
Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc. 128, 125–150. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1997.tb04075.
x.
Hu, J.S., Faccenda, M., Liu, L.J., 2017. Subduction-controlled mantle flow and seismic
anisotropy in South America. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 470, 13–24.
Hu, J.S., Liu, L.J., Faccenda, M., Zhou, Q., Fischer, K.M., Marshak, S., Lundstrom, S.,
2018. Modification of the Western Gondwana craton by plume-lithosphere in-
teraction. Nat. Geosci. doi:10.1038/s41561- 018- 0064- 1.
Hutton, D.H.W., 1988. Granite emplacement mechanisms and tectonic controls: in-
ferences from deformation studies. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sci. 79, 245–255.
doi:10.1017/S026359330 0 014255.
Jin, Z.M., Gao, S., 1996. Underplating and its geodynamical significances for the evo-
lution of crust-mantle boundary. Geol. Sci. Technol. Inf. 15 (2), 1–7 http://kns.
cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=DZKQ199602002&DbName=CJFQ1996
(in Chinese with English abstract).
Karlstrom, K.D., 1989. Toward a syntectonic paradigm for granitoids. Eos (Washing-
ton DC) 71, 768–769.
Kearey, P., Klepeis, K.A., Vine, F.J., 2009. In: Global Tectonics, 121. Wiley-Blackwell,
pp. 354–357. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2010.03.008.
Kempton, P.D., Fitton, J.G., Saunders, A.D., Nowell, G.M., Taylor, R.N., Hardarson, B.S.,
Pearson, G., 20 0 0. The Iceland plume in space and time: a Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf study
of the North Atlantic rifted margin. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 177, 255–271. doi:10.
1016/S0012-821X(00)00047-9.
Király, Á., Capitanio, F.A., Funiciello, F., Faccenna, C., 2017. Subduction induced man-
tle flow: length-scales and orientation of the toroidal cell. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.
479, 284–297.
Korenaga, J., 2013. Initiation and evolution of plate tectonics on earth: theories and
observations. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 41 (1), 117–151.
Korsman, K., Korja, T., Pajunen, M., Virransalo, P., Group, GGT/SVEKA Working, 1999.
The GGT/SVEKA transect: structure and evolution of the continental crust in the
Palaeoproterozoic Svecofennian orogen in Finland. Int. Geol. Rev. 41, 287–333.
doi:10.1080/00206819909465144.
Laporte, D., Rapaille, C., Provost, A., 1997. Wetting angles, equilibrium melt geom-
etry, and the permeability threshold of partially molten crustal protoliths. In:
Bouchez, J. L., Hutton, D. H. W., Stephens, W. E., Granite: From Segregation of
Melt to Emplacement Fabrics. Pringer-Science+Business Media, B.V., pp.31-54.
Larsen, T.B., Yuen, D.A., 1997. Fast plumeheads: temperature-dependent versus non-
Newtonian rheology. Geophys. Res. Lett. 24 (16). doi:10.1029/97GL01886, 1995-
1198.
Li, J.K., Wang, D.H., 2004. A preliminary research on the numerical simula-
tion of the Emei mantle plume. Acta Geoscien Ticasinica 25 (5), 509–514
http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-DQXB20 04050 03.htm (in Chinese
with English abstract).
Li, F., 2019. Construction of geophysical identification model
for crustal magmatic underinvasion. Progress in Geophysics,
http://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/11.2982.P.20191228.1112.014.html (in Chinese
with English abstract).
Li, S.Z., Suo, Y.H., Li, X.Y., Liu, B., Dai, L.M., Wang, G.Z., Wang, G., Zhou, J., Li, Y.,
Liu, Y.M., Cao, X.Z., Somerville, I., Mu, D.L., Zhao, S.J., Liu, J.P., Zhen, L.B.,
Zhao, L.T., Zhu, J.J., Yu, S.Y., Liu, Y.J., Zhang, G.W., 2018a. Microplate Tecton-
ics:new insights from micro-blocks in the global oceans, continental margins
and deep mantle. Earth Sci. Rev. 185, 1029–1064.
Li, S.Z., Suo, Y.H., Li, X.Y., Zhou, J., Santosh, M., Wang, P.C., Wang, G.Z., Guo, L.L.,
Yu, S.Y., Lan, H.Y., Dai, L.M., Zhou, Z.Z., Cao, X.Z., Zhu, J.J., Liu, B., Jiang, S.H.,
Wang, G., Zhang, G.W., 2019a. Mesozoic tectono-magmatic evolution in the East
Asian ocean-continent connection zone and its relationship with Paleo-Pacific
Plate subduction. Earth Sci. Rev. 192, 91–137.
Li, S.Z., Suo, Y.H., Yu, S., Wu, T.T., Somerville, I., Sager, W., Li, X.Y., Hui, G.G., Zhang, Y.,
Zang, Y., Zheng, Q.L., 2016. Orientation of joints and arrangement of solid inclu-
sions in fibrous veins in Shatsky Rise, NW Pacific: implications for crack-seal
mechanisms and stress fields. Geol. J. 51, 562–578. doi:10.1002/gj.2777.
Li, S.Z., Wang, G.Z., Suo, Y.H., Li, X.Y., Dai, L.M., Liu, Y.M., Zhou, J.,
Guo, L.L., Liu, Y.J., Zhang, G.W., 2019b. Driving force of plate
tectonics: origin and nature. Geotectonica et Metallogenia 43
(4), 605–643 http://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName
=DGYK201904002&DbName=CJFQ2019 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Li, S.Z., Zhao, S.J., Liu, X., Cao, H.H., Yu, S., Li, X.Y., Somerville, I., Yu, S.Y., Suo, Y.H.,
2018b. Closure of the proto-tethys ocean and early paleozoic amalgamation of
microcontinental blocks in East Asia. Earth Sci. Rev. 186, 37–75.
Li, Y.L., Xiao, W.J., Zheng, J.P., Brouwer, F.M., 2022. Northward subduction of the
South Qilian ocean: insights from early Paleozoic magmatism in the south-cen-
tral parts of the Qilian orogen. Geosyst. Geoenviron. 1 (1) doi: XXXXXX.
Li, Z.H., 2022. Integrated thermodynamic and thermomechanical numerical model-
ing: a useful method for studying deep Earth water and carbon cycling. Geosyst.
Geoenviron. 1 (1) doi: XXXXXX.
Liou, J.G., Tsujimori, T., Zhang, R.Y., Katayama, I., Maruyama, S., 2004, Global UHP
metamorphism and continental subduction/collision: the Himalayan model:
22
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
international geology review, v. 46, p. 1-27, https://doi.org/10.2747/0020-
6814.46.1.1.
Liu, J.Q., 1989. On the origin and evolution of continental rift system
in northeast China. Scientia Geologica China 3, 209–216 http://kns.cnki.
net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=DZKX1989030 0 0&DbName=CJFQ1989 (in
Chinese with English abstract).
Liu, L.J., Stegman, D.R., 2012. Origin of Columbia River flood basalt controlled by
propagating rupture of the Farallon slab. Nature 482, 386–389.
Liu, Z., Dai, L.M., Li, S.Z., Wang, L.L., Xing, H.L., Liu, Y.J., Ma, F.F., Dong, H., Li, F.K.,
2021. When plateau meets subduction zone: a review of numerical models.
Earth Sci. Rev. 215, 103556.
Liu, X.C., Wu, Y.B., Gao, S., Wang, H., Zheng, J.P., Hu, Z.C., Zhou, L., Yang, S.H., 2014.
Record of multiple stage channelized fluid and melt activities in deeply sub-
ducted slab from zircon U-Pb age and Hf-O isotope compositions. Geochim. Cos-
mochim. Acta 144, 1–24. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2014.08.016.
Loucks, R.R., 2021. Deep entrapment of buoyant magmas by orogenic tectonic stress:
its role in producing continental crust, adakites, and porphyry copper deposits.
Earth Sci. Rev. 220, 103744.
Lourenço, D.J., Rozel, A.B., Ballmer, M.D., Tackley, P.J., 2020. Plutonic-squishy
lid: a new global tectonic regime generated by intrusive magmatism on
Earth-like planets. Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst. 21. doi:10.1029/2019GC008756,
e2019GC008756.
Lv, Q.T., Hou, Z.Q., Yang, Z.S., 2004. Underplating and dynamic evolution
models in the middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River: constraints
from geophysical data. Scientia Sinica (D): Earth Sci. 34 (9), 783–794
https://doi.org/10.1360/03yd0205 (in Chinese).
Lynch, M.A., 1999. Linear ridge groups: evidence for tensional cracking in the Pacific
Plate. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 29321–29333. doi:10.1029/1999JB900241.
Lyngsie, S.B., Thybo, H., Lang, R., 2007. Rifting and lower crustal reflectivity: a case
study of the intracratonic Dniepr-Donets rift zone, Ukraine. J. Geophys. Res. 112,
12402. doi:10.1029/20 06JB0 04795.
Madrigal, P., Gazel, E., Flores, K.E., Bizimis, M., Jicha, B., 2016. Record of massive
upwellings from the Pacific large low shear velocity province. Nat. Commun. 7,
13309. doi:10.1038/ncomms13309.
Marotta, A.M., Fernàndez, M., Sabadini, R., 1998. Mantle unrooting in collisional set-
tings. Tectonophysics 296, 31–46. doi:10.1016/S0 040-1951(98)0 0134-6.
Marsh, B.D., 2007. Magmatism, Magma and Magma chambers. Treatise Geophys. 6,
275–333. doi:10.1016/B978-044452748- 6.00106- 1.
Maruyama, S., Santosh, M., Azum, S., 2018. Initiation of plate tectonics in the
Hadean: eclogitization triggered by the ABEL Bombardment. Geosci. Front. 9 (1),
1033–1048. doi:10.1016/j.gsf.2016.11.009.
McCulloch, M.T., Gamble, J.S., 1991. Geochemical and geodynamical constraints on
subduction zone magmatism. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 102, 358–374. doi:10.1016/
0 012-821X(91)90 029-H.
McKenzie, D.P., 1978. Active tectonics of the Alpine-Himalayan belt: the Aegean Sea
and surrounding regions. Geophys. J. Int. 55, 217–254. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.
1978.tb04759.x.
Menand, T., de Saint-Blanquat, M., Annen, C., 2010. Emplacement of magma pulses
and growth of magma bodies. Tectonophysics 500, 1–2.
Meng, W.J., Chen, Z.A., Bai, W.M., 2015. Numerical simulation on process of the
plume- lithosphere interaction. Chin. J. Geophys. 58 (2), 495–503 http://kns.
cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=DQWX201502013&DbName=CJFQ2015
(in Chinese with English abstract).
Mengel, K., Kern, H., 1992. Evolution of the petrological and seismic Moho; im-
plications for the continental crust-mantle boundary. Terra Nova 4, 109–116.
doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.1992.tb00455.x.
Meshram, T., Mahapatro, S., Sesha Sai, V.V., Dora, M.L., Randive, K., Baswani, S.,
2022. Petrogenesis of phlogopite-pyroxenite along the interface of Nallamalai
Fold Belt and Nellore schist belt, Southern India: implications for the role of
carbonate-metasomatism and possible link between Proterozoic subduction- to
rift-related arc magmatism. Geosyst. Geoenviron. 1 (1) doi: XXXXXX.
Mège, D., Masson, P., 1996. A plume tectonics model for the Tharsis province. Mars.
Planet. Space Sci. 44 (12), 1499–1546.
Michaut, C., Pinel, V., Maccaferri, F., 2020. Magma ascent at floor-fractured craters
diagnoses the lithospheric stress state on the Moon. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 530,
115889.
Murphy, J.B., 2006. Igneous rock associations 7. Arc magmatism I: relation-
ship between subduction and magma genesis. Geosci. Can. 33 (4), 145–167
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/download/10222/10593.
Murphy, J.B., 2007. Igneous rock associations 8. Arc magmatism II: geo-
chemical and isotopic characteristics. Geosci. Can. 34 (1), 7–35
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/10230.
Nakanishi, A., Kurashimo, E., Tatsumi, Y., Yamaguchi, H., Miura, S., Kodaira, S.,
Obana, K., Takahashi, N., Tsuru, T., Kaneda, Y., Iwasaki, T., Hirata, N., 2009.
Crustal evolution of the southwestern Kuril Arc, Hokkaido Japan, deduced
from seismic velocity and geochemical structure. Tectonophysics 472, 105–123.
doi:10.1016/j.tecto.20 08.03.0 03.
Pakiser, L.C., Mooney, W.D., 1990. Geophysical framework of the
continental United States. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 80, 1766,
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/bssa/article-lookup/80/6A/1766#.
Palin, R.M., Santosh, M., Cao, W.T., Li, S.S., Hernández-Uribe, D., Parsons, A., 2020.
Secular change and the onset of plate tectonics on Earth. Earth Sci. Rev. 207,
103172. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103172.
Palin, R.M., 2022. Metamorphism and its bearing on geosystems. Geosyst. Geoenvi-
ron. 1 (1) doi: XXXXXX.
Parmentier, E.M., Phipps Morgan, J., 1990. The spreading rate dependence of three-
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
dimensional structure in oceanic spreading centers. Nature 348, 325–328.
doi:10.1038/348325a0.
Peacock, S.M., Rushmer, T., Thompson, A.B., 1994. Partial melting of subducting
oceanic crust. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 121, 227–244. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(94)
90042-6.
Petford, N., Cruden, A.R., McCaffrey, K.J.W., Vigneresse, .J..-L., 20 0 0. Granite magma
formation, transport and emplacement in the Earth’s crust. Nature 408,
669–673.
Piper, J.D.A., 2018. Dominant Lid Tectonics behaviour of continental lithosphere in
Precambrian times: palaeomagnetism confirms prolonged quasi-integrity and
absence of supercontinent cycles. Geosci. Front. 9 (1), 61–89. doi:10.1016/j.gsf.
2017.07.009.
Pozzobon, R., Orlandi, D., Pagli, C., Mazzarini, F., 2021. Volcano dynamics vs tectonics
on Mars: evidence from Pavonis Mons. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 410, 107148.
Rabinowicz, M., Nicolas, A., Vigneresse, J.L., 1984. A rolling mill effect in astheno-
sphere beneath oceanic spreading centers. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 67, 97–108.
doi:10.1016/0012- 821X(84)90042- 6.
Redmond, H.L., King, S.D., 2007. Does mantle convection currently exist on Mercury?
Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 164, 221–231.
Ricard, Y., Bercovici, D., Schubert, G., 2001. A two-phase model for compaction
and damage. 2. Applications to compaction, deformation, and the role of in-
ter facial surface tension. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 106, 8907–8924. doi:10.1029/
20 0 0JB90 0431.
Richards, M.A., Gordon, R.G., Van, D.H., 20 0 0. The history and
dynamics of global plate motions: Washington DC: AGU.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/GM121.
Ritsema, J., Allen, R.M., 2003. The elusive mantle plume. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 207,
1–12. doi:10.1016/S0012-821X(02)01093-2.
Ryan, M.P., 1988. The mechanics and three-dimensional internal structure of active
magmatic systems: Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. J. Geophys. Res. 93, 3213–4248.
doi:10.1029/JB093iB05p04213.
Sager, W.W., 2005. What built Shatsky Rise, a mantle plume or
ridge tectonics? Special Pap. Geol. Soc. Am. 388, 721–733
https://www.onacademic.com/detail/journal_10 0 0 038041940310_16c2.html.
Sager, W.W., Huang, Y.M., Tominaga, M., Greene, J.A., Nakanishi, M., Zhang, J.C., 2019.
Oceanic plateau formation by seafloor spreading implied by Tamu Massif mag-
netic anomalies. Nat. Geosci. 12, 661–666.
Sager, W.W., Kim, J., Klaus, A., Nakanishi, M., Khankishieva, L.M., 1999. Bathymetry
of Shatsky Rise, northwest Pacific Ocean: implications for ocean plateau de-
velopment at a triple junction. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 104, 7557–7576.
doi:10.1029/1998JB90 0 0 09.
Sager, W.W., Sano, T., Geldmacher, J., 2016. Formation and evolution of Shatsky
Rise oceanic plateau: insights from IODP Expedition 324 and recent geophys-
ical cruises. Earth Sci. Rev. 159, 306–336. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.05.011.
Sandwell, D.T., Winterer, E.L., Mammerickx, J., Duncan, R.A., Lynch, M.A., Levitt, D.A.,
Johnson, C.L., 1995. Evidence for diffuse extension of the Pacific plate from
Pukapuka ridges and cross-grain gravity lineations. J. Geophys. Res. 100, 15087–
15099. doi:10.1029/95JB00156.
Scambelluri, M., Philippot, P., 2001. Deep fluids in subduction zones. Lithos 55, 213–
227. doi:10.1016/S0 024-4937(0 0)0 0 046-3.
Scott, D.R., Stevenson, D.J., 1986. Magma ascent by porous flow. J. Geophys. Res. 91,
9283–9296. doi:10.1029/JB091iB09p09283.
Scott, D.R., Stevenson, D.J., 1989. A self-consistent model of melting. magma migra-
tion, and buoyancy-driven circulation beneath a mid-ocean ridge. J. Geophys.
Res. 94, 2973–2988. doi:10.1029/JB094iB03p02973.
Sengör, A.M.C., Burke, K., 1978. Relative timing of rifting and volcanism on Earth
and its tectonic implications. Geophys. Res. Lett. 5, 419–421. doi:10.1029/
GL0 05i0 06p0 0419.
Sharkov, E.V., Krassivskaya, I.S., Chistyakov, A.V., 2004. Dispersed mafic-ultramafic
intrusive magmatism in early Paleoproterozoic mobile zones of the Baltic
Shield: an example of the Belomorian Drusite (Coronite) Complex. Petrology 12
(6), 561–582 C.
Shao, J.A., He, G.Q., Zhang, L.Q., 2005. Deep-seated factorscontrolling the intraconti-
nental orogeny of Yanshan Mountains. Earth Sci. Front. 12, 137–148.
Sharp, W.D., Clague, D.A., 2006. 50-Ma initiation of Hawaiian-emperor bend
records major change in Pacific plate motion. Science 313, 1281–1284
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/313/5791/1281.
Shaw, H.R., 1980. The fracture mechanism of magma transport from
the mantle to the surface, in: Hargraves, R. B. eds. Physics
of Magmatic Processes, Princeton University Press, pp. 201-244,
https://www.scirp.org/pdf/IJG2011030 0 018_86091221.pdf.
Shen, Y., Solomon, S.C., Bjarnason, I.T., Wolfe, C.J., 1998. Seismic evidence for a
lower-mantle origin of the Iceland plume. Nature 395, 62–65. doi:10.1038/
25714.
Sheth, H.C., 2007. ‘Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs)’: definition, recommended termi-
nology, and a hierarchical classification. Earth Sci. Rev. 85, 117–124. doi:10.1016/
j.earscirev.2007.07.005.
Shimizu, K., Shimizu, N., Sano, T., Matsubara, N., Sager, W., 2013. Paleo-elevation and
subsidence of ˜145Ma Shatsky Rise inferred from CO2 and H2O in fresh volcanic
glass. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 383, 37–44. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.09.023.
da Silva, F.F., de Oliveira, D.C., Dall’Agnol, R., da Silva, L.R., da Cunha, I.V., 2020.
Lithological and structural controls on the emplacement of a Neoarchean plu-
tonic complex in the Carajas province, southeastern Amazonian craton (Brazil).
J. South Am. Earth Sci. 102, 102696.
Sleep, N.H., 1988. Tapping of melt by veins and dikes. J. Geophys. Res. 93, 10255–
10272. doi:10.1029/JB093iB09p10255.
23
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
Song, H.L., 1999. Characteristics of Yanshan type intraplate oro-
genic belts and a discussion on its dynamics. Earth Sci. Front.
6, 309–316 http://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName
=DXQY199904019&DbName=CJFQ1999.
Song, S.G., Niu, Y.L., Su, L., Zhang, C., Zhang, L.F., 2014. Continental orogenesis from
ocean subduction, continent collision/subduction, to orogen collapse, and oro-
gen recycling: the example of the North Qaidam UHPM belt, NW China. Earth-
Sci. Rev. 129, 59–84. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.11.010.
Song, S.G., Wang, M.J., Wang, C., Niu, Y.L., 2015. Magmatism during con-
tinental collision, subduction, exhumation and mountain collapse in
collisional orogenic belts and continental net growth: a perspective.
Sci. China: Earth Sci. 58, 1284–1304 http://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/
detail.aspx?FileName=JDXG201508005&DbName=CJFQ2015.
Song, S.G., Zhang, L.F., Niu, Y.L., Su, L., Song, B., Liu, D.Y., 2006. Evolution from
oceanic subduction to continental collision: a case study from the Northern
Tibetan Plateau based on geochemical and geochronological data. J. Petrol. 47,
435–455. doi:10.1093/petrology/egi080.
Sotin, C., Parmentier, E.M., 1989. Dynamical consequences of compositional and
thermal density stratification beneath spreading centers. Geophys. Res. Lett. 16,
835–838. doi:10.1029/GL016i0 08p0 0835.
Sparks, D.W., Parmentier, E.M., 1993. The structure of three-dimensional convec-
tion beneath oceanic spreading centres. Geophys. J. Int. 112, 81–91. doi:10.1111/
j.1365-246X.1993.tb01438.x.
Spence, D.A., Turcotte, D.L., 1985. Magma-driven propagation of cracks. J. Geophys.
Res. 90, 575–580. doi:10.1029/JB090iB01p00575.
Spiegelman, M., Kelemen, P.B., 2003. Extreme chemical variability as a conse-
quence of channelized melt transport. Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst. 4, 1055.
doi:10.1029/20 02GC0 0 0336.
Stratford, W., Thybo, H., 2011. Crustal structure and composition of the Oslo Graben,
Norway. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 304, 431–442. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.02.021.
Stern, R.J., Gerya, T., Tackley, P.J., 2018. Stagnant lid tectonics: perspectives from sil-
icate planets, dwarf planets, large moons, and large asteroids. Geosci. Front. 9
(1), 103–119. doi:10.1016/j.gsf.2017.06.004.
Stevenson, D.J., 1989. Spontaneous small-scale melt segregation in partial melts
undergoing deformation. Geophys. Res. Lett. 9, 1064–1070. doi:10.1029/
GL016i009p01067.
Sugimura, A., 1968. Spatial relations of basaltic magmas in island
arcs: In: Hess HH and Poldervart A (eds.) Basalts The Pold-
ervaart. Treatise on Rocks of Basaltic Composition, 2, 537-572,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293125918_Spatial_relations
_of_basaltic_magmas_in_island_arcs.
Tackley, P.J., 20 0 0. Self-consistent generation of tectonic plates in time-dependent,
three dimensional mantle convection simulations, Part 1: pseudoplastic yield-
ing. Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst. 1, 1021.
Tang, C.A., Webb, A.A.G., Moore, W.B., Wang, Y.Y., Ma, T.H., Chen, T.T., 2018. Break-
ing Earth’s shell into a global plate network. Nat. Commun. 11. doi:10.1038/
s41467- 020- 17480- 2, 1128.
Tatsumi, Y., 2005. The subduction factory: how it oper-
ates in the evolving Earth. GSA Today 15 (7), 4–10
https://doi.org/10.1130/1052-5173(2005)015[4:TSFHIO]2.0.CO;2.
Tatsumi, Y., Hamilton, D.L., Nesbitt, R.W., 1986. Chemical characteristics of fluid
phase released from a subducted lithosphere and origin of arc magmas: evi-
dence from high-pressure experiments and natural rocks. J. Volcanol. Geotherm.
Res. 29, 293–309. doi:10.1016/0377- 0273(86)90049- 1.
Taylor, S.R., 1967. The origin and growth of continents. Tectonophysics 4, 17–34.
doi:10.1016/0 040-1951(67)90 056-X.
Team, T.M.S., 1998. Imaging the deep seismic structure beneath a mid-o-
cean ridge: the MELT experiment. Science 280 (5367), 1215–1218
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9596564/.
Thébaud, N., Rey, P.F., 2013. Archean gravity-driven tectonics on hot and flooded
continents: controls on long-lived mineralised hydrothermal systems away from
continental margins. Precambrian Res. 229, 93–104.
Thorpe, R.S., 1982. Andesites: Orogenic Andesites and Related Rocks. Wiley, Chich-
ester p. 697, https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(82)90392-1.
Thybo, H., Nielsen, C.A., 2009. Magma-compensated crustal thinning in continental
rift zones. Nature 457, 873–876. doi:10.1038/nature07688.
Thybo, H., Artemieva, I.M., 2013. Moho and magmatic underplating in continental
lithosphere. Tectonophysics 609, 605–619. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2013.05.032.
Torsvik, T.H., Smethurst, M.A., Burke, K., Steinberger, B., 2010. Large igneous
provinces generated from the margins of the large low-velocity provinces in
the deep mantle. Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc. 167, 1447–1460. doi:10.1111/j.
1365-246X.2006.03158.x.
Ulmer, P., Trommsdorff, V.J.S., 1995. Serpentine stability to mantle
depths and subduction-related magmatism. Science 268, 858–861
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/268/5212/858.
van de Zedde, D.M.A., Wortel, M.J.R., 2001. Shallow slab detachment as a transient
source of heat at midlithospheric depths. Tectonics 20, 868–882. doi:10.1029/
20 01TC90 0 018.
van Hunen, J., van den Berg, A.P., 2008. Plate tectonics on the early Earth: limita-
tions imposed by strength and buoyancy of subducted lithosphere. Lithos 103,
217–235.
van Hunen, J., Allen, M.B., 2011. Continental collision and slab break-off: a compar-
ison of 3-D numerical models with observations. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 302,
27–37. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.11.035.
Vasilyev, O.V., Podladchikov, Y.Y., Yuen, D.A., 1998. Modeling of compaction driven
S. Li, X. Li, J. Zhou et al.
flow in poro-viscoelastic medium using adaptive wavelet collocation method.
Geophys. Res. Lett. 25, 3239–3242. doi:10.1029/98GL52358.
Vigneresse, J.-.L., 1999. Should felsic magmas be considered as tectonic objects, just
like faults or folds? J. Struct. Geol. 21, 1125–1130.
Waff, H.S., Bulau, J.R., 1979. Equilibrium fluid distribution in an ultramafic partial
melt under hydrostatic stress conditions. J. Geophys. Res. 84, 6109–6114. doi:10.
1029/JB084iB11p06109.
Wang, M.J., Song, S.G., Niu, Y.L., Su, L., 2014. Post-collisional magmatism: conse-
quences of UHPM terrane exhumation and orogen collapse, N. Qaidam UHPM
belt. NW China. Lithos 181–198. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2014.10.006, 210-211.
Wang, S., Zhang, G.L., 2022. Geochemical constraints on mantle source nature and
recycling of subducted sediments in the Sulu Sea. Geosyst. Geoenviron. 1 (1)
doi: XXXXXX.
Warner, M., 1990. Basalts, water, or shear zones in the lower continental crust.
Tectonophysics 173, 163–174. doi:10.1016/0040- 1951(90)90214- S.
Watson, E.B., 1982. Melt infiltration and magma evolution: geology, 10, 236-240,
https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1982)10<236:MIAME>2.0.CO;2.
Wessel, P., Kroenke, L.W., Bercovici, D., 1996. Pacific plate motion and undula-
tions in geoid and bathymetry. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 140, 53–66. doi:10.1016/
0 012-821X(96)0 0 037-4.
Wilson, J.T., 1963. A possible origin of Hawaiian Islands. Can. J. Earth Sci. 41, 863–
868. doi:10.1139/cjes- 2014- 0036.
Wilson, M., 1989. Igneous petrogenesis: a global tectonic approach. Unwin Hyman.
Lond. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-1-4020-6788-4.
Winter, J.D., 2001. An introduction to igneous and meta-
morphic petrology. Canadian Mineral. 39 (5), 1503–1505
http://tainguyenso.vnu.edu.vn/jspui/handle/123456789/51541.
Wood, J.A., 1972. Thermal history and early magmatism in the Moon. Icarus 16 (2),
229–240.
Wu, R.X., Zheng, Y.F., Wu, Y.B., Zhao, Z.F., Zhang, S.B., Liu, X., Wu, F.Y., 2006. Rework-
ing of juvenile crust: element and isotope evidence from Neoproterozoic gran-
odiorite in South China. Precambrian Res. 146, 179–212. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.
2006.01.012.
Wyllie, P.J., 1984. Sources of granitoid magmas at convergent plate boundaries. Phys.
Earth Planet. Inter. 35 (1), 12–18. doi:10.1016/0031-9201(84)90030-X.
Xiao, W.J., Han, C.M., Yuan, C., Sun, M., Zhao, G.C., Shan, Y.H., 2010. Transitions
among Mariana-, Japan-, Cordillera- and Alaska-type arc systems and their fi-
nal juxtapositions leading to accretionary and collisional orogenesis. Geol. Soc.
Lond. Special Public. 338, 35–53 http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/SP338.3.
Xu, Y.G., He, B., Chung, S.L., Menzies, M.A., Frey, F.A., 2004. Geologic, geochemical,
and geophysical consequences of plume involvement in the Emeishan flood-
basalt province. Geology 32, 917–920. doi:10.1130/G20602.1.
Yang, G.X., Li, Y.J., Tong, L.L., Wang, Z.P., Si, G.H., Lindagato, P., 2022. Natural obser-
vations of subduction initiation: implications for the geodynamic evolution of
the Paleo-Asian Ocean. Geosyst. Geoenviron. 1 (1) doi: XXXXXX.
Yang, W.R., Ji, K.C., Sun, J.Y., Xing, J.S., Mats, V.D., Labatskaya, R.M., Ufimtsev, G.F.,
1995. Some frontier problems in the study of continental rift. Earth Sci. Front. 2
(1–2), 93–102 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Yu, S.Y., Zhang, J.X., Real, P.G.D., 2012. Geochemistry and zircon U/Pb ages of adakitic
rocks from the Dulan area of the North Qaidam UHP terrane, north Tibet: con-
straints on the timing and nature of regional tectonothermal events. Gondwana
Res. 21, 167–179. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2011.07.024.
24
Geosystems and Geoenvironment 1 (2022) 100008
Zhang, Q., Jin, W.J., Li, C.D., Wang, J.R., Jiao, S.T., Chen, W.F., 2016a. Vit-
rinite reflectance method to identify concealed intrusion: an example
of application of the magmatic thermal field theory. Geotectonica et
Metallogenia 39 (6), 1–14 http://kns.cnki.net/kns/detail/detail.aspx?FileName
=DZDQ201601010 0 01&DbName=CPFD2016 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Zhang, Q., Wang, Y., Wang, Y.L., 2001. Preliminary study on the components
of the lower crust in east China Plateau during Yanshanian Period: con-
straints on Sr and Nd compositions of adakite-like rocks. Acta Petrolog-
ica Sinica 17 (4), 505–513 http://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName
=YSXB20 01040 0 0&DbName=CJFQ20 01 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Zhang, Q., Wu, S.G., Dong, D.D., 2016b. Cenozoic magmatism in
the northern continental margin of the South China Sea: ev-
idence from seismic profiles. Mar. Geophys. Res. 37, 71–94
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11001-016-9266-3.
Zhao, Z.F., Dai, L.Q., Zheng, Y.F., 2013. Postcollisional mafic igneous rocks record
crust-mantle interaction during continental deep subduction. Sci. Rep. 3, 3413.
doi:10.1038/srep03413.
Zhao, Z.F., Gao, P., Zheng, Y.F., 2015. The source of Mesozoic granitoids in South
China: integrated geochemical constraints from the Taoshan batholith in the
Nanling Range. Chem. Geol. 395, 11–26. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.11.028.
Zhao, Z.F., Zheng, Y.F., Wei, C.S., Wu, F.Y., 2011. Origin of postcollisional magmatic
rocks in the Dabie orogen: implications for crust-mantle interaction and crustal
architecture. Lithos 126, 99–114. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2011.06.010.
Zhao, Z.F., Zheng, Y.F., Zhang, J., Dai, L.Q., Li, Q., Liu, X., 2012. Syn-exhumation mag-
matism during continental collision: evidence from alkaline intrusives of Tri-
assic age in the Sulu orogeny. Chem. Geol. 328, 70–88. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.
2011.11.002.
Zheng, Y.F., Chen, Y.X., Dai, L.Q., Zhao, Z.F., 2015. Developing plate tec-
tonics theory from oceanic subduction zones to collisional orogens:
science China. Earth Sci. 58, 1045–1069 http://kns.cnki.net/kcms/
detail/detail.aspx?FileName=JDXG201507001&DbName=CJFQ2015.
Zheng, Y.F., Wu, R.X., Wu, Y.B., Zhang, S.B., Yuan, H.L., Wu, F.Y., 2008. Rift melting of
juvenile arc-derived crust: geochemical evidence from Neoproterozoic volcanic
and granitic rocks in the Jiangnan Orogen, South China. Precambrian Res. 163,
351–383. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.20 08.01.0 04.
Zheng, Y.F., Xia, Q.X., Chen, R.X., Gao, X.Y., 2011. Partial melting, fluid supercritical-
ity and element mobility in ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks during conti-
nental collision. Earth Sci. Rev. 107, 342–374. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.04.004.
Zheng, Y.F., Xiao, W.J., Zhao, G.C., 2013a. Introduction to tectonics of China. Gond-
wana Res. 23, 1189–1206. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2012.10.001.
Zheng, Y.F., Zhang, S.B., Zhao, Z.F., Wu, Y.B., Li, X.H., Li, Z.X., Wu, F.Y., 2007. Contrast-
ing zircon Hf and O isotopes in the two episodes of Neoproterozoic granitoids in
South China: implications for growth and reworking of continental crust. Lithos
96, 127–150. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.20 06.10.0 03.
Zheng, Y.F., Zhao, Z.F., Chen, Y.X., 2013b. Continental subduction channel pro-
cesses: plate interface interaction during continental collision. Chin. Sci. Bull.
58, 2233–2239 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11434-013-6066-x.
Zhu, D.C., Wang, Q., Zhao, Z.D., Chung, S.L., Cawood, P.A., Niu, Y.L., Liu, S.A., Wu, F.Y.,
Mo, X.X., 2015. Magmatic record of India-Asia collision. Sci. Rep. 5, 14289.
doi:10.1038/srep14289.