TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges 307

TECTONICS

Contents

Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges

Earthquakes
Faults
Folding
Fractures (Including Joints)
Hydrothermal Activity
Mid-Ocean Ridges
Hydrothermal Vents At Mid-Ocean Ridges
Propagating Rifts and Microplates At Mid-Ocean Ridges
Seismic Structure At Mid-Ocean Ridges
Mountain Building and Orogeny
Neotectonics
Ocean Trenches
Rift Valleys

which occupies a belt 240 km across and extends

Convergent Plate Boundaries
and Accretionary Wedges
G K Westbrook, University of Birmingham,
Birmingham, UK
ß 2005, Elsevier Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
At subduction zones, some of the material on the
subducting plate is scraped off and added to the
leading edge of the overriding plate to form an accre-
tionary wedge (prism, complex), so-called because it
is predominantly wedge-shaped in cross-section. The
material removed from the subducting plate is pri-
marily sedimentary. Occasionally, igneous crust is
transferred to the overriding plate, and when this
process occurs at a large scale, it is usually called
obduction. Accretionary wedges are analogous to
the foreland fold-and-thrust belts of mountain
ranges, but they are predominantly submarine and
the rates of convergence are typically hundreds of
times greater. Where wedges grow large (
200 km
wide and >20 km thick), parts of them emerge as
islands; examples include Barbados, which is off the
Lesser Antilles island arc, and Nias, off Sumatra.
Large areas of south-eastern Iran and south-western
Pakistan form the Makran accretionary complex,
a further 160 km offshore. In the deeper parts of
accretionary wedges, the accreted rocks are meta-
morphosed in a low-temperature/high-pressure en-
vironment to produce blueschists, which may be
brought to the surface by exhumation following con-
tinental collision or other events that halt subduction.
Accretionary wedges are not ubiquitous at subduc-
tion zones. Their presence is favoured by thick se-
quences of sediment on the subducting plate and by
low rates of subduction. At most subduction zones,
low sediment supply, sediment subduction, and tec-
tonic erosion conspire to suppress the formation of
accretionary wedges, which are absent or small and
transitory.
Wedge Geometry and Fluid Pressure
The geometry of an accretionary wedge is controlled
by the shape of the bounding basement surfaces and
by the shear stress on the slip surface between the
wedge and the subducting plate. If the surface of the
crystalline crust of the overriding plate dips seaward,
then the landward part of the accretionary wedge
overlies it and forms the seaward margin of the fore-
arc basin (Figure 1). If the surface of the crystalline
crust of the overriding plate dips landward, then the
landward part of the accretionary wedge lies beneath
it, and a leaf of crystalline basement separates the
accretionary wedge from the fore-arc basin.
308 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges

Figure 1 Accretionary wedges are formed at the leading edge of the overriding plate at a subduction zone. They occupy the region
between the trench and the fore-arc basin, filling the tectonic depression created by subduction, of which the trench is its bathymetric
expression. The boundary with the fore-arc basin may be provided by a leaf of crystalline crust of the overriding plate (lower), or may
be a dynamic boundary (upper) at which fore-arc basin sediments lap onto the deformed sediments of the accretionary wedge and
may be progressively incorporated into the wedge by deformation as the wedge grows. Copyright Graham Westbrook.

The angle of taper of the wedge (the angle between
the dip of the surface and the dip of the basement)
depends on the shear stress along the base of the
wedge and the strength of the wedge (Figure 2).
There is a critical taper at which the force imparted
by the basal shear stress is matched by the gravita-
tional spreading force produced by the weight of the
wedge. If the basal shear stress is reduced, then the
critical taper is reduced, and vice versa. The major
factor controlling the strength of the wedge and the
shear stress along its base is the frictional resistance,
which is the product of the coefficient of friction and
the stress normal to any plane of potential movement.
The accretion of material to the toe of the wedge
lengthens the wedge and changes its taper. In response
to this, the wedge deforms internally, thus maintain-
ing its critical taper. So, during accretion, the wedge is
continually deforming.
The shear strength of rocks is dependent on the
pressure of fluid present in them. The ratio of fluid
pressure to the lithostatic pressure (the pressure
exerted by the weight of rock) is usually called l
(lambda). Shear failure is governed by the effective
stress, which is the difference between the normal
stress (across a potential plane of failure) and the
fluid pressure. The shear stress, t, on a plane of
motion between two rock masses, such as the decolle-
ment at the base of the wedge, is t ¼ msð1  lÞ, where
m is the coefficient of friction, s is the stress normal to
the decollement, and l is the fluid pressure ratio. The
normal stress, s, is approximately equal to the weight
of the sediment in the wedge above the decollement at
any particular point. If the load acting on the rock
increases more rapidly than the rock can respond by
compacting and expelling water, the water bears
some of the increased load and becomes overpres-
sured (i.e., its pressure is greater than hydrostatic). If
l exceeds a value of 1, fractures in rocks can be
opened by the pressure of water alone (hydrofractur-
ing). Differences in the nature of the rocks in which
the decollement is situated affect the stability of the
wedge. Clays have low coefficients of friction and low
 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges 309

Figure 2 The stability of an accretionary wedge is dependent on the balance between the shear stress along its base, by the motion
of the subducting plate, and the stresses generated by gravitational body forces within the wedge. For a wedge with Mohr–Coulomb
rheology and constant properties, a single of angle of taper between the top and bottom surfaces, termed the ‘critical taper’, is
established. (A) If shear stress along the base of the wedge is increased, the critical taper is increased, and vice versa. (B) Accretion of
material to the toe of the wedge increases wedge width, tending to decrease the critical taper, in response to which (C) the wedge
thickens by internal deformation, in order to maintain the critical taper. Sedimentation onto the wedge, erosion, and subcretion
(accretion of material to the base of the wedge) similarly induce internal deformation to maintain the critical taper. Copyright Graham
Westbrook.

permeability; this favours the build-up of high fluid
pressure. Both of these factors reduce the shear stress,
leading to low angles of taper. Sands, which are more
permeable and have a higher coefficient of friction,
would produce a relatively high angle of taper. Sev-
eral accretionary wedges have angles of taper that are
less than 5 and values of the fluid pressure ratio, l,
that are greater than 0.9. The stratigraphy of the
trench and minimization of the work required to
move the wedge over the subducting plate favour the
formation of decollements in clay-rich formations.
At subduction zones, sediments can be become
overpressured in three ways:
1. In the trench, on the subducting oceanic plate,
fine-grained pelagic and hemipelagic sediments of
low permeability become overpressured by the
rapid overlying deposition of trench-fill sediment
(Figure 3). Deposition rates in trenches, which are
as much as a few kilometres per million years, are
among the fastest in the world. The greatest degree
of overpressure is developed near, but not at, the
top of the low-permeability sediment (Figure 4).
2. Sediment accreted to the wedge becomes overpres-
sured by the tectonic thickening of the wedge. The
sediment at the base of the wedge is most prone
to becoming overpressured, because it has the
longest drainage paths and also because low-
permeability mud predominates in the lower part
of the accreted section.
3. Sediment carried beneath the wedge on the sub-
ducting plate becomes overpressured by the weight
of the increasing thickness of the wedge above as
it passes below. This produces the most rapid
increase in load and the highest overpressure.
Wedge Growth
The accretionary wedge grows in a number of ways:
by frontal accretion, subcretion, migration into a
fore-arc basin, and deposition and deformation of
310 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges

Figure 3 The process of accretion at the toe of an accretionary wedge. Commonly, but not invariably, the turbidites deposited in the
trench form most of the accreted material. The accreted materials separate from the overlain pelagic and hemipelagic muddy
sediments along a detachment surface (decollement) in the upper part of the sediment cover; the decollement is where loading
from turbidite deposition has increased pore-fluid pressure to a value nearing that of the lithostatic pressure imposed by the weight of
the overlying sediments, weakening them and making them prone to failure by shearing. The thrust faults that detach the individual
thrust slices that form the accreted section originate in the decollement, which propagates ahead of the toe of wedge. The accreted
section always includes the youngest turbidites; these are deposited in the trench but not on older accreted thrust slices, which have
been uplifted out of the zone of deposition. Consequently, the stratigraphy of each successively accreted thrust slice contains younger
turbidites. Within each thrust slice, the sediments upward and landward, but the overall stratigraphy of the wedge are younger
becomes younger seaward. Superimposed on the accreted sediments of the wedge is a drape of hemipelagic sediment, undiluted by
turbidites, and the age of the base of this drape is youngest seaward. The drape is also deformed by the deformation of the wedge as it
thickens, with the oldest part of the drape sequence being more deformed than the youngest. Copyright Graham Westbrook.

slope-drape and slope-basin sediments. In frontal ac-
cretion, thrusts propagating from a decollement in a
weak, overpressured horizon at the toe of the wedge
divide the overlying section into thrust slices, which
become added to the toe of the wedge (Figure 3). The
level of the decollement is commonly in the upper
part of the pelagic–hemipelagic sequence on the sub-
ducting plate, which has been overpressured by the
deposition of turbidites above it in the trench. The age
of the accreted sediment changes with time, giving the
wedge a characteristic tectonostratigraphy. Each
thrust slice is youngest upward and landward, but
the sequence of successively accreted thrust slices
has the youngest thrust being seaward and down-
ward. It is this characteristic stratigraphy that can
be used to identify ancient accretionary wedges, such
as the Ordovician–Silurian wedge of the Southern
Uplands of Scotland.
In wedge growth by subcretion, sediment is added
to the base of the accretionary wedge by the forma-
tion of duplexes at a ramp where the decollement
changes level. These propagate successively forward
because the work required to continue to move the
wedge up a ramp becomes greater than that needed to
propagate displacement along the lower decollement
and generate a new ramp. In the process, the energy in
the sediment between the ramps is transferred from
the subducting plate to the accretionary wedge
(Figure 5). It has also been suggested that the forma-
tion of a zone of tectonic melange along the decolle-
ment enables material from the subducting plate to be
added to the accretionary wedge, but this can also
operate in the opposite sense.
Accretionary wedge growth can occur when land-
ward force imparted by the subducting lithosphere
increases with increases in wedge width, pushing the
wedge backward into the fore-arc basin and forming
thrusts that incorporate fore-arc basin sediment into
the wedge (Figure 5). In the mechanism involving
slope-drape and slope-basin sediments, deposits dir-
ectly onto the wedge are deformed by the continual
deformation of the wedge beneath as it strives to
maintain its critical taper. The sediment forming the
slope drape is usually hemipelagic, but in some cases,
 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges 311
turbidites derived from erosion of the fore-arc basin
or upper part of the wedge are deposited in synclinal
troughs to form slope basins, so-called because they
occur on the inner trench slope. In foreland fold-
and-thrust belts, basins such as these are termed
Figure 4 Fluid pressure varies with depth within the sediment
in a trench, prior to accretion or subduction. Within the relatively
permeable, rapidly deposited, turbidite fill of the trench, fluid
pressure is only a little above hydrostatic. Within the low-
permeability pelagic and hemipelagic sediments, fluid pressure
increases towards lithostatic pressure in response to the load-
ing produced by the rapid deposition of the turbidites above the
sediments. The depth at which fluid pressure is nearest to litho-
static pressure is favoured for development of the decollement,
although local lithologically mediated variations in the coefficient
of friction and cohesion may control its actual position. Copyright
Graham Westbrook.
Figure 5 Different modes of accretion of sediment to an accretionary wedge. Copyright Graham Westbrook.
‘piggyback’ basins. In the southern part of the Barba-
dos accretionary complex, distributary channels of
the Orinoco submarine fan run along synclinal
valleys in the accretionary complex, as well as on
the ocean floor before it (Figure 5).
Thickening of an accretionary wedge in its frontal
part is brought about by continued displacement on
the thrusts by which sediment was accreted and by
general horizontal shortening, which produces
folding of the thrust slices and landward rotation
and steepening of structures. The amount of
thickening that this can produce is limited by the
rotation of the thrust faults away from the optimum
angle for thrusting. Consequently, thickening in the
more landward parts of the wedge is produced by
motion on new, out-of-sequence, thrusts (termed
‘out of sequence’ because they do not follow the
normal sequence of the youngest thrust being
the most seaward). Thickening is also produced by
subcretion, adding material from below.
The size of an accretionary wedge might be
expected to be simply a product of the thickness of
sediment on the subducting oceanic crust, the rate of
subduction, and the period over which subduction
has occurred. It is certainly the case that the really
large wedges occur where major submarine fan
systems of considerable thickness are being subducted
(Figure 6), but the correlation between wedge size
and subduction rate is negative. The very large accre-
tionary wedges occur at subduction zones with low
rates of convergence. The frictional resistance to mo-
tion along the bases of these wide wedges (which,
even with a fluid pressure ratio of l ¼ 0:9, is a few
teranewtons per square metre, per unit length of the
312 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges

Figure 6 Thickness of sediment on a subducting plate in the trench at a subduction zone, plotted against the rate of subduction.
Three discrete groups of subduction zones are identified worldwide: those that have large accretionary wedges with a history of near-
continuous growth (yellow), those that have accretionary wedges of small or moderate size in relation to their budget of sediment input
and history and that have undergone episodes of tectonic erosion (orange shading), and those that have no, or insignificant,
accretionary wedges and are dominated by tectonic erosion (red shading). The last category is typified by very thin sediment fill in
the trench, irrespective of subduction rate, and tectonic erosion by basement relief is predominant. Copyright Graham Westbrook.

plate boundary, comparable to the net plate driving
forces from ridge push and subduction pull) may be a
contributory cause of the low convergence rates.
A crucial aspect of the accretion process is the separ-
ation of accreted from subducted sediment. Off the
coast of Costa Rica, all of the sediment in the trench,
which has no cover of turbidites, is subducted. Lower
permeability and a higher rate of loading, which cor-
relates with faster subduction, develop higher fluid
pressure in the sediments, which favours their sub-
duction because the decollement surface can form at a
shallow level. Studies of the global budget of material
accreted at convergent plate boundaries, in compari-
son with material supplied by subducting plate and
sedimentation in the trench, have shown that there is
a net loss of material. Globally, sediment subduction
and tectonic erosion (see below) predominate over
accretion.
Fluid Flow, Seeps, and Methane
Hydrate
As the sediment incorporated into an accretionary
wedge and subducted beneath the wedge compacts,
it expels water. Also, the dehydration of minerals in
the sediment with increasing temperature and pres-
sure, such the transformation of smectite to illite,
releases water. This water flows through the wedge
and subducting crust as it escapes to the ocean, carry-
ing with it heat, solutes, and gases (Figure 7). The
permeability of the mud-rich sediments that are sub-
ducted is generally too low for the water to escape
along the subduction zone. The rate of flow of the
water through the sediment is less than the rate of
subduction. So, the water migrates into and then
through high-permeability pathways, such as faults
and permeable sediments such as sands, or even the
igneous ocean crust, which is about a thousand times
more permeable than compacted clay-rich mud de-
posited on the ocean floor. The warm water expelled
beneath the trench increases the heat flow from the
trench. Water driven into trench sediments or ex-
pelled along faults through the wedge can contain
methane that was generated by methanogenic bac-
teria and other hydrocarbon gases that were created
in conditions of higher temperature beneath the
wedge. The methane and hydrogen sulphide expelled
at seeps and vents sustain chemosynthetic commu-
nities of biota. (In this setting, the hydrogen sulphide
is a product of anaerobic oxidation of methane
by symbiotic communities of aquatic bacteria and
archaea.) The seeps and vents are usually located
along faults or in mud volcanoes, which occur on
the accretionary wedge and on the ocean floor in
front of the wedge. Mud volcanoes are created by
mud diapirism, in which the tensional stresses at the
top of a body of low-density mud are sufficient to
create a pathway for the mud to rise buoyantly to the
seabed, where it erupts. The diapiric bodies are ini-
tially created by deformation of underconsolidated
 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges 313

Figure 7 Fluid flow and modes of expulsion of fluid from an accretionary wedge. The sources of fluid are pore water expelled by
compaction from sediment subducted beneath the accretionary wedge and sediment accreted to the wedge, and dehydration of
hydrous minerals such as smectite, as temperature increases with increasing depth of subduction. Copyright Graham Westbrook.

mud-rich layers that are accreted into the wedge or
subcreted beneath it. Mud volcanoes also appear to
be created by the fluidization and entrainment of mud
by water driven to the surface by tectonic expulsion,
and this mode of formation is characteristic of mud
volcanoes created in front of accretionary wedges on
the ocean floor, or behind them in fore-arc basins.
The migration of methane-containing pore water
through the sediments of an accretionary wedge as
it compacts creates methane hydrate in the sediments
occupying the first few hundred metres depth range
beneath the seabed (see Petroleum Geology: Gas Hy-
drates). This occurs because this region lies within the
stability field for methane hydrate (which is a solid
clathrate formed from water and methane, in which
the methane molecules are held within a cage of water
molecules in an approximately 1:6 ratio). The hy-
drate stability field generally exists in Earth’s major
oceans in water depths greater than about 300 m, and
is favoured by increasing pressure and decreasing
temperature. Consequently, most of the sediments
beneath continental margins are in the hydrate stabil-
ity field down to the depth at which, because of the
increase of temperature with depth, the geotherm
crosses the stability boundary for hydrate. Beneath
this boundary, methane can be present as free gas, in
which case the boundary creates a seismic reflection
because the presence of only a very small amount of
free gas (less than 1% of the pore space is enough)
reduces the seismic velocity of P waves significantly.
The polarity of the reflection is negative, opposite to
that of the seabed, because of the decrease in velocity
beneath it, and is most clearly visible on seismic reflec-
tion sections where it cuts across the reflections
produced by sedimentary bedding (Figure 8). This re-
flection is widespread in accretionary wedges, and is
usually termed a bottom-simulating reflection (BSR)
because its shape, to the first order, mimics that of the
seabed, which, because of its nearly uniform tempera-
ture, controls the shape of the isotherms beneath it.
Uplift of the seabed produced by the thickening of
the wedge continually moves the base of the zone
containing hydrate upward out of hydrate stability
field, causing hydrate to dissociate and release free
gas that produces the BSR. Because the depth of the
BSR below the seabed is controlled by the geothermal
gradient, mapping the depth of the BSR has been used
to map variations in heat flow from accretionary
wedges, which is influenced by tectonic thickening
and fluid flow. The tectonic expulsion of methane-
rich pore water and the dissociation of hydrate to free
gas caused by uplift results in methane hydrate and
BSRs being widespread in accretionary wedges,
whereas they occur only rarely in the sediments of
passive continental margins.
Tectonic Erosion at Subduction
Zones
The inner walls of trenches of arcs (e.g., the Mariana
arc, Tonga arc, and South Sandwich arc) do not have
significant accretionary wedges. Those that do occur
314 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges

Figure 8 Model for the growth of methane hydrate within sediments in the uppermost part of an accretionary wedge, and for the
formation of a bottom-simulating seismic reflection (BSR). Methane, dissolved in pore water expelled from sediment by compaction
within and beneath the wedge, is carried upward into the hydrate stability field, where it forms hydrate. Uplift of the seabed, caused by
the thickening of the wedge with continuing growth, destabilizes the base of the hydrate stability zone, releasing methane gas and
water from dissociated hydrate. The presence of free gas is the principal cause of the BSR. Copyright Graham Westbrook.

are very small and transitory. Most of the evidence Erosion by Basement Topography
suggests that material from the inner trench wall
Tectonic erosion may occur when the basement top-
is being removed and subducted. The budgets of sedi-
ography physically breaks off and displaces parts of
ment available to be added to accretionary wedges in
the fore arc, carrying it deeper into the subduction
comparison with the mass of sediment in wedges indi-
zone; this steepens the trench slope locally, causing
cate that many have lost sediment or have undergone
submarine slides into the trench. The material from
periods when none was accreted. For example, the the slides may then also be subducted (see Figure 9).
accretionary wedge off the coast of Honshu, Japan,
The mechanism depends on the basement of the sub-
is composed mainly of Cretaceous sediment, with only
ducting plate being stronger than the material in the
a very little Neogene sediment and no Paleogene sedi-
tip of the overriding plate. Where an accretionary
ment. This suggests that there is a process that removes
wedge, composed of sediment or metamorphosed
material from the overriding plate at subduction
sediment, forms the leading edge of the overriding
zones. This process, or group of processes, is re-
plate, this is normally the case, but where the edge
ferred to collectively as tectonic erosion or subduction
of the overriding plate is composed of igneous or
erosion. high-grade metamorphic rocks, the situation can be
What is the evidence for tectonic erosion? The
reversed, resulting in the accretion/obduction of the
absence of accretionary wedges from arcs such as
basement feature on the subducting plate. There are
Tonga might be explained if all of the sediment in
two broad categories of basement topography. The
the trench was subducted. Fore-arc subsidence such
first is general basement relief inherited from a mid-
as that off the coast of Peru, where there has been
ocean ridge and accentuated by normal faulting in the
4 km of subsidence over a 100-km width of fore arc
outer trench slope. This is ineffective if sediment
since the late Miocene, is difficult to explain other
cover is more than several hundred metres thick,
than by the removal of material from the base of the because the decollement forms well above the base-
fore arc. The landward migration of the volcanic arc
ment and the accretionary wedge rides over the relief,
across the overriding plate, as exemplified by the
undisturbed. The second category comprises discrete
Andes and by island arcs such as the South Sandwich
features of high relief, such as seamounts, transform
or the northern end of the Lesser Antilles, although
ridges and troughs, and hotspot ridges. These are
explicable in specific instances by a reduction in the
more severe in their effects, but are not present every-
angle of dip of the subducted lithosphere, can only be
where, and so they produce spatially and temporally
generally explained by removal of crust from the
limited episodes of tectonic erosion, of which a good
leading edge of the overriding plate. The mechanisms example is provided by the subduction of seamounts
proposed for tectonic erosion are of two principal
on the Cocos plate beneath the convergent margin of
types: erosion by basement topography and erosion
Costa Rica.
from the effects of high fluid pressure.
 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges 315

Figure 9 Tectonic erosion by the relief of the oceanic basement is a common process where sediment cover on the subducting plate
is thin. Scarps originally formed by normal faulting at the mid-ocean ridge are enhanced, or a new one is created by normal faulting in
the outer part of the trench as the oceanic lithosphere flexes downward into the subduction zone. The tops of these scarps collide with
the toe of the accretionary wedge or with the leading edge of the crystalline fore-arc of the overriding plate, forcing the decollement to
jump upward to the level of the top of the scarp, thereby transferring some of the material that was in the wedge to the subducting plate.
The surface of the wedge is steepened by the removal of material from its toe, inducing slumps into the trench of material that is
subsequently accreted and swept into the subduction zone by the basement scarps. The subduction of seamounts produces a similar,
although more severe, process of tectonic erosion that is effective in thicker sediment cover, but is geographically more localized.
Copyright Graham Westbrook.

Erosion from the Effects of High Fluid Pressure Obduction

The need to invoke this second type of mechanism is
presented by those subduction zones where it is clear
that tectonic erosion is or has been active, yet no
features of basement topography appear to be respon-
sible. The fluid pressure ratio, l, is greatest at the top
of any body of rock in which pore water is connected.
This makes the uppermost rocks weakest and most
liable to failure and displacement. As zones of high
pressure are driven to migrate upward, progressive
failure and displacement remove material from (tec-
tonically erode) the section through which the high-
pressure pore fluid migrates, until it dissipates or
escapes to the surface. As subduction is continually
feeding sediments with a high water content beneath
wedges of accreted sediment or the basement of the
overriding plate, the potential for this type of mech-
anism to operate is always present, if pore water
expelled from the sediment cannot escape easily
through the overlying wedge. There is evidence for
two possible variants of this process, the first more
general, the second more specific:
1. In ‘stoping’, high-pressure fluid causes disaggrega-
tion of the base of the wedge. The disaggregated
rock is incorporated into a shear zone melange and
is subducted (Figure 10). Shear zone melanges are
exhibited by the exhumed deeper parts of old
accretionary wedges that can be observed on
land, such as the Franciscan wedge in California.
2. In the process of reactivation and upward migra-
tion of detachment surfaces, high-pressure fluid
weakens the upper surfaces more than the lower
ones. Rock beneath the reactivated surfaces is sub-
ducted (Figure 10). Seismic images of duplexes
within the subducting section have provided the
indication that this process occurs.
Sometimes, features of oceanic basement are not sub-
ducted, but are sheared off against the crystalline crust
of the overriding plate, leading to obduction of part of
the oceanic crust. This appears to occur most com-
monly where asperities exist in the oceanic crust that is
being subducted, such as seamounts or the ridges
flanking transform faults. The Tres Montes Peninsula
on the coast of southern Chile, close to the Chile triple
junction, was probably brought about by this process.
Very large-scale obduction of ocean crust to create
ophiolite complexes is associated with continent/
continent collision or continent/island-arc collision
and may also be a consequence of the closing of
back-arc basins following a change in plate motions,
with young buoyant ocean crust thrust onto the adja-
cent plate, as exemplified by the Rocas Verdes
complex of southern Chile.
Oblique Subduction
There are several convergent margins, including the
eastern end of the Aleutian island arc, Sumatra, the
north-west United States (Cascadia), and the north-
ern Pacific margin of Colombia, where the direction
of convergence is oblique; in these cases, as well as
convergence between the two plates in the direction
orthogonal to the plate boundary, there is a compon-
ent of motion parallel to the plate boundary. At these
margins, the directions of thrust-fault outcrops and of
fold axes, which form at right angles to the direction
of compression, run subparallel to the margin, not at
right angles to the direction of convergence of the two
plates. The reason for this is that the displacement
between the accretionary wedge and the subducting
plate is partitioned into a component orthogonal to
316 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges

Figure 10 The hypothesis of tectonic erosion from the effect of high pore-fluid pressure. (A) Loss of subcreted material from the
accretionary wedge by relocation of the active decollement to the upper of the two levels separating the subcreted duplexes, because
of an increase in drainage from the lower decollement and/or a restriction in the drainage from the upper level. (B) Material above the
main decollement has been weakened by high fluid pressure; a melange of this disaggregated material is incorporated into a shear
zone, which transports the material deeper into the subduction zone. Removal of this material makes it easier for high-pressure fluid in
the shear zone to infiltrate the zone and propagate the process of tectonic erosion upward into the overlying wedge. Copyright Graham
Westbrook.

the margin and a component parallel to it. A strike–

slip fault, or series of faults, separates the wedge, and
often the fore-arc basin as well, from the volcanic arc
and the rest of the plate. The horizontal motion be-
tween the fore-arc region and the remainder of the
plate along this fault compensates the obliquity of
plate convergence, so that the relative motion be-
tween the subducting plate and the accretionary
wedge is nearly orthogonal to the margin (Figure 11).
It has been demonstrated theoretically and by experi-
ments with sand-box models that, when the direction
of convergence is greater than about 15 from orth- Figure 11 Where subduction is oblique to the margin, motion is
ogonal to the margin, displacement can be parti- partitioned into orthogonal underthrusting of the subducting plate
beneath the fore arc (accretionary wedge plus or minus the fore-
tioned in this way. This is because the work required arc basin) and strike–slip movement between the fore arc and the
to move the subducting plate the shortest distance, overriding plate. The direction of plate motion is shown by the
orthogonal to the margin, against the frictional resist- large arrows; the small red arrows on the subducting plate indi-
ance of the decollement surface, plus the work to cate components of motion normal and parallel to the margin.
move the fore-arc along the strike–slip fault, is less Copyright Graham Westbrook.
than the work required to move the plate obliquely a
greater distance along the decollement in the direc-
tion of convergence between the two plates. The the deviation from orthogonal convergence required
angle of obliquity at which partitioning occurs to produce partitioning can approach 40 . Where
depends on the shear stress at the base of the wedge, partitioning occurs, the fore-arc can be translated
and if this is very low, because of fluid overpressure, large distances along the edge of the overriding plate
 TECTONICS/Convergent Plate Boundaries and Accretionary Wedges 317

Table 1 Summary of controls on accretion, subduction, and tectonic erosion of sediment

Separation of accreted and
subducted sediment
Tectonic erosion
Accretion vs. tectonic erosion
The level of detachment between accreted and subducted sediment is governed by
Ratio of shear stress to effective normal stress
Presence of a weak horizon, produced by
Low intrinsic strength (low coefficient of friction and low cohesion)
High fluid pressure from
Low permeability
High rate of loading, produced by
Sufficient sediment supply to trench
High subduction rate
High angle of dip of subducting plate
By basement topography
General relief inherited from mid-ocean ridge, and accentuated by normal faulting in outer
trench slope; ineffective if sediment cover is thicker than several hundred metres
Discrete features of high relief
Seamounts
Transform ridges and troughs
Hotspot ridges (swells)
From the effects of high fluid pressure
‘Stoping’ (disaggregation of base of wedge and incorporation into a shear-zone melange)
Reactivation and upward migration of detachment surfaces
Progressive accretion is associated with high sediment thickness and low subduction rate
Tectonic erosion is associated with low sediment thickness
Episodic accretion and tectonic erosion is associated with high sediment thickness and high
subduction rate

to become a displaced, or exotic, terrain. A summary
of the controls on accretion, subduction, and tectonic
erosion of sediment is given in Table 1.
See Also
Andes. Europe: Caledonides of Britain and Ireland;
Mediterranean Tectonics. Japan. Metamorphic Rocks:
Facies and Zones. New Zealand. North America: North-
ern Cordillera. Oceania (Including Fiji, PNG and Solo-
mons). Petroleum Geology: Gas Hydrates. Seamounts.
Sedimentary Processes: Deep Water Processes and
Deposits. Seismic Surveys. Tectonics: Mountain Build-
ing and Orogeny; Ocean Trenches. Ultra High Pressure
Metamorphism.
Further Reading
Bebout GE, Scholl DW, Kirby SH, and Platt JP (eds.) (1996)
Subduction Top to Bottom, Geophysical Monograph 96.
Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union.
Carson B and Screaton EJ (1998) Fluid flow in accretionary
prisms: evidence for focused, time-variable discharge.
Reviews of Geophysics 36: 329–351.
Davis DJ, Suppe J, and Dahlen FA (1983) Mechanics of
fold-and-thrust belts and accretionary wedges. Journal of
Geophysical Research 88: 1153–1172.
Fryer P (1996) Evolution of the Mariana convergent plate
margin system. Reviews of Geophysics 34: 89–125.
Hyndman RD and Davis EE (1992) A mechanism for
the formation of methane hydrate and sea-floor
bottom-simulating reflectors by vertical fluid expulsion.
Journal of Geophysical Research 97: 7025–7041.
Hyndman RD, Spence GD, Chapman R, Riedel M, and
Edwards RN (2001) Geophysical studies of marine gas
hydrate in northern Cascadia. In: Geophysical Mono-
graph 124, Natural Gas Hydrates: Occurrence, Distribu-
tion, and Detection, pp. 273–295. Washington, DC:
American Geophysical Union.
Lallemand SE, Schnurle P, and Malavieille J (1994) Cou-
lomb theory applied to accretionary and nonaccretionary
wedges – possible causes for tectonic erosion and or
frontal accretion. Journal of Geophysical Research 99:
12033–12055.
Moore JC and Vrolijk P (1992) Fluids in accretionary
prisms. Reviews of Geophysics 30: 113–135.
Ranero CR and von Huene R (2000) Subduction erosion
along the Middle America convergent margin. Nature
404: 748–752.
Stern RJ (2002) Subduction Zones. Reviews of Geophysics
40(4): 3.1–3.38.
Tarney J, Pickering KT, Knipe RJ, and Dewey JF (eds.)
(1991) The Behaviour and Influence of Fluids in Sub-
duction Zones. London: The Royal Society (From Philo-
sophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series A 335:
225–418.)
von Huene R and Scholl DW (1991) Observations at con-
vergent margins concerning sediment subduction, sub-
duction erosion, and the growth of continental crust.
Reviews of Geophysics 29: 279–316.
Westbrook GK, Ladd JW, Buhl P, Tiley GJ, and Bangs N
(1988) Cross section of an accretionary wedge: Barbados
Ridge Complex. Geology 16: 631–635.