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Island arc
Island arcs are long chains of active volcanoes with intense seismic activity found along
convergent tectonic plate boundaries. Most island arcs originate on oceanic crust and have resulted
from the descent of the lithosphere into the mantle along the subduction zone. They are the
principal way by which continental growth is achieved.[1]

Island arcs can either be active or inactive based on their

seismicity and presence of volcanoes. Active arcs are ridges of
recent volcanoes with an associated deep seismic zone. They
also possess a distinct curved form, a chain of active or recently
extinct volcanoes, a deep-sea trench, and a large negative
Bouguer anomaly on the convex side of the volcanic arc. The
small positive gravity anomaly associated with volcanic arcs
has been interpreted by many authors as due to the presence of
dense volcanic rocks beneath the arc. Inactive arcs are a chain
of islands which contains older volcanic and volcaniclastic
rocks.[2]
The Ryukyu Islands form an island
The curved shape of many volcanic chains and the angle of the arc
descending lithosphere are related.[3] If the oceanic part of the
plate is represented by the ocean floor on the convex side of the
arc, and if the zone of flexing occurs beneath the submarine trench, then the deflected part of the
plate coincides approximately with the Benioff zone beneath most arcs.

Location
Most modern island arcs are near the continental margins (particularly in the northern and
western margins of the Pacific Ocean). However, no direct evidence from within the arcs shows
that they have always existed at their present position with respect to the continents, although
evidence from some continental margins suggests that some arcs may have migrated toward the
continents during the late Mesozoic or early Cenozoic.[2] They are also found at oceanic-oceanic
convergence zones, in which case the older plate will subduct under the younger one.

The movement of the island arcs towards the continent could be possible if, at some point, the
ancient Benioff zones dipped toward the present ocean rather than toward the continent, as in
most arcs today. This will have resulted in the loss of ocean floor between the arc and the
continent, and consequently, in the migration of the arc during spreading episodes.[2]

The fracture zones in which some active island arcs terminate may be interpreted in terms of plate
tectonics as resulting from movement along transform faults,[4][5] which are plate margins where
the crust is neither being consumed nor generated. Thus the present location of these inactive
island chains is due to the present pattern of lithospheric plates. However, their volcanic history,
which indicates that they are fragments of older island arcs, is not necessarily related to the
present plate pattern and may be due to differences in position of plate margins in the past.

Tectonic formation

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Understanding the source of heat that causes

the melting of the mantle was a contentious
problem. Researchers believed that the heat
was produced through friction at the top of the
slab. However, this is unlikely because the
viscosity of the asthenosphere decreases with
increasing temperature, and at the
temperatures required for partial fusion, the
asthenosphere would have such a low viscosity
that shear melting could not occur.[6]

It is now believed that water acts as the primary

agent that drives partial melting beneath arcs.
It has been shown that the amount of water
present in the down-going slab is related to the
melting temperature of the mantle.[7] The
greater the amount of water present, the more
the melting temperature of the mantle is
reduced. This water is released during the
transformation of minerals as pressure
increases, with the mineral carrying the most
water being serpentinite.

These metamorphic mineral reactions cause the

dehydration of the upper part of the slab as the
hydrated slab sinks. Heat is also transferred to
it from the surrounding asthenosphere. As heat
is transferred to the slab, temperature gradients
are established such that the asthenosphere in Two plates collide and create an island arc between
the vicinity of the slab becomes cooler and them in the process.
more viscous than surrounding areas,
particularly near the upper part of the slab. This
more viscous asthenosphere is then dragged down with the slab causing less viscous mantle to flow
in behind it. It is the interaction of this down-welling mantle with aqueous fluids rising from the
sinking slab that is thought to produce partial melting of the mantle as it crosses its wet solidus.[8]
In addition, some melts may result from the up-welling of hot mantle material within the mantle
wedge.[9] If hot material rises quickly enough so that little heat is lost, the reduction in pressure
may cause pressure release or decompression partial melting.

On the subducting side of the island arc is a deep and narrow oceanic trench, which is the trace at
the Earth's surface of the boundary between the down-going and overriding plates. This trench is
created by the downward gravitational pull of the relatively dense subducting plate on the leading
edge of the plate. Multiple earthquakes occur along this subduction boundary with the seismic
hypocenters located at increasing depth under the island arc: these quakes define the Benioff
zone.[10][11]

Island arcs can be formed in intra-oceanic settings, or from the fragments of continental crust that
have migrated away from an adjacent continental land mass or at subduction-related volcanoes
active at the margins of continents.

Features
Below are some of the generalized features present in most island arcs.

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Fore-arc: This region comprises the trench,

the accretionary prism, and the fore-arc
basin. A bump from the trench in the
oceanward side of the system is present
(Barbados in the Lesser Antilles is an
example). The fore-arc basin forms
between the fore-arc ridge and the island
arc; it is a region of undisturbed flat-
bedded sedimentation.

Trenches: These are the deepest features of

ocean basins; the deepest being the
Mariana trench (approximately 11,000  m
A schematic cross-section of an island arc from trench to
or 36,000 ft). They are formed by flexing of
back-arc basin
the oceanic lithosphere, developing on the
ocean side of island arcs.

Back-arc basin: They are also referred to as marginal seas and are formed in the inner, concave
side of island arcs bounded by back-arc ridges. They develop in response to tensional tectonics due
to rifting of an existing island arc.

Benioff zone or Wadati-Benioff zone: This is a plane that dips under the overriding plate where
intense volcanic activity occurs, which is defined by the location of seismic events below the arc.
Earthquakes occur from near surface to ~660 km depth. The dip of Benioff zones ranges from 30°
to near vertical.[12]

An ocean basin may be formed between the continental margin and the island arcs on the concave
side of the arc. These basins have a crust which is either oceanic or intermediate between the
normal oceanic crust and that typical of continents; heat flow in the basins is higher than in normal
continental or oceanic areas.[2]

Some arcs, such as the Aleutians, pass laterally into the continental shelf on the concave side of the
arc,[13] while most of the arcs are separated from the continental crust.

Movement between two lithospheric plates explains the major features of active island arcs. The
island arc and small ocean basin are situated on the overlying plate which meets the descending
plate containing normal oceanic crust along the Benioff zone. The sharp bending of the oceanic
plate downward produces a trench.[14]

Volcanic rocks in the island arc

There are generally three volcanic series from which the types of volcanic rock that occur in island
arcs are formed:[15][16]

The tholeiitic series – basaltic andesites and andesites.

The calc-alkaline series – andesites.
The alkaline series – subgroups of alkaline basalts and the rare, very high potassium-bearing
(i.e. shoshonitic) lavas.

This volcanic series is related to the age of the subduction zone and the depth. The tholeiitic
magma series is well represented above young subduction zones formed by magma from relative
shallow depth. The calc-alkaline and alkaline series are seen in mature subduction zones, and are
related to magma of greater depths. Andesite and basaltic andesite are the most abundant volcanic

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rock in island arc which is indicative of the calc-alkaline magmas. Some Island arcs have
distributed volcanic series as can be seen in the Japanese island arc system where the volcanic
rocks change from tholeiite—calc-alkaline—alkaline with increasing distance from the trench.[15]

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Several processes are involved in arc magmatism which gives rise to the great spectrum of rock
composition encountered. These processes are, but not limited to, magma mixing, fractionation,
variations in the depth and degree of partial melting and assimilation. Therefore, the three volcanic
series results in a wide range of rock composition and do not correspond to absolute magma types
or source regions.[6]

List of modern island arcs

Basin or Overriding
Island arc Country Trench Subducting plate
marginal sea Plate
North American
Aleutian Islands United States Aleutian Trench Bering Sea Pacific Plate
Plate

Kuril–Kamchatka Sea of North American

Kuril Islands Russia Pacific Plate
Trench Okhotsk Plate

North American Pacific Plate,

Japanese Japan Trench、
Japan Sea of Japan Plate, Eurasian Philippine Sea
Archipelago Nankai Trough
Plate Plate
East China
Philippine Sea
Ryukyu Islands Japan Ryukyu Trench Sea (Okinawa Eurasian Plate
Plate
Trough)

South China
Philippine Sea
Philippine Islands Philippines Philippine Trench Sea, Celebes Eurasian Plate
Plate
Sea

Java Sea,
Sunda Arc Indonesia Java Trench Eurasian Plate Australian Plate
Flores Sea
Andaman and Northern Java Indo-Australian
India Andaman Sea Eurasian Plate
Nicobar Islands Trench Plate

Izu Islands and

Bonin Islands Izu–Ogasawara Philippine Sea
Japan Pacific Plate
(Ogasawara Trench Plate
Islands)

Philippine Sea
Mariana Islands United States Mariana Trench Pacific Plate
Plate
Bismarck Papua New New Britain
Pacific Plate Australian Plate
Archipelago Guinea Trench

Solomon Islands Solomon San Cristobal

Pacific Plate Australian Plate
(archipelago) Islands Trench

New Hebrides
New Hebrides Vanuatu Pacific Plate Australian Plate
Trench
Tonga islands Tonga Tonga Trench Australian Plate Pacific Plate

North American
Puerto Rico
Antilles Caribbean Caribbean Plate Plate, South
Trench
American Plate

British
South Sandwich South Sandwich South American
Overseas Scotia Sea Scotia Plate
Islands Trench Plate
Territory
Eastern Aegean Sea
Aegean or Hellenic
Greece Mediterranean Aegean Sea Plate or African Plate
arc
Trench Hellenic Plate

Examples of ancient island arcs

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Remains of former island arcs have been identified at some locations. The table below mention a
selection of these.

Island arc Country Fate

Chaitenia Chile, Argentina Accreted to Patagonia in the Devonian.[17]

Insular Islands Canada, United States Accreted to North America in the Cretaceous.

Intermontane Islands Canada, United States Accreted to North America in the Jurassic.

See also
Islands portal

Back-arc basin
High island
Volcanic arc

References
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