Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic volcanism of the East Sikhote-Alin area (Russian Far East): A new synthesis of geological and petrological data

The geotectonic framework and the evolutionary history of the East Sikhote-Alin area (ESA) need revision in accordance with various geological and petrological evidence gathered in recent years. It has been suggested that the investigated region resulted from the subduction of the Izanagi (Kula) and Pacific oceanic plates that lasted from Late Cretaceous to Late Tertiary; however, only Late Cretaceous intermediate and silicic volcanics enriched in LILE and depleted in HFSE can be interpreted as typical subduction complexes. Changes in the Paleogene (Paleocene to early Miocene) magmatic style of the ESA area reflect variation in the Pacific plate - eastern Eurasian convergence parameter, the termination Late Cretaceous subduction, slab tearing, and injection of the oceanic asthenosphere of Pacific MORB type into subcontinental lithosphere. The Sea of Japan opening began in the Eocene with formation of small rift basins in the Tatar Strait, which accumulated coastal facies. From Eocene to early Miocene the extension zone, affected by oceanic asthenosphere, gradually moved eastward, i.e., to the modern Sea of Japan. The effect of oceanic asthenosphere on the continental margin ended in the late Miocene after the Sea of Japan had opened and new subduction initiated east of the Japan Islands. EM I signature of the late Miocene - Pliocene within-plate basalts is evidence for eastward asthenospheric flow. (C) 2017 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.