Abstract
The growth of continental crust consists of contributions from both magmatic and amagmatic processes. In the Philippines, the presence of numerous active and potentially active volcanoes and ophiolite/ophiolitic complexes attests to the significant role of arc magmatism and oceanic lithosphere emplacement to crustal growth. However, an estimate of the magmatic and amagmatic contributions to crustal growth has never been attempted previously for this particular island-arc system due to the paucity of geophysical data (e.g., seismic refraction data, seismic velocity models, etc.). This study presents a synthesis of crustal thickness values based on available geophysical and geochemical data. These thicknesses are used to determine the volume of material produced by arc magmatism as well as crustal growth resulting from the amagmatic emplacement of ophiolites. Based on the computations, arc magmatism, rather than ophiolite emplacement, has contributed more significantly to crustal growth in the Philippines. Arc magmatism growth rates of 25 to 67 km3/km/m.y. are comparable to those of computed arc magmatic addition rates in other island-arc systems in the Western Pacific. Ophiolite accretion rates vary from 2 to 19 km3/km/m.y.
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