Three‐dimensional electromagnetic imaging of upwelling fluids in the Kyushu subduction zone, Japan

Abstract

AbstractA three‐dimensional (3‐D) lithospheric‐scale electrical resistivity model, developed using network‐magnetotelluric (network‐MT) data, contains structures associated with arc magmatism beneath Kyushu Island in the Southwest Japan arc. Kyushu Island, where the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP) subducts beneath the Eurasian plate, can be divided into northern and southern volcanic regions separated by a nonvolcanic region. Many active Quaternary volcanoes occur along the volcanic front (VF) associated with the PSP in the two volcanic regions. Our 3‐D electrical resistivity model shows three different shapes of upwelling fluid‐like conductive anomalies, indicative of either slab‐derived aqueous fluid and/or partial melt beneath the volcanic and nonvolcanic regions. A conductive anomaly in the northern volcanic region, located at some distance from the subducting PSP, extends from the surface to depths of <100 km, whereas another conductive anomaly in the southern volcanic region, located along the subducting PSP at >70 km depth, extends from the surface to depths of >100 km. In the nonvolcanic region, the upper region of a relatively conductive anomaly extends upward to a depth of ~50 km along the subducting plate. The degrees of magmatism and the relative contribution of slab‐derived fluids to the magmatism vary spatially in the one nonvolcanic and two volcanic regions.