Forearc

A forearc is the region between an oceanic trench and the associated volcanic arc. Forearc regions are found at convergent margins, and include any accretionary wedge and forearc basin that may be present. Due to tectonic stresses as one tectonic plate rides over another, forearc regions are sources for great thrust earthquakes

During subduction, an oceanic plate is thrust below another tectonic plate, which may be oceanic or continental. Water and other volatiles in the down-going plate cause flux melting in the upper mantle, creating magma that rises and penetrates the overriding plate, forming a volcanic arc. The weight of the down-going slab flexes the down-going plate creating an oceanic trench. The area between the trench and the arc is the forearc region, and the area behind the arc (i.e. on the side away from the trench) is the back-arc region.

Initial theories proposed that the oceanic trenches and magmatic arcs were the primary suppliers of the accretionary sedimentation wedges in the forearc regions. More recent discovery suggests that some of the accreted material in the forearc region is from a mantle source along with trench turbidites derived from continental material. This theory holds due to evidence of pelagic sediments and continental crust being subducted in processes known as sediment subduction and subduction erosion respectively.

Over geological time there is constant recycling of the forearc deposits due to erosion, deformation and sedimentary subduction. The constant circulation of material in the forearc region (accretionary prism, forarc basin and trench) generates a mixture of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary sequences. In general, there is an increase in metamorphic grade from trench to arc where highest grade (blueschist to eclogite) is structurally uplifted (in the prisms) compared to the younger deposits (basins). Forearc regions are also where ophiolites are emplaced should obduction occur, but such deposits are not continuous and can often be removed by erosion.

As tectonic plates converge, the closing of an ocean will result in the convergence of two landmasses, each of which is either an island arc or continental margin. When these two bodies collide, the result is orogenesis, at which time the underthrusting oceanic crust slows down. In early stages of arc-continent collision, there is uplift and erosion of the accretionary prism and forearc basin. In the later stages of collision, the forearc region may be sutured, rotated and shortened which can form syn-collisional folds and thrust belts.

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