Tectonic mélange as fault rock of subduction plate boundary

An assemblage of quantitative data sets is examined to evaluate tectonic mélange as a plate boundary fault rocks in subduction zone. The research object is the latest Cretaceous Mugi mélange in the Shimanto Belt, southwest Japan. Systematic age younging from pelagic to terrigenous through hemipelagic sediments is well-documented even though original stratigraphy is disrupted. Systematic shear fabric consistent with ancient plate convergence is reconstructed. The mélange was formed at temperatures of ~ 130–200 °C by cataclastic comminution of sandstone layers accompanied by tensile cracking, and plastic deformation and the dehydration of clayey shale matrix, with subsequent peeling off and underplating of the oceanic basement.The temperature setting for the Mugi mélange indicates around the up-dip limit of the seismogenic zone, therefore includes various fault rocks suggestive of earthquake fault; pseudotachylyte, fluidized ultracataclasite with heating evidence, amorphous silica and so on. These suggest that fluid induced lubrication was dominated. Localized cataclastic shear, which is a candidate of small earthquake or very low frequency earthquake, is also recognized especially in sandstone blocks dominated portion in mélange. These observations are consistent with the mélange being a fault rock along the plate boundary that records various types of earthquakes in a subduction zone. The quantitative examination of the Mugi mélange suggests several criteria to define the tectonic mélange of the plate boundary fault in subduction zone from other mélanges in orogenic belt.

► The Mugi mélange records faulting processes along subduction plate boundary.
► Pseudotachylyte and fluidized ultracataclasite reflect seismic slip.
► Localized shear in the mélange may reflect VLFs or aftershocks.
► Tectonic mélange was formed just before underplating.