Subduction of continental lithosphere in the Banda Sea region: Combining evidence from full waveform tomography and isotope ratios

We provide new insight into the subduction of old continental lithosphere to depths of more than 100 km beneath the Banda arc, based on a spatial correlation of full waveform tomographic images of its lithosphere with He, Pb, Nd and Sr isotope signatures in its arc volcanics. The thickness of the subducted lithosphere of around 200 km coincides with the thickness of Precambrian lithosphere as inferred from surface wave tomography. While the deep subduction of continental material in continent–continent collisions is widely recognised, the analogue process in the arc–continent collision of the Banda region is currently unique. The integrated data suggest that the late Jurassic ocean lithosphere north of the North Australian craton was capable of entraining large volumes of continental lithosphere. The Banda arc example demonstrates that continental lithosphere in arc–continent collisions is not generally preserved, thus increasing the complexity of tectonic reconstructions. In the particular case of Timor, the tomographic images indicate that this island is not located directly above the northern margin of the North Australian craton, and that decoupled oceanic lithosphere must be located at a considerable distance north of Timor, possibly as far north as the northern margin of the volcanically extinct arc sector. The tomographic images combined with isotope data suggest that subduction of the continental lithosphere did not lead to the delamination of its complete crust. A plausible explanation involves delamination within the continental crust, separating upper from lower crustal units. This interpretation is consistent with the existence of a massive accretionary complex on Timor island, with evidence from Pb isotope analysis for lower-crust involvement in arc volcanism; and with the approximate gravitational stability of the subducted lithosphere as inferred from the tomographic images. The subduction of continental lithosphere including crustal material beneath the Banda arc indicates that global injection rates of continental material into the mantle may have been underestimated and that continental subduction in arc–continent collisions may have contributed more to isotopic signatures of Earth's mantle than previously recognised.