Izu-Bonin Volcanic ARC - Mount Fuji, Iwo Jima, Izu-Bonin-Mariana ARC, Bonin Islands, Niijima, Izu Islands, Hachij Jima (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 32. Chapters: Mount Fuji, Iwo Jima, Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc, Bonin Islands, Niijima, Izu Islands, Hachij jima, Historic eruptions of Mount Fuji, Miyakejima, Torishima, My jin-sh, Izu Peninsula, Lot's Wife, Shikinejima, Bayonnaise Rocks, Hachij kojima, Aogashima, noharajima, Smith Island, Udoneshima, K zushima, Inambajima, Volcano Islands, Fukutoku-Okanoba, Nanp Islands, Kurose Hole. Excerpt: The Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) arc system is an outstanding example of a plate tectonic convergent boundary. IBM extends over 2800 km south from Tokyo, Japan, to beyond Guam, and includes the Izu Islands, Bonin Islands, and Mariana Islands; much more of the IBM arc system is submerged below sealevel. The IBM arc system lies along the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea Plate in the Western Pacific Ocean. It is most famous for being the site of the deepest gash in Earth's solid surface, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. The IBM arc system formed as a result of subduction of the western Pacific plate. The IBM arc system now subducts mid-Jurassic to Early Cretaceous lithosphere, with younger lithosphere in the north and older lithosphere in the south, including the oldest ( 170 million years old, or Ma) oceanic crust. Subduction rates vary from 2 cm (1 inch) per year in the south to 6 cm ( 2.5 inches) in the north. The volcanic islands that comprise these island arcs are thought to have been formed from the release of volatiles (steam from trapped water, and other gases) being released from the subducted plate, as it reached sufficient depth for the temperature to cause release of these materials. The associated trenches are formed as the oldest (most western) part of the Pacific plate crust increases in density with age, and because of this process finally reaches its lowest point just as it subducts under the crust to the west of it. ...