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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biogeochemistry
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1548688
This article is part of the Research Topic Deep-sea Material and Energy Cycles: Insights from Sediments, Fe-Mn Nodules, and Authigenic Carbonates, and Their Carbon Sequestration, Hydrocarbon Accumulation, and Ore-forming Significances View all 5 articles
Flexural modeling of the Manila Trench based on subduction dip: comparison of north-south subduction differences
Provisionally accepted- 1 Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, Guangzhou, China
- 2 East China Environmental Geotechnical Engineering Branch of China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation, Qingdao, China
The Manila Trench, representing relatively young (16–36 Ma) subducting slabs, has been flexurally modeled to assess its subduction morphology. This modeling enables predictions of subduc-tion-related earthquake locations and provides critical insights into subduction dynamics. We utilized a lithospheric flexural model controlled by trench axis flexural wavelength (W0), initial subduction dip angle (β0), and elastic thickness (Te) to quantify variations in plate flexural bending along the Manila Trench. By correcting for the effects of high resolution sediment loads and re-moving residual short-wavelength features from observed water depths along 40 cross-trench profiles, we obtained key flexural parameters of the subducted oceanic crust. Our results show that the width of trench valley (X0) ranges from ca. 7 to 151 km, the bulge height (Wb) varies be-tween 0.014 and 1.15 km, and the location of the shallowest point (Xb) is 25 to 201 km from the trench axis. The effective elastic thickness (Te) of the oceanic lithosphere ranges from 5 to 25 km, while the initial subduction dip angle (β0) is 0.1–9.8°, and the trench relief (W0) ranges from 0.3 to 2.6 km. The initial subduction dip angle exhibits significant variation along the trench, with an averaged β0 of 3.42 ° in the southern segment, 5.68 ° in the central segment, and less than 0.5 ° in the northern segment. These variations in flexural parameters at different segments are related to the nature of the subducting crust and the oblique subduction of the Philippine Plate. The sharp in-crease in the initial subduction dip angle in the central segment is associated with the presence of a slab window.
Keywords: flexure, Elastic thickness, Initial subduction dip angle, Subduction zone difference, Manila trench
Received: 20 Dec 2024; Accepted: 27 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lu, Wang, Peng, Meng and Lin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lijie Wang, Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, Guangzhou, China
Jiangnan Lin, Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, Guangzhou, China
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