Relationship between 3He/4He ratios and subduction of the Philippine Sea plate beneath southwest Japan

Regional and local variations in mantle helium provide insight into the coupling of mantle-crust tectonics, and heat and/or mass transfer from the Earth's interior. In order to further elucidate the geographic distribution of He-3/He-4 ratios in southwest Japan, the data from a total of 924 sites were compiled and synthesized. These include data from 48 additional hot spring and drinking water well sites on the northern Kyushu Island and in the northern Chugoku region. There appears to be good correlation between variations in helium isotope ratios and the geophysical evidence used to determine the configuration of the subducting Philippine Sea plate (PHS). Seismological studies reveal that the leading edge of the aseismic slab does not extend to the northern Chugoku region nor to the Osaka Bay area, where gas samples with significantly elevated He-3/He-4 ratios occur. This is consistent with a mantle-derived helium in these areas, from melts and/or mantle fluids ascribed to upwelling asthenosphere without being hindered by the descending PHS slab. In contrast, gas samples in the regions where the overriding crust comes into direct contact with the subducting PHS are dominated by radiogenic helium derived from the crust because of the absence of a mantle wedge, the most plausible source of mantle helium. Owing to the abrupt changes in the seismicity and focal mechanisms of intraplate earthquakes, the PHS is considered to have slab tears beneath the Kii Channel and/or the eastern Kii Peninsula oriented in a NW-SE direction. However, the lenear alignment of anomalously high He-3/He-4 ratios does not appear to be NW-SE trending along the assumed slab tears but rather forms an broad, ENE-WSW trending zone between the tears where low-frequency events occur. The emanation of gas with elevated He-3/He-4 ratios in the central peninsula can be explained by the upward mobilization of mantle volatiles derived from the mantle wedge above the PHS and/or transferred from the hydrated slab mantle through the N-S trending fractured medium within the PHS. Accordingly, the helium isotopes observed on the Earth's surface may be efficient geochemical indicators of the configuration of a relatively younger, warm aseismic slab, and be especially useful in seismically inactive areas.