Magnetotelluric imaging beneath the Taiwan orogen: An arc-continent collision

The Taiwan orogen has formed since the late Miocene by oblique collision between the Luzon Volcanic Arc on the Philippine Sea Plate, and the Eurasian continental margin. This oblique collision has produced an orogen that decreases in age from north to south, and permits study of the temporal evolution of an arc-continent collision. These factors make Taiwan a favorable location to study the process of arc-continent collision. The first long-period magnetotelluric (MT) measurements were recorded in Taiwan as part of the Taiwan Integrated Geodynamics Research (TAIGER) project in 2006-7. Measurements were made at 82 sites on three transects across south, central and north Taiwan, that span the breadth of the orogen and cross all major tectonic boundaries. Robust, remote reference processing of the MT time series data resulted in high-quality soundings that were modeled in both 2 and 3-dimensions. These MT models support predictions of lithospheric deformation (i.e., thick-skinned tectonics) beneath the Central Ranges in south and central Taiwan, but are inconsistent with predictions of orogen-scale thin-skinned models. The MT resistivity model for northern Taiwan is consistent with dewatering of the subducting Philippine slab, and with deformation described by the subducting-indenter tectonic model. Modeling the TAIGER MT data has definitively shown that conductive, and seismically active crustal structures, exist to 30+ km beneath the orogen. These conductive regions, interpreted as interconnected fluid, map pervasive zones of collisional deformation that are lithospheric in scale.