Petrologic evolution of Palau, a nascent island arc

Palau Islands, 7°30′N, are the only emergent feature on the more than 2500‐km‐long Kyushu–Palau Ridge. Small islands are mainly uplifted reef carbonate. Larger islands are volcanic with basalt to dacite and rare boninite. Polymict breccia is abundant: sills, flows, and dykes are common but pillows are rare. Palau Trench samples include all types found on the islands as well as high‐Mg basalt. Volcanism began in the late Eocene and ended by early Miocene. All igneous rocks comprise a low‐K primitive island arc‐tholeiite series. None are mid‐ocean ridge basalts. Rare earth elements and high field‐strength elements indicate a depleted mantle source. Elevated large ion lithophile elements and light rare earth elements indicate influx of ‘dehydration fluid’. Ce/Ce* and Eu/Eu* ratios show no evidence for recycling of arc‐derived clastics. Plate reconstructions and paleomagnetic data suggest that the arc probably formed on the trace of a transform fault that migrated northward and rotated clockwise up to 90°. Episodes of transtension caused upwelling of hot mantle into depleted mantle and sheared altered rocks of the transform. Episodes of transpression may have initiated subduction of old seafloor with a thin cover of pelagic sediments deposited far from terrigenous sediment sources.