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ABSTRACT Thin oceanic crust is formed by decompression melting of the upper mantle at mid-ocean ridges, but the origin of the thick and buoyant continental crust is enigmatic. Juvenile

continental crust may form from magmas erupted above intra-oceanic subduction zones, where oceanic lithosphere subducts beneath other oceanic lithosphere. However, it is unclear why the

subduction of dominantly basaltic oceanic crust would result in the formation of andesitic continental crust at the surface. Here we use geochemical and geophysical data to reconstruct the

evolution of the Central American land bridge, which formed above an intra-oceanic subduction system over the past 70 Myr. We find that the geochemical signature of erupted lavas evolved

from basaltic to andesitic about 10 Myr ago—coincident with the onset of subduction of more oceanic crust that originally formed above the Galápagos mantle plume. We also find that seismic

P-waves travel through the crust at velocities intermediate between those typically observed for oceanic and continental crust. We develop a continentality index to quantitatively correlate

geochemical composition with the average P-wave velocity of arc crust globally. We conclude that although the formation and evolution of continents may involve many processes, melting

enriched oceanic crust within a subduction zone—a process probably more common in the Archaean—can produce juvenile continental crust. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This

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CONTINENTAL CRUST EXHUMED AT THE DISTAL EDGES OF VOLCANIC PASSIVE MARGINS Article Open access 19 April 2022 LOWER OCEANIC CRUST FORMED BY IN SITU MELT CRYSTALLIZATION REVEALED BY SEISMIC

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NSF awards EAR-1221414 and EAR-1201903 to E.G., NSF award OCE-0405654 to W.S.H. and NSF EAR-0742368 to P.K. and by German Science Foundation (DFG) awards HO1833/6 and SFB574, C2

(Contribution Nr. 275) to K.H., P.v.d.B. and F.H. This paper benefited from intellectual discussions with T. Plank, J. Gill and K. Condie. Reviews and comments by N. Sou, J. Trela, R.

Rudnick and B. Jicha improved the original manuscript. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, 5041 Derring Hall (0420) Blacksburg, Virginia

24061, USA, Esteban Gazel * Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Avenue, Dept 3006 Laramie, Wyoming 82071, USA, Jorden L. Hayes, Erik Everson &

 W. Steven Holbrook * GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3 24148 Kiel, Germany, Kaj Hoernle, Folkmar Hauff & Paul van den Bogaard * Lamont-Doherty Earth

Observatory of Columbia University, PO Box 1000, 61 Route 9W Palisades, New York 10964, USA, Peter Kelemen * Department of Statistics, Virginia Tech, 403G Hutcheson Hall (0439), 250

Drillfield Drive Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA, Eric A. Vance & Shuyu Chu * Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, VSA 156, Canada Andrew J.

Calvert * Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Wright Laboratory, 610 Taylor Road Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA, Michael J. Carr * Department of Geological

Sciences, University of South Carolina, 701 Sumter Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA Gene M. Yogodzinski Authors * Esteban Gazel View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jorden L. Hayes View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Kaj Hoernle View author publications You can also

search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Peter Kelemen View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Erik Everson View author publications

You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * W. Steven Holbrook View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Folkmar Hauff View

author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Paul van den Bogaard View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Eric A. Vance View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Shuyu Chu View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * Andrew J. Calvert View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Michael J. Carr View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Gene M. Yogodzinski View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS E.G. planned the project, compiled and

modelled the geochemical data and derived the continental index. E.G., J.L.H., W.S.H., K.H., E.A.V. and P.K. contributed to writing the paper and developing the ideas. J.L.H, E.E. and

W.S.H. conducted the active seismic experiment in Costa Rica and modelled the geophysical data. K.H., E.G., F.H. and P.v.d.B. carried out field studies and generated geochemical data from

the CALB. E.G., E.A.V. and S.C. developed the statistical codes and conducted data analysis. P.K., M.J.C., A.J.C. and G.M.Y. collaborated in the project with data and data analysis.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Esteban Gazel. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY

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ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Gazel, E., Hayes, J., Hoernle, K. _et al._ Continental crust generated in oceanic arcs. _Nature Geosci_ 8, 321–327 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2392

Download citation * Received: 06 June 2014 * Accepted: 16 February 2015 * Published: 31 March 2015 * Issue Date: April 2015 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2392 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone

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