The Role of Upper Mantle Forces in Post-Subduction Tectonics: Plumelet and Active Rifting in the East Anatolian Plateau

The spatiotemporal interaction of large- and regional-scale upper mantle forces can prevail in collisional settings. To better understand the role of these forces on post-subduction tectonics, we focus on mantle dynamics in the East Anatolian Plateau, a well-documented segment of the Arabian-Eurasian continental collision zone. Specifically, we analyze multiple forces in the upper mantle, which have not been considered in previous studies in this region. To this end, we use a state-of-the-art 3D instantaneous geodynamic model to quantify the dynamics of thermally defined upper mantle structures derived from seismic tomography data. Results reveal a prominent SW-NE-oriented mantle flow from the Arabian foreland to the Greater Caucasus–a plumelet–through a lithospheric channel under the East Anatolian Plateau. This plumelet induces localized dynamic topography (∼500 m) around the extensional Lake Van province, favoring NE-directed compression and westward escape of the Anatolian plate. We suggest that the Lake Van region is an active magma-rich intraplate rift in the Africa-Arabia-Anatolian plume-rift system. The rift zone was probably initiated by Neotethyan subduction-related forces and has been reactivated and/or sustained by the plumelet-induced convective support. Our findings are consistent with numerous observations, including the recent low-ultralow seismic velocities with a SW-NE splitting anisotropy pattern, geochemical and petrological studies, and local kinematics showing upper mantle-induced extensional tectonics in the collisional region.