Abstract
The subduction of oceanic plateaus significantly reshapes subduction systems, yet its impact on lithospheric hydration prior to subduction is not well understood. Here we investigate these processes as the Caroline Plateau approaches the southern Mariana Trench, using velocity models derived from wide-angle seismic lines. Our results from OBS2017-1 reveal that the crust of the subducting plate thickens from ~7.5 km beneath the trench axis to ~16.0 km at the outer rise, accompanied by reduced seismic velocities in the region between the toe of the plateau and the trench axis. These velocity reductions even exceed those observed beneath adjacent oceanic crust near Challenger Deep, indicating intensified hydration at the leading edge of the plateau, accompanied by a narrowing of the bending-related faulting zone. The simultaneous subduction of plateau and normal oceanic crust governs plate configuration, highlighting the role of oceanic plateaus in enhancing heterogeneous water percolation and modulating subduction dynamics.
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Data availability
Raw OBS data can be found here: https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.27212.
Code availability
Travel-time tomography was performed using the TOMO2D software53, available at https://github.com/jun-korenaga/tomo2d.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the captain and crew of R/V Tan Suo Yi Hao, as well as scientists and technicians who took part in the TS03 cruise. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42576074, 42476059, 42174110, U25A20791), National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC0309800), the special fund of South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of CAS (SCSIO2023HC08), State Key Laboratory of Submarine Geoscience (No. sglkfkt2025-10), and Laoshan Laboratory (No. LSKJ202502700). E.H. was supported by the China Scholarship Council (202304910116). The bathymetry data are downloaded from the NCEI and partial multi-beam data were collected onboard R/V Ke Xue during the NSFC Open Research Cruise (NORC2023-09) supported by NSFC Shiptime Sharing Project (42249909). We are grateful to Prof. Eduardo Contreras-Reyes for providing codes for calculating plate curvature. We thank Profs. Hongfeng Yang, Gaohua Zhu and Dr. Han Chen for providing high-resolution local earthquake catalogs at the Southern Mariana subduction zone. Dr. Kuiyuan Wan shared velocity model along the profile OBS2016-2. We would also like to thank the Deputy Editor Joe Aslin, the Editorial Board Member Prof. J. Kim Welford and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. Some figures were produced by Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software55.
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X.Q. and M.X. conceived and directed this research. X.Q., E.H., Y.W. and C.C. participated collection of wide-angle seismic data used in the study. E.H. processed the seismic data and conducted tomographic modelling with the help of I.G. and Y.L. Meanwhile, J.Z. helped in calculation of the plate curvature along different OBS profiles. The interpretation was developed by E.H., X.Q., I.G. and Y.L. in intensive discussion of the results. E.H. and M.Z. designed and drafted the figures. E.Y. and X.Q. wrote the paper, following discussion with, and contributions from, all authors.
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Communications Earth and Environment thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editors: J. Kim Welford and Joe Aslin. A peer review file is available.
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He, E., Qiu, X., Li, Y. et al. Pre-subduction of the Caroline Plateau intensifies lithospheric hydration in the southern Mariana Trench. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03408-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03408-z
