Tectonic and climatic implications of the Aleutian Arc initiation ≥56 million years ago

The timing and origin of Aleutian subduction initiation remain poorly constrained, yet they are central to understanding late Paleocene to early Eocene plate tectonic reorganization in the Pacific and its possible climatic consequences. Here, we use geochronologic and geochemical data obtained on western Aleutian arc samples from four basal submarine sequences, spanning ~700 km, to constrain Aleutian subduction initiation to ≥56 Ma. Early forearc lavas have similar compositions to forearc basalts erupted during the initial stages of Izu-Bonin-Mariana subduction in the western Pacific. Collision of the Olyutorsky Arc with Kamchatka-Koryak margin and subduction of the Izanagi-Pacific Ridge are likely to have triggered Aleutian subduction initiation and a change in absolute Pacific plate motion from WNW to N between 57 and 55 Ma, as shown with a GPlates model. Our study shows that Aleutian subduction initiation is a key event at the beginning of a major ~10 Myr plate reorganization in the circum-Pacific ending with Hawaii-Emperor-Bend formation. These tectono-magmatic events may have contributed to contemporaneous global climatic events in the late Paleocene and early Eocene.