Comparative Petrologic Study of Basaltic Rocks from the Kinki and Chubu Districts

A batch of mantle material, potentially a source of the Neogene alkalic volcanic rocks in west Japan, is likely to have emplaced beneath the Ryohaku Mts. at the back-arc side of the East Japan Volcanic Zone. It is probable that a change in motion of the Philippine Sea plate at -3 Macaused the sudden drift of the non-arc type magma source from the uppermost mantle beneath the Ryohaku Mts. to that beneath the Norikura Volcanic Chain. The K-Ar age data suggest that at -1.5 Ma, the magma source was drifted westward back to the uppermost mantle beneath the Ryohaku Mts. by a steady flow of mantle convection beneath the East Japan Arc System.