%0 Article %J Geosciences %D 2022 %T Back-Arc Spreading Centers and Superfast Subduction: The Case of the Northern Lau Basin (SW Pacific Ocean) %A Palmiotto, Camilla %A Ficini, Eleonora %A Loreto, Maria Filomena %A Muccini, Filippo %A Cuffaro, Marco %N 2 %U https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/12/2/50 %V 12 %1 10.3390/geosciences12020050 %K ASPECT %X The Lau Basin is a back-arc region formed by the subduction of the Pacific plate below the Australian plate. We studied the regional morphology of the back-arc spreading centers of the Northern Lau basin, and we compared it to their relative spreading rates. We obtained a value of 60.2 mm/year along the Northwest Lau Spreading Centers based on magnetic data, improving on the spreading rate literature data. Furthermore, we carried out numerical models including visco-plastic rheologies and prescribed surface velocities, in an upper plate-fixed reference frame. Although our thermal model points to a high temperature only near the Tonga trench, the model of the second invariant of the strain rate shows active deformation in the mantle from the Tonga trench to ~800 km along the overriding plate. This explains the anomalous magmatic production along all the volcanic centers in the Northern Lau Back-Arc Basin.