A geological process at convergent tectonic plate boundaries where one plate moves under the other
"Mantle cell" redirects here. For the form of cancer, see Mantle cell lymphoma.
Diagram of the geological process of subduction
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the heavier plate dives beneath the second plate and sinks into the mantle. A region where this process occurs is known as a subduction zone, and its surface expression is known as an arc-trench complex. The process of subduction has created most of the Earth's continental crust.[1] Rates of subduction are typically measured in centimeters per year, with rates of convergence as high as 11 cm/year.[2]
Subduction is possible because the cold oceanic lithosphere is slightly denser than the underlying asthenosphere, the hot, ductile layer in the upper mantle underlying the cold, rigid lithosphere. Once initiated, stable subduction is driven mostly by the negative buoyancy of the dense subducting lithosphere. The slab sinks into the mantle largely under its weight.[3]
Earthquakes are common along the subduction zone, and fluids released by the subducting plate trigger volcanism in the overriding plate. If the subducting plate sinks at a shallow angle, the overriding plate develops a belt of deformation characterized by crustal thickening, mountain building, and metamorphism. Subduction at a steeper angle is characterized by the formation of back-arc basins.[4]
^Stern, Robert J. (2002), "Subduction zones", Reviews of Geophysics, 40 (4): 1012, Bibcode:2002RvGeo..40.1012S, doi:10.1029/2001RG000108, S2CID 247695067
^Defant, M. J. (1998). Voyage of Discovery: From the Big Bang to the Ice Age. Mancorp. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-931541-61-2.
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45°N 124°W / 45°N 124°W / 45; -124 The Cascadia subduction zone is a 960 km (600 mi) fault at a convergent plate boundary, about 110–160 km (70–100 mi)...
plate. The magma ascends to form an arc of volcanoes parallel to the subduction zone. Volcanic arcs are distinct from volcanic chains formed over hotspots...
convergent margins of continents. The convergence may take the form of subduction (where a continent rides forcefully over an oceanic plate to form a noncollisional...
plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can be defined by a plane where many earthquakes occur, called...
Plates, noticed that the data supported the existence of two parallel subduction zones between the plates. This was studied in detail in 2015 by Oliver...
subduction is characterized by a low subduction angle (<30 degrees to horizontal) beyond the seismogenic layer and a resumption of normal subduction far...
collision boundaries. Subduction zones occur where an oceanic plate meets a continental plate and is pushed underneath it. Subduction zones are marked by...
American Plate). The subduction process causes bending of the down going plate, creating a deep trench. Continuing movement on the subduction zone associated...
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own kind of crust. Along convergent plate boundaries, the process of subduction carries the edge of one plate down under the other plate and into the...
extremely large thrust fault, typically formed at the plate interface along a subduction zone, such as the Sunda megathrust. However, the term is also occasionally...
scenario, subduction at the western Atlantic, east of the Americas, leads to the subduction of the Atlantic mid-ocean ridge followed by subduction destroying...
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denser oceanic crust sinks under the continental crust in the process of subduction. Obduction, which is less common, normally occurs in plate collisions...
low velocity of magma flow rate below the separating Chile ridge. The subduction generates a special type of igneous rocks, represented by the Taitao ophiolites...
The Andes are the result of tectonic plate processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American Plate as the Nazca Plate and...
the terrane accreted, converting an intra-oceanic subduction trench into the current Cascadia subduction zone and creating a slab window. Geology portal...
gravitational instability of mature oceanic lithosphere has the effect that at subduction zones, oceanic lithosphere invariably sinks underneath the overriding...
hypotheses propose that oceanic crust was undergoing flat-slab subduction, that is, subduction at a shallow angle. As a consequence, no magmatism occurred...
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Antilles subduction zone. Also not a trench is the New Caledonia trough, which is an extensional sedimentary basin related to the Tonga-Kermadec subduction zone...
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