Subduction ≈ SubductionSubduction
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Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth Open
A series of deformation tests was performed on samples from natural xenoliths and dunites with well-defined textures and microstructures. The rock samples were deformed perpendicular to the foliation, 45° to the foliation, and parallel to …
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Ocean Basin Evolution and Global-Scale Plate Reorganization Events Since Pangea Breakup Open
We present a revised global plate motion model with continuously closing plate boundaries ranging from the Triassic at 230 Ma to the present day, assess differences among alternative absolute plate motion models, and review global tectonic…
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Himalayan megathrust geometry and relation to topography revealed by the Gorkha earthquake Open
The Himalayan mountain range has been the locus of some of the largest continental earthquakes, including the 2015 magnitude 7.8 Gorkha earthquake. Competing hypotheses suggest that Himalayan topography is sustained and plate convergence i…
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Stagnant lids and mantle overturns: Implications for Archaean tectonics, magmagenesis, crustal growth, mantle evolution, and the start of plate tectonics Open
The lower plate is the dominant agent in modern convergent margins characterized by active subduction, as negatively buoyant oceanic lithosphere sinks into the asthenosphere under its own weight. This is a strong plate-driving force becaus…
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Deep carbon cycles constrained by a large-scale mantle Mg isotope anomaly in eastern China Open
Although deep carbon recycling plays an important role in the atmospheric CO2 budget and climate changes through geological time, the precise mechanisms remain poorly understood. Since recycled sedimentary carbonate through plate subductio…
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Slow slip near the trench at the Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand Open
Applying pressure to plate tectonics The full range of deformation behavior of subduction zone faults that are responsible for great earthquakes and tsunamis is now clearer. Wallace et al. observed the heave of the ocean floor near the Hik…
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Recurring and triggered slow-slip events near the trench at the Nankai Trough subduction megathrust Open
Eight slow-slip events over 6 years accommodated up to 50% of the fault slip on the Nankai megathrust.
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A Global Data Set of Present‐Day Oceanic Crustal Age and Seafloor Spreading Parameters Open
We present an updated oceanic crustal age grid and a set of complementary grids including spreading rate, asymmetry, direction, and obliquity. Our data set is based on a selected set of magnetic anomaly identifications and the plate tecton…
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Secular change and the onset of plate tectonics on Earth Open
The Earth as a planetary system has experienced significant change since its formation c. 4.54 Gyr ago. Some of these changes have been gradual, such as secular cooling of the mantle, and some have been abrupt, such as the rapid increase i…
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Sedimentary record of Andean mountain building Open
Integration of regional stratigraphic relationships with data on sediment accumulation, provenance, paleodrainage, and deformation timing enables a reconstruction of Mesozoic-Cenozoic subduction-related mountain building along the western …
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Continental versus oceanic subduction zones Open
Subduction zones are tectonic expressions of convergent plate margins, where crustal rocks descend into and interact with the overlying mantle wedge. They are the geodynamic system that produces mafic arc volcanics above oceanic subduction…
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Subduction-transition zone interaction: A review Open
As subducting plates reach the base of the upper mantle, some appear to flatten and stagnate, while others seemingly go through unimpeded. This variable resistance to slab sinking has been proposed to affect long-term thermal and chemical …
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Raising the Gangdese Mountains in southern Tibet Open
The surface uplift of mountain belts is in large part controlled by the effects of crustal thickening and mantle dynamic processes (e.g., lithospheric delamination or slab breakoff). Understanding the history and driving mechanism of uplif…
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The Neotethyan Sanandaj‐Sirjan zone of Iran as an archetype for passive margin‐arc transitions Open
The Sanandaj‐Sirjan zone of Iran is a northwest trending orogenic belt immediately north of the Zagros suture, which represents the former position of the Neotethys Ocean. The zone contains the most extensive, best preserved record of key …
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Structural geometry of orogenic gold deposits: Implications for exploration of world-class and giant deposits Open
With very few exceptions, orogenic gold deposits formed in subduction-related tectonic settings in accretionary to collisional orogenic belts from Archean to Tertiary times. Their genesis, including metal and fluid source, fluid pathways, …
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Earth's Continental Lithosphere Through Time Open
The record of the continental lithosphere is patchy and incomplete; no known rock is older than 4.02 Ga, and less than 5% of the rocks preserved are older than 3 Ga. In addition, there is no recognizable mantle lithosphere from before 3 Ga…
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Lithospheric foundering and underthrusting imaged beneath Tibet Open
Long-standing debates exist over the timing and mechanism of uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and, more specifically, over the connection between lithospheric evolution and surface expressions of plateau uplift and volcanism. Here we show a T…
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Structure of oceanic crust and serpentinization at subduction trenches Open
The subducting oceanic lithosphere may carry a large amount of chemically bound water into the deep Earth interior, returning water to the mantle, facilitating melting, and hence keeping the mantle mobile and, in turn, nurturing plate tect…
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The link between tectonics and sedimentation in back-arc basins: New genetic constraints from the analysis of the Pannonian Basin Open
The architecture of sedimentary basins reflects the relationship between accommodation space and sediment supply, their rates and localization being variable during basin evolution. The mechanisms driving the interplay between tectonics an…
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The Tectonics of the Altaids: Crustal Growth During the Construction of the Continental Lithosphere of Central Asia Between ∼750 and ∼130 Ma Ago Open
The largest mountain belt in Central Asia (∼9 million km 2 ) is called the Altaids. It was assembled between ∼750 and ∼130 Ma ago around the western and southern margins of the Siberian Craton, partly on an older collisional system (the “U…
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Testing models of Tibetan Plateau formation with Cenozoic shortening estimates across the Qilian Shan–Nan Shan thrust belt Open
Competing models that account for the construction of the Tibetan Plateau include continental subduction, underthrusting, distributed shortening, channel flow, and older crustal-structure inheritance. Well-constrained estimates of crustal …
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An 8 month slow slip event triggers progressive nucleation of the 2014 Chile megathrust Open
The mechanisms leading to large earthquakes are poorly understood and documented. Here we characterize the long‐term precursory phase of the 1 April 2014 M w 8.1 North Chile megathrust. We show that a group of coastal GPS stations accelera…
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The Tethyan Himalayan detrital record shows that India–Asia terminal collision occurred by 54 Ma in the Western Himalaya Open
The Himalayan orogen is a type example of continent–continent collision. Knowledge of the timing of India–Asia collision is critical to the calculation of the amount of convergence that must have been accommodated and thus to models of cru…
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What’s down there? The structures, materials and environment of deep-seated slow slip and tremor Open
Deep-seated slow slip and tremor (SST), including slow slip events, episodic tremor and slip, and low-frequency earthquakes, occur downdip of the seismogenic zone of numerous subduction megathrusts and plate boundary strike-slip faults. Th…
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A planet in transition: The onset of plate tectonics on Earth between 3 and 2 Ga? Open
Many geological and geochemical changes are recorded on Earth between 3 and 2 Ga. Among the more important of these are the following: (1) increasing proportion of basalts with “arc-like” mantle sources; (2) an increasing abundance of basa…
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Tearing of Indian mantle lithosphere from high-resolution seismic images and its implications for lithosphere coupling in southern Tibet Open
Significance We show high-resolution P and S images of the subducted Indian mantle lithosphere, which has been torn into four main pieces. The tearing provides a unified mechanism for ( i ) Late Miocene and Quaternary rifting, ( ii ) mantl…
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Mesoscale ocean fronts enhance carbon export due to gravitational sinking and subduction Open
Significance Transport of organic carbon from the sunlit surface ocean to deeper depths drives net oceanic uptake of CO 2 from the atmosphere. However, mechanisms that control this carbon export remain poorly constrained, limiting our abil…
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TX2019slab: A New <i>P</i> and <i>S</i> Tomography Model Incorporating Subducting Slabs Open
Large numbers of earthquakes occur in subduction zones that are marked by dipping, narrow high seismic velocity slabs. The existence of these fast velocity slabs can cause serious earthquake mislocation problems that can bias estimates of …
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Pre-Cenozoic geologic history of the central and northern Tibetan Plateau and the role of Wilson cycles in constructing the Tethyan orogenic system Open
In order to better constrain the evolution of the Tethyan orogenic system, we conducted an integrated investigation involving U-Pb dating of igneous and detrital zircon, geochemical analysis of igneous rocks, compositional analysis of sedi…
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Teleseismic P‐wave tomography and mantle dynamics beneath Eastern Tibet Open
We determined a new 3-D P-wave velocity model of the upper mantle beneath eastern Tibet using 112,613 high-quality arrival-time data collected from teleseismic seismograms recorded by a new portable seismic array in Yunnan and permanent ne…