Subduction

prefLabel
  • Subduction
definition
  • The process that takes place at convergent boundaries by which one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate, sinking into the Earth's mantle, as the plates converge. A subduction zone is an area on Earth where two tectonic plates move towards one another and subduction occurs.
broader
Abstract from DBPedia
    Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic 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. Rates of subduction are typically measured in centimeters per year, with the average rate of convergence being approximately two to eight centimeters per year along most plate boundaries. 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. 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.

    沈み込み帯(しずみこみたい、英: subduction zone)とは、地球上の2つのプレートが出会って、下にあるほうのプレートがすべってマントルに1年で数cm沈み込む場所のことである。この沈み込みによって海溝やトラフが作られる。

    (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Subduction)

data publication(s) found by GCMD Science Keywords)
  • Supplement to: Identification of kinematic boundary conditions triggering removal of material in tectonically erosive margins : insight from scaled physical experiments

    (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.b103-13109.1)