Enormous provinces of superheated mantle exert a powerful influence over our planet’s magnetic field, researchers have discovered.
subduction
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Kyanite Exsolution Reveals Ultra-Deep Subduction of Continents
Laboratory experiments provide the first experimental evidence that continental rocks can be subducted to depths greater than 300 kilometers and return to the surface.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Frictional Properties of the Nankai Accretionary Prism
A database of frictional properties from IODP drilling materials explores the range of slip spectrum and the generation of slow to fast earthquakes in the Nankai subduction zone in light of mineralogy.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Changes in Slab Dip Cause Rapid Changes in Plate Motion
Periods of slab shallowing in the South American subduction zone appear to cause decelerations in Nazca plate motion.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Earthquake Model Goes Against the Grain
Subducting plates are stronger in certain directions than others, which may be a factor in how earthquakes occur and how seismic waves propagate.
Posted inNews
Blame It on the BLOBs
For decades, scientists have suspected that large volcanic eruptions have their origins in two mysterious massive regions at the base of our planet’s mantle. Now, it’s been statistically proven.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Finding the Gap: Seismology Offers Slab Window Insights
Studying slow tremors has helped researchers home in on the youngest part of the Chile Triple Junction’s gap between subducting plates, which offers a window to the mantle.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The State of Stress in the Nankai Subduction Zone
The Nankai subduction zone, in southern Japan, has hosted several large magnitude 8+ earthquakes during the last three hundred years. But, how stressed is it right now?
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Shedding Light on the Mysteries of Deep Earthquakes
By analyzing forty deep earthquakes around the world, researchers discover the key role of a dual mechanism that allows earthquakes to grow larger and release more stress.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Atomic-Scale Insights into Supercritical Silicate Fluids
Water-induced depolymerization enhances fluid mobility in deep Earth, offering new insights into magma transport and isotope signatures in arc lavas.