Newly mapped fast velocity slabs in the lower mantle may be remnants of westward dipping intra-oceanic subduction, before flipping to the present eastward subduction beneath South America at 85 Ma.
subduction
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Subduction Initiation May Depend on a Tectonic Plate’s History
New seismic imaging study of the Puysegur Trench aims to solve one of the last major questions in plate tectonics.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Diamonds Are at Fault
Deep-seated earthquakes in subduction zones are related to diamond formation.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Was the AD 365 Mediterranean Earthquake Normal?
The great AD 365 earthquake at Crete has implied a locked Hellenic subduction zone that can produce more earthquakes to threaten Mediterranean coastlines. But what if wasn’t a subduction zone event?
Posted inScience Updates
Earth’s Volatile Balancing Act
How do greenhouse gases and water circulate from minerals deep below Earth’s surface into the atmosphere and oceans—and then back again? Our understanding continues to evolve.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
An Innovative Approach for Investigating Subduction Slip Budgets
A new 3D model offers a state-of-the-art look at the full spectrum of slip behaviors in the Nankai subduction zone off Japan.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Subduction May Recycle Less Water Than Thought
A new analysis of seismic data from the Middle America Trench suggests that previous calculations have vastly overestimated the total amount of water transported to the mantle worldwide.
Posted inScience Updates
Using Earthquake Forensics to Study Subduction from Space
Researchers combined satellite geodetic measurements of surface motion with a new geophysical data inversion method to probe the Chilean subduction zone in the wake of the 2010 Maule earthquake.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Fault Related Anisotropy in the Hikurangi Subduction Zone
A new study provides the first high-resolution three-dimensional anisotropic P-wave velocity model of the shallow part of the Northern Hikurangi subduction zone offshore New Zealand.
Posted inScience Updates
By Land or Sea: How Did Mammals Get to the Caribbean Islands?
A multidisciplinary team is jointly investigating mammal evolution and subduction dynamics to unravel how flightless land mammals migrated to the Greater Antilles and other Caribbean islands.