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Subduction zone physics: Sinking of the oceanic lithosphere (sediments, crust, mantle), by the contrast of density between the cold and old lithosphere and the hot asthenospheric mantle wedge, is the strongest force (but not the only one) needed to drive plate motion and is the dominant mode of mantle convection. [citation needed]
The figure is a schematic diagram depicting a subduction zone. The subduction slab on the right enters the mantle with a varying temperature gradient while importing water in a downward motion. A model of the subducting Farallon slab under North America. In geology, the slab is a significant constituent of subduction zones. [1]
Subduction zones are areas where one lithospheric plate slides beneath another at a convergent boundary due to lithospheric differences. These plates dip at an average of 45° but can vary. Subduction zones are often marked by an abundance of earthquakes, the result of internal deformation of the plate, convergence with the opposing plate, and ...
A Wadati–Benioff zone (also Benioff–Wadati zone or Benioff zone or Benioff seismic zone) is a planar zone of seismicity corresponding with the down-going slab in a subduction zone. [1] Differential motion along the zone produces numerous earthquakes , the foci of which may be as deep as about 670 km (420 mi).
The Hellenic subduction zone (HSZ) is the convergent boundary between the African plate and the Aegean Sea plate, where oceanic crust of the African continent is being subducted north–northeastwards beneath the Aegean.
Obduction zones occurs when the continental plate is pushed under the oceanic plate, but this is unusual as the relative densities of the tectonic plates favours subduction of the oceanic plate. This causes the oceanic plate to buckle and usually results in a new mid-ocean ridge forming and turning the obduction into subduction. [citation needed]
This driving force is important when the slabs (or portions thereof) are not strongly attached to the rest of their respective tectonic plate. They cause both the subducting and overriding plate to move in the direction of the subduction zone. [1] This force occurs between two colliding plates where one is subducting beneath the other.
Oblique subduction has led to rotation of microblocks about nearby poles of rotation (See also: Euler poles) in some oblique subduction zones. [39] In these regions, the trench parallel strike slip fault systems are less prominent. [12] This is because a portion of the trench parallel component is accommodated by the microblock rotation. [12]