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Where they collide and one plate is thrust beneath another (a subduction zone), the most powerful earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and landslides occur. Introduction to Subduction Zones: Amazing Events in Subduction Zones | U.S. Geological Survey
Subduction zones produce volcanic arcs, curving chains of steep-sided volcanoes, for example the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Volcanoes associated with subduction zones generally have steep sides and erupt explosively.
If the oceanic lithosphere subducts beneath an adjacent plate of continental lithosphere, then a similar belt of volcanoes will be generated on continental crust. This belt is then called a volcanic arc, examples of which include the Cascade volcanic arc of the U.S. Pacific northwest, and the Andes volcanic arc of South America.
Some parks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains reveal igneous magma chamber rocks that represent the eroded remnants of an ancient subduction zone, when volcanoes similar to those found in the modern Cascade Mountains extended southward all the way through California.
The plates are bounded by three types of features: ridge axes, where new seafloor is created in mid-ocean; transform faults, where plates slide past one another; and subduction zones, where plates overlap, with one plate sliding under the other.
Called the "Ring of Fire," these subduction zones comprise “the most seismically and volcanically active zone in the world,” according to the USGS, responsible for more than 80% of the...
The down-going slab sinks into the mantle largely under its own weight. [3] Earthquakes are common along subduction zones, and fluids released by the subducting plate trigger volcanism in the overriding plate.
What is a subduction zone? What makes subduction zones so hazardous? The most powerful earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and landslides occur in subduction zones where tectonic plates collide and one plate is thrust beneath another.
A new and active volcano develops over the hot spot, creating a continuous cycle of volcanism—and a string of volcanic islands tracing the tectonic plate’s movement over time. For Wilson and many scientists, the best example of hot spot volcanism is the Hawaiian Islands.
The second most commonly found location for volcanism is adjacent to subduction zones, a type of convergent plate boundary (see Chapter 2). The process of subduction expels water from hydrated minerals in the descending slab, which causes flux melting in the overlying mantle rock.