subduction
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.85|Diagram of the geological process of subduction
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Subduction is a geological process in which one tectonic plate slides beneath another plate into the Earth's mantle. This process is important because it plays a major role in shaping Earth's surface features, recycling crustal material, and generating earthquakes and volcanic activity.
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Article
23 sectionsContents
- Subduction and plate tectonics
- Structure of subduction zones
- Arc-trench complex
- Deep structure
- Subduction angle
- Life cycle of subduction zones
- Initiation of subduction
- End of subduction
- Characteristics and effects
- Metamorphism
- Arc magmatism
- Earthquakes and tsunamis
- Orogeny
- Subduction of continental lithosphere
- Intra-oceanic: ocean/ocean plate subduction
- Arc-continent collision and global climate
- Beginnings of subduction on Earth
- History of investigation
- Importance
- See also
- References
- Additional reading
- External links
thumb|upright=1.85|Diagram of the geological process of subduction
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second plate, the heavier plate dives beneath the other 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 rates of convergence as high as 11 cm/year.