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Ablative subduction - A two-sided alternative to the conventional subduction modelThe plausibility of a two-sided fluid-based model of lithospheric subduction that is based upon current views of lithospheric structure is examined. In this model the viscous lower lithosphere flows downward, and the brittle upper lithosphere deforms in passive response. This process is potentially double-sided, since it is found that even a buoyant plate can be dragged downward by a dense descending neighbor. Thus an apparent overriding plate may be worn away by a process of viscous ablation, with the rate of ablation a function of plate buoyancy. This process, called 'ablative subduction,' makes it possible to simply interpret observations concerning slab profiles, interplate seismicity, back arc tectonics, and complex processes such as double subduction and subduction polarity reversal. When experiments modeling the evolution of simple fluid 'slabs' are performed, slab profile is found to be strongly influenced by ablation in the overriding plate. When ablation is weak, as when a buoyant continent borders the trench, deformable slabs adopt shallow Andean-style profiles.
Document ID
19920060789
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Tao, Winston C.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
O'Connell, Richard J.
(Harvard University Cambridge, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
June 10, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume: 97
Issue: B6 J
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
92A43413
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF EAR-87-08477
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-840
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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