Three-dimensional instantaneous mantle flow induced by subduction

Three-dimensional instantaneous mantle flow induced by subduction

[1] We conduct three-dimensional subduction experiments by a finite element approach to study flow around slabs, which are prescribed based on a transient stage of upper mantle subduction from a laboratory model. Instantaneous velocity field solutions are examined, focusing on the toroidal vs. poloidal components as a function of boundary conditions, plate width, and viscosity contrast between ...

Mantle flow in subduction systems: The subslab flow field and implications for mantle dynamics

[1] The character of the mantle flow field in subduction zones remains poorly understood, despite its importance for our understanding of subduction dynamics. In particular, little attention has been paid to mantle flow beneath subducting slabs. In order to identify processes that make first-order contributions to the global pattern of subslab mantle flow, we have compiled shear wave splitting ...

Three-dimensional Flow-induced Dynamics

Endothelial cells play a central role in maintaining vascular integrity. Lesions in the endothelial layer may allow the invasion of leukocytes into the artery wall and promote inflammatory responses that could possibly lead to atherosclerosis. Over the past decade, a series of studies have demonstrated the presence of a delicate surface layer, named the glycocalyx, decorating the endothelial me...

Initiation of the Andean orogeny by lower mantle subduction

Earth's oldest mantle fabrics indicate Eoarchaean subduction.

The extension of subduction processes into the Eoarchaean era (4.0-3.6 Ga) is controversial. The oldest reported terrestrial olivine, from two dunite lenses within the ∼3,720 Ma Isua supracrustal belt in Greenland, record a shape-preferred orientation of olivine crystals defining a weak foliation and a well-defined lattice-preferred orientation (LPO). [001] parallel to the maximum finite elonga...