Before its collision with Eurasia1–5, the Indian Plate moved rapidly, at rates exceeding 140mmyr−1 for a period of 20 million years1,3–7. This motion is 50 to 100% faster than the maximum sustained rate of convergence of themain tectonic plates today8. The cause of such high rates of convergence is unclear and not reproduced by numerical models9,10. Here we show that existing geological data11,...

[1] The association between local maxima in the geoid and subduction zones is examined. While it is well known that subduction zones are associated with broad local maxima in the geoid at spherical harmonic degrees 4–9, there is an impressive correlation between back arc geoid maxima at the 5000 km length scale (i.e., spherical harmonic degrees >9) and subduction zones with the exception of the...

[1] Arc volcanism is intimately linked to mineral dehydration reactions in the subducting oceanic mantle, crust, and sediments. The location of slab dehydration reactions depends strongly on the temperature and pressure conditions at the top of the subducting plate and hence on the detailed thermal structure of subduction zones. A particularly important physical property of subduction zone ther...

-Seismic energy release is dominated by the underthrusting earthquakes in subduction zones, and this energy release is further concentrated in a few subduction zones. While some subduction zones are characterized by the occurrence of great earthquakes, others are relatively aseismic. This variation in maximum earthquake size between subduction zones is one of the most important features of glob...

Subduction initiation is a critical link in the plate tectonic cycle. Intraoceanic subduction zones can form along transform faults and fracture zones, but how subduction nucleates parallel to mid-ocean ridges, as in e.g., the Neotethys Ocean during the Jurassic, remains a matter of debate. In recent years, extensional detachment faults have been widely documented adjacent to slow-spreading and...

[1] The effect of rheology on the evolution of the slab-tip during subduction initiation is analyzed using 2-D numerical flow models. Experimentally determined flow laws have both strong temperatureand stress-dependence, which leads to large local variations in viscosity with direct consequences for subduction initiation. We find that models with Newtonian viscosity lead to flat or coupled subd...

[1] The Tonga-Kermadec subduction system in the southwest Pacific preserves a series of crustal elements and sediments which have recorded subduction initiation, rift, and back-arc basin formation. The Norfolk Basin is the farthest landward of all back-arc basins formed in the Tonga-Kermadec region and may preserve the earliest record of subduction initiation regionally. For the Norfolk Basin, ...

The Cathaysia Block is located in southeastern part of South China, which situates in the west Pacific subduction zone. It is thought to have undergone a compression-extension transition of the continental crust during Mesozoic-Cenozoic during the subduction of Pacific Plate beneath Eurasia-Pacific Plate, resulting in extensive magmatism, extensional basins and reactivation of fault systems. Al...

Plate-boundary fault rupture during the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman subduction earthquake extended closer to the trench than expected, increasing earthquake and tsunami size. International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 362 sampled incoming sediments offshore northern Sumatra, revealing recent release of fresh water within the deep sediments. Thermal modeling links this freshening to amorphous sil...

A finite element method with constrained elements and Lagrange multipliers is used to study tectonic faults in a viscous medium. A fault, representing the interface between overriding and subducting plates, has been incorporated into a viscous flow model of a subduction zone in which both thermal buoyancy and the buoyancy associated with the phase change from olivine to spinel are included. The...