Reconciling surface plate motions with rapid three-dimensional mantle flow around a slab edge

Margarete A. Jadamec () and Magali I. Billen
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Margarete A. Jadamec: University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA
Magali I. Billen: University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA

Nature, 2010, vol. 465, issue 7296, 338-341

Abstract: Rapid action at subduction zones A central axiom of the theory of plate tectonics is that the surface plates are coupled to, and carried along by, convection in the Earth's mantle. The situation is rather different at subduction zones, however. Margarete Jadamec and Magali Billen now present calculations that quantify this variance. They use three-dimensional numerical models of buoyancy-driven deformation with realistic slab geometry for the Alaska subduction-transform system to determine the surrounding mantle flow field. They show that near a subduction zone edge, mantle flow velocities can have magnitudes of greater than ten times the surface plate motions and that the complex mantle flow field is consistent with observations from seismic anisotropy. These results imply local rapid transport of geochemical signatures through subduction zones.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09053

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