Wave-guide effects in subduction zones: Evidence from three-dimensional modeling

Three-dimensional thermal structure of subduction zones: effects of obliquity and curvature

Quantifying the precise thermal structure of subduction zones is essential for understanding the nature of metamorphic dehydration reactions, arc volcanism, and intermediate depth seismicity. High resolution twodimensional (2-D) models have shown that the rheology of the mantle wedge plays a critical role and establishes strong temperature gradients in the slab. The influence of threedimensiona...

Subduction Zones

[1] Subduction zones are where sediments, oceanic crust, and mantle lithosphere return to and reequilibrate with Earth’s mantle. Subduction zones are interior expressions of Earth’s 55,000 km of convergent plate margins and are the geodynamic system that builds island arcs. Excess density of the mantle lithosphere in subduction zones provides most of the power needed to move the plates while in...

Three-dimensional dynamics of hydrous thermal-chemical plumes in oceanic subduction zones

[1] Hydration and partial melting along subducting slabs can trigger Rayleigh-Taylor-like instabilities. We use 3-D petrological-thermomechanical numerical simulations to investigate small-scale convection and hydrous, partially molten, cold plumes formed in the mantle wedge in response to slab dehydration. The simulations were carried out with the I3ELVIS code, which is based on a multigrid ap...

Extension and Partitioning in an Oblique Subduction Zone, New Zealand: Constraints from Three-Dimensional Numerical Modeling

Simple Kinematics of Subduction Zones

Two main types of subduction zones can be distinguished: (1) those where the subduction hinge migrates away from the upper plate; and (2) those in which the subduction hinge migrates toward the upper plate. Apart from a few exceptions, this distinction seems to apply particularly for W-directed subduction zones and Eor NE-directed subduction zones, respectively. Moreover, the rate of subduction...