Recent geochemical studies of uranium-thorium series disequilibrium in rocks from subduction zones require magmas to be transported through the mantle from just above the subducting slab to the surface in as little as approximately 30,000 years. We present a series of laboratory experiments that investigate the characteristic time scales and flow patterns of the diapiric upwelling model of subd...

Subduction zones form dominant tectonic features on the Earth and are the site of large underthrusting earthquakes and explosive arc volcanism. They are also the only locations with deep earthquakes in the Earth’s interior. Major questions remain regarding the dynamics of subduction zones, including aspects such as the role of water in the formation of arc volcanism and deep earthquakes, the in...

Much of the Earth’s mantle was melted in the Moon-forming impact. Gases that were not partially soluble in the melt, such as water and CO2, formed a thick, deep atmosphere surrounding the postimpact Earth. This atmosphere was opaque to thermal radiation, allowing heat to escape to space only at the runaway greenhouse threshold of approximately 100 W m−2. The duration of this runaway greenhouse ...

Much of my research career has been spent working both on modern oceanic volcanic systems and at the same time looking at their Archaean counterparts. Many authors have attempted to make inferences on early Earth models based on modern processes which can be increasingly well constrained. In this short review I show how we are beginning to understand and quantify inputs to modern subduction sys...

Several lines of evidence suggest that simple subduction with one downgoing and one overriding plate is an insufficient model of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Instead, the subduction zone and arc are segmented, exhibiting variations in multiple characteristics along strike. One line of evidence comes from the analysis of seismicity. The subduction zone is atypical everywhere in that the Wadati-...

a r t i c l e i n f o Plate tectonics is a self-organizing global system driven by the negative buoyancy of the thermal boundary layer resulting in subduction. Although the signature of plate tectonics is recognized with some confidence in the Phanerozoic geological record of the continents, evidence for plate tectonics becomes less certain further back in time. To improve our understanding of ...

Arc continent collision is one of the most fundamental tectonic processes for the formation of new land, and the preservation on land of fragments of oceanic lithosphere (ophiolites). However, the tectonic evolution of arc continent collision is commonly over-simplified in everything from introductory textbooks to complex tectonic models. Major unresolved issues include the response of the fore...

Findings of coesite and microdiamond in metamorphic rocks of supracrustal protolith led to the recognition of continental subduction to mantle depths. The crust-mantle interaction is expected to take place during subduction of the continental crust beneath the subcontinental lithospheric mantle wedge. This is recorded by postcollisional mafic igneous rocks in the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt and it...

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Eclogite HP granulite Paired metamorphic belts UHPM UHTM The modern plate tectonics regime is characterized by a duality of thermal environments, one representing the subduction zone and the other representing the arc–backarc or orogenic hinterland. This duality is the hallmark of one-sided (asymmetric) subduction, and the characteristic imprint of one-sided subd...