Arc magmas and the continental crust share many chemical features, but a major question remains as to whether these features are created by subduction or are recycled from subducting sediment. This question is explored here using Th/La, which is low in oceanic basalts (<0 2), elevated in the continents (>0 25) and varies in arc basalts and marine sediments (0 09–0 34). Volcanic arcs form linear...

Estimation of the fast polarization direction of shear seismic waves that deviate from horizontal axis is a valuable approach to investigate the characteristics of the lower crust and uppermost mantle structures. The lattice preferred orientation of crystals, which is generally parallel to the downward or upward flow of the mantle or crust, is an important reason for the occurrence of fast axis...

We examine the problem of partitioning between shortening and extrusion in the India-Asia collision since 45 Ma. We compute the amount of shortening expected from the kinematics of India's motion with respect to Eurasia, using the reconstruction at collision time to put bounds on the possible amounts of surface loss within Greater India and within Eurasia. We then compute the amounts of surface...