What is a subducted slab?

Subduction slabs drive plate tectonics by pulling along the lithosphere to which they attach in a process known as slab pull and by inducing currents in the mantle via slab suction. The slab affects the convection and evolution of the Earth’s mantle due to the insertion of the hydrous oceanic lithosphere.

Why do slabs undergo subduction?

This sinking is driven by the temperature difference between the slab and the surrounding asthenosphere, as the colder oceanic lithosphere has, on average, a greater density. Sediments and some trapped water are carried downwards by the slab and recycled into the deep mantle.

Are subducting slabs hot or cold?

For subduction zone models with a range of mechanical parameters (slab strength, crust viscosity and rheology, and lower mantle viscosity), slab tops undergo rapid cooling during subduction initiation followed by cooling at a reduced rate during the latter phases.

What are lithospheric slabs?

A tectonic plate (also called lithospheric plate) is a massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock, generally composed of both continental and oceanic lithosphere. Plate size can vary greatly, from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers across; the Pacific and Antarctic Plates are among the largest.

What is subduction and what causes it?

Subduction occurs when two plates collide at a convergent boundary, and one plate is driven beneath the other, back into the Earth’s interior. Not all convergence leads to subduction. Continental rocks are too buoyant to be forced downward, so when continents collide, they crumple but stay at the surface.

What happens at the subduction zones?

Subduction zones are plate tectonic boundaries where two plates converge, and one plate is thrust beneath the other. This process results in geohazards, such as earthquakes and volcanoes.

What is subduction in geology?

Subduction occurs when an oceanic plate runs into a continental plate and slides beneath it.

What is the process of subduction simple definition?

noun. an act or instance of subducting; subtraction or withdrawal. Geology. the process by which collision of the earth’s crustal plates results in one plate’s being drawn down or overridden by another, localized along the juncture (subduction zone ) of two plates.