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Slab tearing in non-collisional settings: Insights from thermo-mechanical modelling of oblique subduction by Nevena Andrić-Tomašević; Alexander Koptev; Giridas Maiti; Taras Gerya; Todd A. Ehlers is a Earth and Planetary Sciences article available to read on EtoBox.

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The propagation of slab break-off (slab tearing) is usually attributed to laterally variable plate convergence systems with a spatial transition between simultaneous oceanic subduction and continental collision. To study the process of slab tearing in a non-collisional geodynamic context, here we use a 3D thermo-mechanical numerical approach to model the oblique subduction of a homogeneous oceanic plate. We investigate the effects of the following parameters: (1) subduction obliquity angle, (2) age of oceanic slab, and (3) partitioning of boundary velocities (i.e., the ratio between the subduction component and the advance of the overriding plate in the total convergence). In our simulations, the retreat of the subduction zone leads to a thinning of the fore-arc and back-arc lithosphere, which are decoupled from the subducting slab by the rise of the hot asthenosphere from the underlying mantle wedge. As a consequence of the initial obliquity of the active plate margin, slab roll-back velocities are subject to progressive along-trench variations. Consistent with the gradual rotation of the trench, the front of the decoupling between the overriding and downgoing plates (together wit

Who reads Slab tearing in non-collisional settings: Insights from thermo-mechanical modelling of oblique subduction?

Author

Nevena Andrić-Tomašević; Alexander Koptev; Giridas Maiti; Taras Gerya; Todd A. Ehlers

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Published

2023

Language

EN

Field

Earth and Planetary Sciences (Physical Sciences)