Subduction zones consume oceanic lithosphere and are an indispensible part of plate tectonics. Unlike the oceanic lithosphere production system which can be linked as a nearly continuous, albeit sinuous, strand around the earth, subduction zones are a rather dissociated group and are found in several isolated corners of the world. While plate tectonics can predict that subduction zones are required along certain plate boundaries, it does not stipulate how subduction zones initiate and develop. The preservation of newly created oceanic lithosphere and the propensity for spreading centers to...
Subduction zones consume oceanic lithosphere and are an indispensible part of plate tectonics. Unlike the oceanic lithosphere production system which ...