Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
News and Views
Nature Geoscience 1, 154 - 155 (2008)
doi:10.1038/ngeo142
Subject Category: Seismology
Seismology: A giant subducting sausage
Linda M. Warren1
- Linda M. Warren is in the Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
e-mail: lmwarren@email.arizona.edu
Abstract
Earthquake data seem to reveal a huge sausage-shaped slab of material detaching itself from the material subducting as two plates meet beneath the Hindu Kush. This largest-ever 'boudin' could tell us more about what happens when continents collide.
From the heights of Mount Everest to the depths of the Mariana trench, vertical extremes in the Earth's topography are characteristic of convergent plate margins. The Earth's structure beneath these margins, where two tectonic plates are moving towards one another, is also remarkable: the locations of earthquakes and seismic imaging reveal how the Earth's uppermost layers — its lithosphere — twist, bend and break as one plate subducts, sliding under the other.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Plate Tectonics: Finding Old SlabsNature News and Views (24 Mar 1972)
Seismology Breaking the slabNature Geoscience News and Views (01 Nov 2008)
See all 10 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
A large lens-shaped feature bounded by shear zones characterizes the remnant slab beneath the Hindu Kush region. Rather than dripping by viscous flow, the slab is actively stretching and might eventually break off before descending further into the underlying mantle. A large lens-shaped feature bounded by shear zones characterizes the remnant slab beneath the Hindu Kush region. Rather than dripping by viscous flow, the slab is actively stretching and might eventually break off before descending further into the underlying mantle.Nature Geoscience Article (01 Mar 2008)
Bending-related faulting and mantle serpentinization at the Middle America trenchNature Article (25 Sep 2003)
See all 38 matches for Research