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Earth science

The slippery base of a tectonic plate

Nature volume 518, pages 39–40 (2015)Cite this article

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High-resolution imaging of the base of the Pacific plate as it descends beneath New Zealand discloses a 10-kilometre-thick channel that decouples the plate from underlying upper mantle. See Letter p.85

Plate tectonics has been a fundamental tenet of Earth science for almost 50 years. It is the foundation of modern Earth science, and provides a framework for our understanding of the formation of the continents and ocean basins, and the evolution of the planet. However, questions remain, such as, where is the base of a plate and what makes a plate 'plate-like'? There are many proxies used to estimate the depth and nature of the base of tectonic plates, but so far no consensus has been reached. The transition from the rigid lithosphere to the flowing asthenosphere has classically been defined by temperature. Temperature has a large effect on the viscosity of rocks — their ability to flow.

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Figure 1: A model of the subducting Pacific plate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Catherine A. Rychert is at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK.,

    Catherine A. Rychert

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  1. Catherine A. Rychert
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Correspondence to Catherine A. Rychert.

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Rychert, C. The slippery base of a tectonic plate. Nature 518, 39–40 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/518039a

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