کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
4679717 1634892 2008 10 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
Reconciling strong slab pull and weak plate bending: The plate motion constraint on the strength of mantle slabs
موضوعات مرتبط
مهندسی و علوم پایه علوم زمین و سیارات علوم زمین و سیاره ای (عمومی)
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
Reconciling strong slab pull and weak plate bending: The plate motion constraint on the strength of mantle slabs
چکیده انگلیسی

Although subducting slabs undergo a bending deformation that resists tectonic plate motions, the magnitude of this resistance is not known because of poor constraints on slab strength. However, because slab bending slows the relatively rapid motions of oceanic plates, observed plate motions constrain the importance of bending. We estimated the slab pull force and the bending resistance globally for 207 subduction zone transects using new measurements of the bending curvature determined from slab seismicity. Predicting plate motions using a global mantle flow model, we constrain the viscosity of the bending slab to be at most ~ 300 times more viscous than the upper mantle; stronger slabs are intolerably slowed by the bending deformation. Weaker slabs, however, cannot transmit a pull force sufficient to explain rapid trenchward plate motions unless slabs stretch faster than seismically observed rates of ~ 10− 15 s− 1. The constrained bending viscosity (~ 2 × 1023 Pa s) is larger than previous estimates that yielded similar or larger bending resistance (here ~ 25% of forces). This apparent discrepancy occurs because slabs bend more gently than previously thought, with an average radius of curvature of 390 km that permits subduction of strong slabs. This gentle bending may ultimately permit plate tectonics on Earth.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Earth and Planetary Science Letters - Volume 272, Issues 1–2, 30 July 2008, Pages 412–421
نویسندگان
, , , , ,