Slab breakoff: A critical appraisal of a geological theory as applied in space and time

This article does not critically examine the theory, but critically examines its use. The extensive review of the vast literature presented here on the subject reveals how the model has been often applied to provide ad hoc explanations for a range of poorly understood observations based on incomplete evidence of deep-seated processes. Our aim is to illustrate a paradigmatic example of how earth scientists, in the face of evidence that challenges our capacity of understanding, often recur to hypotheses based on other hypotheses. Such an approach may induce researchers to look for confirmation in the absence of compelling constraints, or even in the face of conflicting evidence. The faith in models should not lead us to confuse speculative theories with axiomatic truths, and to build upon them theoretical edifices that are vulnerable and exposed to the risk of circular reasoning.