Journal article
Influence of lateral slab edge distance on plate velocity, trench velocity, and subduction partitioning
WP Schellart, DR Stegman, RJ Farrington, L Moresi
Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth | Published : 2011
DOI: 10.1029/2011JB008535
Abstract
Subduction of oceanic lithosphere occurs through both trenchward subducting plate motion and trench retreat. We investigate how subducting plate velocity, trench velocity and the partitioning of these two velocity components vary for individual subduction zone segments as a function of proximity to the closest lateral slab edge (DSE). We present a global compilation for 207 trench segments from 17 active subduction zones on Earth and three-dimensional numerical models of progressive free subduction of a single oceanic plate that subducts into a stratified mantle. The results show that the subducting plate velocity is always high (≥5.1 cm/yr (models) and ≤4.2 cm/yr (nature)) and trench veloci..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
Discussions with and feedback from Roberto Weinberg and Philippe Yamato on subduction kinematics and dynamics are greatly appreciated. Comments from two anonymous reviewers and reviewer Warren Hamilton have strengthened the paper. We would like to thank The National Computational Infrastructure and AuScope for computational resources and technical support. W.P.S. was supported by a QE II fellowship, Discovery grant DP0771823 and Discovery grant DP110103387 from the Australian Research Council, a Monash fellowship, and a J. G. Russell Award from the Australian Academy of Science.