Abstract
It has been suggested that descending return flows in the mantle beneath the flanks of spreading oceanic ridges produce horizontal compressional stress, which can give rise locally to compressional tectonics. This hypothesis has been advanced in order to account for early subduction or accretion of ophiolites. In the vicinity of present spreading axes, this hypothesis can explain geodetic and geophysical evidence for horizontal contraction and elastic compression. It also fits structural data suggesting embryonic compressional tectonics, and may provide a clue to the explanation of other geological features such as the Great Escarpment at some continental borderlands. From the theoretical point of view, descending flows in the mantle and lithospheric compression relatively close to spreading axes can be predicted by some models of convective spreading. This hypothesis can reduce several independent phenomena to a single process.
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