Abstract
Mantle wedge serpentinization effects on slab dips
Highlights
Subduction of the oceanic plate into the mantle is the major driving force of plate tectonics (Forsyth and Uyeda 1975; Conrad and Lithgow-Bertelloni 2002) and the major source to introduce thermal and chemical heterogeneity into the mantle (Hacker et al 2003)
With numerical elasto-visco-plastic models, we investigated the role of the amount of mantel serpentinization on subduction zone evolution
We found that mantle serpentinization is important for subduction
Summary
Subduction of the oceanic plate into the mantle is the major driving force of plate tectonics (Forsyth and Uyeda 1975; Conrad and Lithgow-Bertelloni 2002) and the major source to introduce thermal and chemical heterogeneity into the mantle (Hacker et al 2003). The negative buoyancy of cold oceanic lithosphere, contrasting with the underlying warm mantle, provides sufficient force to pull the entire plate down. Complicated physical and chemical processes occur in the subduction zones (Van Keken and King 2005). The subducted oceanic crust carries water with it in the form of hydrated minerals into the mantle. As the oceanic crust sinks through the mantle, its temperature and pressure gradually increase. The hydrated minerals move out of their stability fields and transform into less hydrated or anhydrated minerals (Ulmer and Trommsdorff 1995; Hacker et al 2003). Water is released during these metamorphic process-
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