When plateau meets subduction zone: A review of numerical models

Abstract

The events and processes associated with the meeting of oceanic plateaus and subduction zones have significant implications for our understanding of lithospheric strength, structure, and Earth's tectonic history. A powerful approach towards understanding crustal structure, geochemical composition and rheological behaviour of oceanic plateaus is to combine field studies, oceanic drilling, magmatic evolution and numerical modeling. We review the current state of this field and discuss types of oceanic plateau subduction by combining and comparing natural observations and numerical models. Three modes of oceanic plateau subduction can be identified in both nature and models. These are a) complete oceanic plateau subduction, b) partial oceanic plateau subduction, and c) complete oceanic plateau accretion. We discuss factors affecting the subduction and accretion of oceanic plateaus such as lithospheric buoyancy, rheology, the age of the oceanic lithosphere, the thickness of the continental margin and weak layers. Several issues such as quantitative correlations between the factors controlling whether plateaus are accreted or subducted remain unclear. Further work combining observations and 3D numerical simulations is needed in order to fully understand the implications of the structures and processes involved.