A simple model is proposed to evaluate the possible mechanical and topographic effects that might be caused when an oceanic plate with irregular surface is subducted beneath a continental plate. The model focuses on the effects of such features as oceanic ridges, seamounts, plateaus and other bathymetric highs. The model approximates a continental plate as a two-dimensional incompressible Newtonian viscous fluid with uniform thickness, and a subducting oceanic plate as a rigid basement slipping beneath the viscous fluid with a constant velocity. In this model, bathymetric highs on the oceanic plate are approximated by topographic irregularities of the rigid basement. Based on the fundamental solutions given by Budd (1970) which were applied originally to the analysis of glacial movements, the shear stress near the basement and surface profile of the overriding medium are calculated, for instance, for a model whose basement profile is represented simply as exp( −ax 2) where a is the geometrical constant representing the degree of regional slope, and x the horizontal distance from the axis of the ridge. Assuming reasonable values for viscosity (10 23 poise), density (3 g/cm 3), thickness of the viscous medium (30 km), elevation of the top of the ridge from the surroundings (1 km), geometrical constant of the ridge shape (10 −2 km −2), and slip velocity (10 cm/a), the resultant surface profile was inferred to be asymmetrical shape with its highest elevation of 1360 m and the lowest of −620 m, while the magnitude of the shear stress near the base showed a symmetrical distribution with the maximum of 12.7 kbar. The results from these calculations do not only allow us to make quantitative estimates of the geological consequences of the subduction of bathymetric highs beneath continental plates but also give possible explanation for some of the uneven seismic activities found around present subduction zones.