thermal structure and seismicity of subducting lithosphere it has recently been suggested that the mechanical behaviour of the oceanic and continental uppermost mantle depends on temperature alone and that there is no strong evidence for compositional effects it seems in the majority of cases that if uppermost mantle temperatures exceed 600 c any deformation that occurs does so in the absence of significant seismicity this observation apparently applies irrespective of whether that mantle material underlies an ocean or a continent this paper investigates whether the same behaviour exists for earthquakes occurring in descending lithospheric slabs namely whether there is some limiting temperature above which deformation occurs without significant seismicity and whether that limiting temperature is consistent with the behaviour seen in the uppermost mantle beneath oceans and continents by re examining the thermal structure in subducting slabs accounting for the temperature dependence of the relevant physical parameters teleseismically recorded seismicity is shown to be limited to material having potential temperatures less than not vert similar570 600 c or homologous temperatures less than not vert similar0 42 the exceptions to this pattern occur in the subhorizontally subducting regions of the nazca plate in which temperatures are probably affected by the relatively cold overriding plate

crustal structure and earthquake focal depths beneath northeastern india and southern tibet summary we use broad band teleseismic data recorded at eight sites along a north south profile from karimganj 24 84 n 92 34 e south of the eastern shillong plateau to bomdilla 27 27 n 92 41 e in the eastern lesser himalaya to determine the seismic characteristics of the crust in northeastern india we also analyse data from the chinese digital seismic network station at lhasa and indepthii stations located on the southern tibetan plateau north of our profile to extend the seismic images of the crust further northwards although the northeastern indian stations and the tibetan stations do not lie along a linear profile across the himalaya the wellrecognized uniformity of the himalaya along strike make this comparison of the two profiles meaningful receiver functions calculated from these data show that the crust is thinnest 35 38 km beneath the shillong plateau receiver functions at cherrapunji on the southern edge of the shillong plateau have a strong azimuthal dependence those from northern backazimuth events show that the moho beneath the southernmost shillong plateau is at a depth of 38 km while receiver functions from southern backazimuth events indicate that the moho beneath the northernmost bengal basin is at a depth of 44 km receiver functions from sites on the brahmaputra valley demonstrate that the moho is deeper by 5 7 km than below the shillong plateau a result which agrees with the hypothesis that the shillong plateau is supported by shearing stress on two steep faults that cut through the crust further north of the eastern himalayan foredeep the moho dips gently northwards reaching a depth of 48 km beneath bomdilla in the lesser himalaya and 88 km below lhasa in tibet using the crustal velocity models obtained from receiver function inversions we redetermined focal depths of wellrecorded earthquakes across this part of the indo tibetan collision zone and find all of these to occur within the crust hence we find no evidence for bimodal depth distribution of earthquakes beneath this region of northeastern india

lead pollution recorded in sediments of three lakes located at the middle and lower yangtze river basin china abstract sedimentary cores were collected from honghu lake guchenghu lake taihu lake during 2002 2005 the total organic carbon toc and metals pb al fe and ti were analyzed combined with 137 cs or 210 pb dating method average sedimentation rates were calculated to be 0 15 cm a at honghu core 0 067 cm a at guchenghu core and 0 35 0 41 cm a at taihu core regression model between lead and geogenic tracer elements and toc was established the relationship between lead and geogenic tracer elements or toc was significant pb contamination was estimated based on the natural contribution using regression model the results indicated anthropogenic lead in the three lakes the onset of lead pollution was estimated to be early 1970s based on sedimentations from 137 cs or 210 pb dating method it means the possibility of using lead as time marker according to the sediment quality guideline sqg the sediment was unpolluted except the surface sediment at honghu and guchenghu lake cores the lead concentrations of taihu lake core were higher than that from the other two lakes but still lower than heavily polluted level however anthropogenic lead load to guchenghu and honghu increased which should cause the attention of scientist and lake managers

relations among subduction parameters clues to the dynamics of the subduction process are found in the many measurable parameters of modern subduction zones based on a critical appraisal of the geophysical and geological literature 26 parameters are estimated for each of 39 modern subduction zones to isolate causal relationships among these parameters multivariate analysis is applied to this data set this analysis yields empirical quantitative relations that predict strain regime and strike slip faulting in the overriding plate maximum earthquake magnitude benioff zone length slab dip arc trench gap and maximum trench depth excellent correlation is found between length of the benioff zone and the product of convergence rate and age of the downgoing slab this relationship is consistent with the conductive heating model of molnar et al 1979 if the model is modified in one respect the rate of heating of the slab is not constant it is substantially slower during passage of the slab beneath the accretionary prism and overriding plate the structural style in the overriding plate is determined by its stress state though the stress state of overriding plates cannot be quantified one can classify each individual subduction zone into one of seven semiquantitative strain classes that form a continuum from strongly extensional class 1 back arc spreading to strongly compressional class 7 active folding and thrusting this analysis indicates that strain class is probably determined by a linear combination of convergence rate slab age and shallow slab dip interplate coupling controlled by convergence rate and slab age is an important control on strain regime and the primary control on earthquake magnitude arc parallel strike slip faulting is a common feature of convergent margins forming a forearc sliver between the strike slip fault and trench optimum conditions for the development of forearc slivers are oblique convergence a compressional environment and a continental overriding plate the primary factor controlling presence of strike slip faulting is coupling strongly oblique convergence is not required the rate of strike slip faulting is affected by both convergence obliquity and convergence rate maximum trench depth is a response to flexure of the underthrusting plate the amount of flexural deflection at the trench depends on the vertical component of slab pull force which is very sensitive to slab age and shallow slab dip shallow slab dip conforms to the cross sectional shape of the overriding plate which is controlled by width of the accretionary prism and duration of subduction deep slab dip is affected by the mantle trajectory established at shallow depth but may be modified by mantle flow much of the structural complexity of convergent margins is probably attributable to terrane juxtaposition associated with temporal changes in both forearc strike slip faulting and strain regime empirical equations relating subduction parameters can provide both a focus for future theoretical studies and a conceptual and kinematic link between plate tectonics and the geology of subduction zones

effects of variable thermal conductivity on the mineralogy of subducting slabs and implications for mechanisms of deep earthquakes abstract thermal and thermo kinetic models of subduction zones have been based in general on a constant value of thermal conductivity e g 3 138 w m k for solving the conservation of energy equation in order to make such models more realistic we have used variable thermal conductivities k that depend on pressure temperature and mineralogy olivine wadsleyite or ringwoodite as determined recently by xu et al xu y shankland t j linhardt s rubie d c langenhorst f klasinski k 2004 thermal diffusivity and conductivity of olivine wadsleyite and ringwoodite to 20 gpa and 1373 k phys earth planet inter 143 144 321 336 we have used these variable conductivities to model a variety of slabs with thermal parameters vertical subduction rate age of lithosphere at the trench ranging between 3500 and 17 000 km our models show that when radiative transfer is included k could plausibly be increased by as much as 2 w m k relative to a standard constant lithospheric value 3 138 w m k stein c a stein s 1992 a model for the global variation in oceanic depth and heat flow with lithospheric age nature 359 123 129 causing temperatures in the interiors of the slabs to increase by 50 100 c in turn the volume of metastable olivine in the slabs is reduced by as much as 20 30 with the maximum depth of olivine metastability decreasing by 30 50 km in general the maximum depths of olivine metastability are 160 230 km less than the depths of the deepest seismicity even in the extreme case of tonga metastable olivine falls short of the deepest earthquakes by 140 km in our model even taking the various uncertainties into account these results indicate that deep focus earthquakes occur in regions already transformed to wadsleyite or ringwoodite and must therefore be caused by a mechanism other than transformational faulting

thermal diffusivity and conductivity of olivine wadsleyite and ringwoodite to 20 gpa and 1373 k abstract we present results of lattice thermal diffusivity measurements on mg0 9fe0 1 2sio4 olivine and its high pressure polymorphs wadsleyite and ringwoodite under mantle conditions we used the angstrom method on cylindrical samples in multianvil apparatus at pressures up to 20 gpa and temperatures up to 1373 k because of the fine polycrystallinity of the specimens 30 40 m or less there is strong scattering absorption of light and suppression of radiative transport so that the lattice vibrational component is the dominant heat transfer mode lattice thermal conductivities were calculated from the thermal diffusivity results using heat capacity and equation of state data olivine thermal conductivities are consistent with previous results obtained at 1 atm e g j am ceramic soc 38 1954 107 j geophys res 77 1972 6966 science 283 1999 1699 thermal conductivity increases by approximately 30 at the transition from olivine to wadsleyite corresponding to the 410 km discontinuity and a further but smaller increase may occur at the transition from wadsleyite to ringwoodite for each of these phases lattice conductivity closely follows a t 1 2 dependence on temperature t phys rev 119 1960 507 j geophys res 79 1974 703 brown 2002 if such a dependence applies to other silicates and complex crystals there should be a useful way to estimate conductivities at high temperatures from room temperature measurements

kinetics of the olivine spinel transformation in subducting lithosphere experimental constraints and implications for deep slab processes abstract the persistence of metastable olivine to depths greater than 400 km in subducting slabs has implications for the generation of deep focus earthquakes the magnitude of buoyancy forces driving plate motion and the state of stress in the slab the depth to which metastable olivine can survive in a subduction zone and the depth interval over which transformation to or mg fe 2sio4 occurs have been evaluated from experimental kinetic data for the mg2geo4 and ni2sio4 transformations and the mg2sio4 transformation the data were extrapolated using a kinetic model for grain boundary nucleation and interface controlled growth under non isothermal and non isobaric conditions the results predict that metastable mg1 8fe0 2sio4 olivine survives to depths greater than 500 km in the cold interior of rapidly subducting slabs of old lithosphere the onset of transformation to mg fe 2sio4 spinel depends only on growth kinetics and coincides with the 550 50 c isotherm including the effects of latent heat production causes the transformation to occur by a runaway process over a very narrow depth interval at the onset of transformation high nucleation rates and low growth rates are consistent with the formation of very fine grained reaction products which are required for the transformational faulting mechanism of deep focus earthquakes when olivine crosses the equilibrium boundaries at higher temperatures e g higher than 700 c at 400 km depth transformation to or occurs much closer to equilibrium at a depth controlled by nucleation kinetics in this case the effect of latent heat production on the transformation kinetics is small and microstructural evolution is unlikely to result in transformational faulting below the depth of olivine breakdown cold slabs are likely to have a complex rheological structure owing to temperature dependent microstructural evolution during the phase transformation

rheology of the upper mantle a synthesis rheological properties of the upper mantle of the earth play an important role in the dynamics of the lithosphere and asthenosphere however such fundamental issues as the dominant mechanisms of flow have not been well resolved a synthesis of laboratory studies and geophysical and geological observations shows that transitions between diffusion and dislocation creep likely occur in the earth s upper mantle the hot and shallow upper mantle flows by dislocation creep whereas cold and shallow or deep upper mantle may flow by diffusion creep when the stress increases grain size is reduced and the upper mantle near the transition between these two regimes is weakened consequently deformation is localized and the upper mantle is decoupled mechanically near these depths

evidence for a large scale remnant of subducted lithosphere beneath fiji we combine spatial variations of p and s wave speeds 1000 fault plane solutions and 6600 well determined hypocenters to investigate the nature of subducted lithosphere and deep earthquakes beneath the tonga back arc we show that perplexing patterns in seismicity and fault plane solutions can be accounted for by the juxtaposition of a steep dipping wadati benioff zone and a subhorizontal remnant of slab that is no longer attached to the actively subducting lithosphere the detached slab may be from a previous episode of subduction along the fossil vitiaz trench about 5 to 8 million years ago the juxtaposition of slabs retains a large amount of subducted material in the transition zone of the mantle such a configuration if common in the past would allow the preservation of a primordial component in the lower mantle

subduction zones observations and geodynamic models abstract this review of subduction and geodynamic models is organized around three central questions 1 why is subduction asymmetric 2 are subducted slabs strong or weak 3 how do subducted slabs interact with phase transformations changes in mantle rheology and possibly chemical boundaries in the mantle based on laboratory measurements of the temperature dependence of olivine one would conclude that the core of a subducting slab is at least 10 000 times more viscous than ambient mantle however there are a number of complementary but independent observations that suggest that slabs are much weaker than this slabs undergo significant deformation in the upper mantle and may thicken to twice their original width by the time they reach the base of the transition zone the lack of a clear correlation between the observed dip angle of deep slabs and plate velocity rate of trench migration and slab age in modern subduction zones is consistent with hypothesis that subduction is a time dependent phenomenon both tank and numerical convection experiments with plates conclude that subduction is not a steady phenomenon but that slabs bend thicken stretch and change dip through time this is at odds with the assumptions used in steady state slab thermal models where slab deformation is not considered

thermal diffusivity of olivine group minerals at high temperature thermal diffusivity d data from 12 oriented single crystals and seven polycrystalline samples of olivine group minerals were acquired with the laser flash method at temperatures t of up to 1500 c samples included forsterite fe mg binary olivines sinhalite and chrysoberyl specimens were characterized using infrared spectroscopy and electron microprobe analysis crystal orientation and chemistry both affect d for our single crystals d 100 d 001 d 010 at all temperatures thermal diffusivity decreases with increasing t and becomes virtually constant at high temperatures at room temperature d 001 of pure forsterite has the highest observed values but substitution of a small amount of co in forsterite 0 3 wt coo lowers d by 20 substitution of 10 fe for mg in forsterite as in typical mantle olivine lowers d by 50 at room temperature mantle olivine has d 3 25 1 66 and 2 59 mm2 s for the 100 010 and 001 orientations respectively the values decrease to 0 93 0 87 mm2 s at 790 985 c for 100 0 54 51 mm2 s at 590 740 c for 010 and 0 83 0 79 mm2 s at 740 890 c for 001 two dunite samples have d of 0 55 0 56 mm2 s at 890 1080 c showing the effect of preferred orientation of grains dominated by 010 thermal diffusivity of polycrystalline samples is controlled by the large amounts of olivine present minor phases offset the curves for d t from the value of the olivine mineral our laser flash measurements isolate the phonon component of heat transfer from radiative transfer and show that the phonon contribution becomes nearly constant for the high temperatures expected in the mantle the other microscopic component diffusive radiative transfer depends strongly on temperature and this temperature dependence likely exerts greater control on mantle convection

systematic variation in the depths of slabs beneath arc volcanoes summary the depths to the tops of the zones of intermediate depth seismicity beneath arc volcanoes are determined using the hypocentral locations of engdahl et al these depths are constant to within a few kilometres within individual arc segments but differ by tens of kilometres from one arc segment to another the range in depths is from 65 km to 130 km inconsistent with the common belief that the volcanoes directly overlie the places where the slabs reach a critical depth that is roughly constant for all arcs the depth to the top of the intermediate depth seismicity beneath volcanoes correlates neither with age of the descending ocean floor nor with the thermal parameter of the slab this depth does however exhibit an inverse correlation with the descent speed of the subducting plate which is the controlling factor both for the thermal structure of the wedge of mantle above the slab and for the temperature at the top of the slab we interpret this result as indicating that the location of arc volcanoes is controlled by a process that depends critically upon the temperature at the top of the slab or in the wedge of mantle immediately below the volcanic arc

metastability mechanical strength and the support of mountain belts exhumed high pressure rocks from the caledonian root zone in norway provide analogues for processes occurring today under southern tibet allowing large scale geophysical observations from gravity and earthquakes to be linked with the mechanical properties of metastable rocks under high mountains metastability is essential for the survival of thick mountain roots and hence of high mountains and is in turn controlled by water if water is absent dry granulite formed from earlier melting episodes is both stable and strong and likely to survive in the eclogite stability field of deep root zones for hundreds of million years but if hydrous fluid is introduced the transformation of granulite to eclogite is relatively rapid and accompanied by a dramatic loss of strength in norway this transformation was initiated by water infiltration along fractures formed by earthquakes the same process as marked by deep earthquakes may be occurring today beneath southern tibet

variable conductivity effects on the thermal structure of subducting slabs understanding the thermal structure of the lithosphere in subduction zone environments is a key element in the realization of the source of deep focus earthquakes and other geodynamic processes model predictions of the thermal structure of subducting slabs are dependent upon a priori knowledge of how thermal conductivity varies within the slab using recent results for the variation of thermal conductivity as a function of temperature pressure and gross mineralogy we investigate how models that utilize a realistic model for variable conductivity compare with canonical models for constant conductivity results suggest that jumps in thermal conductivity across the phase boundaries that arise due to transformations to and spinel phases lead to old fast steeply dipping slabs being considerably warmer than previously thought although these results do not rule out the possibility of a metastable wedge source of deep focus earthquakes they do imply the likelihood of metastable olivine being found at depth is less than once thought

effect of water on melting phase relations and melt composition in the system mg2sio4mgsio3h2o up to 15 gpa melting experiments in the system mg2sio4 mgsio3 h2o up to pressures of 15 gpa show that the presence of h2o drastically changes melting temperature liquidus phases and the coexisting melt composition the system mg2sio4 h2o shows incongruent melting characterized by a high mgsi ratio of the eutectic composition exceeding 2 0 above 12 gpa whereas it exhibits congruent melting up to at least 7 7 gpa in the mgsio3 h2o system incongruent melting is observed up to 3 gpa which switches to congruent melting above 5 5 gpa and persists to at least 12 gpa the variation of the eutectic composition in the system mg2sio4 mgsio3 h2o is consistent with the variations of the melting temperatures in the systems mg2sio4 h2o and mgsio3 h2o the melting temperature solidus in the system mg2sio4 h2o decreases from 1800 c at atmospheric pressure to less than 1200 c at 10 gpa while in the system mgsio3 h2o it is reduced to a minimum value of 1250 c at approximately 5 5 gpa and then increases with pressure the composition of the initial melt in this system drastically changes at around 5 5 gpa the mgsi ratio being about 3 at 15 gpa variations of the ternary phase diagrams mgo sio2 h2o with pressure are compiled and compared with previous work on the relevant systems a modified spinel like hydrous phase is synthesized at 15 5 gpa the maximum amount of h2o accommodated in this phase is estimated to be 3 3 wt from observed chemical composition and crystal chemical considerations implying that a significant amount of h2o can be accommodated in the mantle transition zone the overall effect of h2o on ultrabasic magma genesis in the mantle is discussed a possibility is presented for the formation of komatiite magma involving the effect of h2o in the mantle of the early earth mg rich komatiite magma was possibly generated at a depth of only 200 km at temperatures much lower than that having been assumed previously

magnetic anomalies and tectonic fabric of marginal basins north of new zealand detailed airborne magnetic studies conducted over the region of the s w pacific marginal basins extending from the solomon islands to new zealand suggest that three major phases of basin formation and island arc development have occurred in this region development of the tasman sea took place during the late cretaceous paleocene development of the basins to the east of the tasman sea occurred predominantly during the oligocene as well as during the upper miocene to recent the south fiji basin consisting of the kupe and minerva abyssal plains is marked by the presence of possibly two rrr triple junction spreading centers that were active between the times of anomalies 13 to 7 36 25 5 m y the kupe abyssal plain shows the presence of residual magnetic anomalies 7 to 13 of the eastern limb of the proposed spreading center the western limb appears to have been subducted beneath the present site of the three kings rise this seafloor spreading phase calculated half spreading rate of 35 mm yr was coincident with the overthrusting phase of the new caledonia ultramafic rocks during that period active volcanism along the then continuous solomons new hebrides fiji lau island arc was taking place magnetic anomalies from 1 to 4 0 8 m y b p are seen to extend along a clearly defined lineation pattern over the north fiji basin analysis of the magnetic anomalies suggests that during the upper miocene at about the time of magnetic anomaly 4 8 m y the solomons lau island arc commenced breaking up through the development of an active spreading center calculated half spreading rate of 35 mm yr located between the new hebrides and fiji portions of the island arc portions of the northeastern sector of the minerva abyssal plain were subducted beneath the north fiji basin during this period between 0 8 m y b p at the time of about anomaly 3 to 2 4 5 3 5 m y the development of the north fiji basin extended into the lau basin and havre trough thus separating the tonga and lau ridges as a result a distinct series of active spreading centers developed southward along the axis of the havre trough lau basin the havre trough is marked by present seismic and submarine volcanic activity residual magnetic anomalies 1 2 0 1 8 m y b p form a symmetrical pattern around the axis of the trough extending south from the lau basin to the active taupo white island volcanic zone of new zealand phases of development of the marginal basins described in this paper may be correlated with phases of changes in the direction and rate of pacific plate motion

age dependence of oceanic intraplate seismicity and implications for lithospheric evolution we have determined depths for 16 oceanic intraplate earthquakes using body wave modeling a data set composed of these and 11 other well constrained depths shows that the maximum depth of seismicity deepens with increasing lithospheric age and appears to be bounded by a 700 800 c isotherm the maximum depth to which intraplate earthquakes occur is approximately equal to the flexural elastic thickness but much less than the seismic thickness from surface wave dispersion the maximum faulting depth is consistent with the predictions of rapid weakening at high temperatures for dry olivine rheologies determined by experimental rock mechanics oceanic intraplate earthquakes can occur at greater depths and temperatures than has previously been reported for continental crustal events presumably because oceanic lithosphere is stronger at high temperatures both the number of earthquakes and the cumulative seismic moment decrease with lithospheric age the cause of this trend is unclear possibilities include nonrandom location of preexisting weak zones with respect to the age provinces fault strengthening with age or a decrease in the stress level a decrease in intraplate stress with age is opposite that expected from ridge push stresses which increase with age but may result either from thermoelastic stresses which are greatest in young lithosphere or near ridge stress concentrations due to local heterogeneities in the spreading process

life of an oceanic plate cooling time and assimilation time an oceanic plate undergoes two different thermal stages in its life from its creation at the spreading center to its assimilation under the subduction zone first the cooling stage and secondly the heating stage introducing the terms cooling time and assimilation time as measures of intervals of the former and latter stages we discussed the quantitative correlation between the two the cooling time ac is defined as the time required for the oceanic plate to move from a spreading center to a trench and is equivalent to the age of the oceanic plate when it just reached the trench the assimilation time tm is defined as the time required for the subducting plate to lose the ability to generate earthquakes since it began to subduct we estimated the values tm and ac at 50 sites in major subduction zones of the world the result indicates a positive linear relation between ac and tm simply expressed by tm ac9 2 ma while mckenzie s subduction model and the thickening plate model theoretically expect the relationship to be expressed as tm ac the discrepancy between our result and the theoretical model suggests the delay of effective heating of the subducting plate under the subduction zone and or the rapid increase of the plate thickness around the spreading center

seismicity and rheology of subducted slabs since the incorporation of the inclined zones of intermediate and deep seismic activity into the theory of plate tectonics1 2 it has been generally accepted that earthquakes with focal depths 100 km occur in subducted slabs of predominantly oceanic lithosphere yet our understanding of the processes which generate intermediate and in particular deep earthquakes is still incomplete this is largely due to our limited knowledge of the rheological behaviour of subducted oceanic lithosphere at depths between 100 and 700 km however recently considerable insight has been gained into the rheology of oceanic lithosphere in near surface conditions and i investigate here whether the seismic activity at depths 100 km can be understood on the basis of this information i first present results of temperature calculations performed for all subduction zones for which adequate data on seismicity relative plate motion and age of the descending oceanic lithosphere exist sub sequently i adapt the temperature conditions governing the rheology near the surface by including depth dependence this leads to a depth dependent critical temperature tcr z above which the subducted lithosphere cannot sustain the stresses necessary to generate seismic events seismicity data and calculated temperature versus depth relationships are in good agreement with the rheological model predictions this implies that the absence of seismic activity at depths 700 km should not be interpreted as direct evidence for the hypothesis that the 650 km discontinuity in the mantle acts as a barrier to vertical motion of subducted slabs

revel a model for recent plate velocities from space geodesy 1 we present a new global model for recent plate velocities revel describing the relative velocities of 19 plates and continental blocks the model is derived from publicly available space geodetic primarily gps data for the period 1993 2000 we include an independent and rigorous estimate for gps velocity uncertainties to assess plate rigidity and propagate these uncertainties to the velocity estimates the velocity fields for north america eurasia and antarctica clearly show the effects of glacial isostatic adjustment and australia appears to depart from rigid plate behavior in a manner consistent with the mapped intraplate stress field two thirds of tested plate pairs agree with the nuvel 1a geologic 3 myr average velocities within uncertainties three plate pairs caribbean north america caribbean south america and north america pacific exhibit significant differences between the geodetic and geologic model that may reflect systematic errors in nuvel 1a due to the use of seafloor magnetic rate data that do not reflect the full plate rate because of tectonic complexities most other differences probably reflect real velocity changes over the last few million years several plate pairs arabia eurasia arabia nubia eurasia india move more slowly than the 3 myr nuvel 1a average perhaps reflecting long term deceleration associated with continental collision several other plate pairs including nazca pacific nazca south america and nubia south america are experiencing slowing that began 25 ma the beginning of the current phase of andean crustal shortening

insights from geodynamical modeling on possible fates of continental mantle lithosphere collision removal and overturn geodynamic modeling demonstrates various modes of behaviour of the tectonically active continental mantle lithosphere at continental collision mantle lithosphere below thickening crust can be accommodated by mixed subduction like consumption and viscous drip like instability depending on the material rheology temperature and convergence velocity late stage slab steepening dual sided and ablative consumption and breakoff can occur as the buoyant crust resists subduction removal of accreted crust by erosion can modify how even the deepest portions of the mantle lithosphere evolves during contraction when gravitational forcing rather than plate shortening dominates mantle lithosphere may be removed through viscous dripping like instability or delamination the removal induces crustal heating modified topography and deformation but distinctive styles of these develop depending on whether mantle lithosphere delaminates or drips with a modified density stratification postulated for the archean r