Open AccessFluid flow in subducting slabs
Author(s) -
Balcerak Ernie
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2012eo100019
Subject(s) - geology , slab , oceanic crust , fluid dynamics , seismology , crust , mantle (geology) , flow (mathematics) , geophysics , petrology , subduction , mechanics , tectonics , physics
When subducting oceanic plates descend into the Earth's mantle, they bring a significant amount of water with them that is subsequently released at depths. Faccenda et al. used a thermomechanical model of a subducting dehydrating oceanic plate to study fluid flow in the dehydrating slab. They show that as a slab bends and unbends as it descends, stresses drive fluids toward a layer of lower pressure in the center of the plate. Together with the dehydrating oceanic crust, this fluid‐rich layer forms a double hydrated zone, which the authors believe corresponds to 20‐ to 30‐kilometer‐thick regions called double seismic zones that have been observed in seismological studies.