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Top-down control on water subduction

Nature Geoscience volume 15, pages 94–95 (2022)Cite this article

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The structure of the overriding plate may control bending and water ingress into the subducting plate based on an exceptional 3D velocity model of the Nankai subduction zone.

Subduction zones, where two tectonic plates converge and one is thrust below the other, drive a deep water cycle on Earth. The subducted oceanic plate carries water, either bound in minerals or trapped in the pores of sediments and volcanic rocks, deep into the Earth. Once subducted, this water modulates many fundamental processes including the generation of massive subduction zone earthquakes and the magmas that feed volcanoes. In some subduction zones, water may be transported hundreds of kilometres deeper into the Earth, where it modifies the composition and strength of mantle rocks. Given the relevance of water to so many important processes, it is essential that we understand the controls on its volume and distribution at subduction zone trenches. Writing in Nature Geoscience, Arnulf and colleagues1 construct a comprehensive 3D model of the Nankai subduction zone to show that properties of the overriding plate contribute to the substantial variability in the amount of water entering the trench.

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Fig. 1: The proposed influence of the overriding plate on bending and hydration of the subducting plate.

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  1. School of Earth and Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Donna J. Shillington

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  1. Donna J. Shillington
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Correspondence to Donna J. Shillington.

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Shillington, D.J. Top-down control on water subduction. Nat. Geosci. 15, 94–95 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00883-1

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