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Breaking subductions’ fourth wall

Nature Geoscience volume 15, pages 95–96 (2022)Cite this article

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Subduction zone formation may be both horizontally and then vertically driven, according to a 4D evolution model of the Puysegur margin, New Zealand. This suggests that the current endmember classification of subduction initiation must be expanded.

Subduction is considered a primary driving force of plate tectonics, yet the interplay of the forces that control its initiation remains poorly understood. A plate breaks, and one side sinks below the other;1 this oversimplified picture represents our most common understanding of how new subduction zones form. The forces that control this are debated but are typically split into two endmember scenarios: initiation is either horizontally forced (due to plate push or pull) or vertically forced (originating from the weight of the plate or mantle drag). Unfortunately, our understanding of these processes has been limited by observations representing only single snapshots in time and by the 2D nature of models. Writing in Nature Geoscience, Shuck and colleagues2 use seismic images across a developing plate boundary in New Zealand to show that there may, instead, be multiple forces driving subduction initiation, suggesting that the current system for classifying subduction zones based on whether horizontal or vertical forces governed formation is insufficient.

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Fig. 1: Evolution model of the Puysegur trench, New Zealand.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Undertone Design, Bern, Switzerland

    Fabio Crameri

  2. Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED), University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Fabio Crameri

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  1. Fabio Crameri
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Correspondence to Fabio Crameri.

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Crameri, F. Breaking subductions’ fourth wall. Nat. Geosci. 15, 95–96 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00894-6

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