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Quantifying the net slab pull force as a driving mechanism for plate tectonics

Schellart, Wouter

Description

It has remained unclear how much of the negative buoyancy force of the slab (FB) is used to pull the trailing plate at the surface into the mantle. Here I present three-dimensional laboratory experiments to quantify the net slab pull force (FNSP) with respect to FB during subduction. Results show that FNSP increases with increasing slab length and dip up to ∼8-12% of FB, making FNSP up to twice as large as the ridge push force. The remainder of FB is primarily used to drive rollback-induced...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorSchellart, Wouter
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-13T22:41:12Z
dc.date.available2015-12-13T22:41:12Z
dc.identifier.issn0094-8276
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/78408
dc.description.abstractIt has remained unclear how much of the negative buoyancy force of the slab (FB) is used to pull the trailing plate at the surface into the mantle. Here I present three-dimensional laboratory experiments to quantify the net slab pull force (FNSP) with respect to FB during subduction. Results show that FNSP increases with increasing slab length and dip up to ∼8-12% of FB, making FNSP up to twice as large as the ridge push force. The remainder of FB is primarily used to drive rollback-induced mantle flow (∼70%), to bend the subducting plate at the trench (∼15-30%) and to overcome shear resistance between slab and mantle (0-8%).
dc.publisherAmerican Geophysical Union
dc.sourceGeophysical Research Letters
dc.subjectKeywords: Buoyancy; Shear deformation; Tectonics; Mantle; Shear resistance; Trailing plates; Geophysics; experimental study; plate tectonics; slab; subduction
dc.titleQuantifying the net slab pull force as a driving mechanism for plate tectonics
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.description.refereedYes
local.identifier.citationvolume31
dc.date.issued2004
local.identifier.absfor040403 - Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
local.identifier.ariespublicationMigratedxPub7059
local.type.statusPublished Version
local.contributor.affiliationSchellart, Wouter, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.bibliographicCitation.issueL07611
local.bibliographicCitation.startpagedoi:10.1029/2004GL019528
local.identifier.doi10.1029/2004GL019528
dc.date.updated2015-12-11T10:00:20Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-3042781526
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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