the.com/subduction
where one slab of planet quietly eats another and we call it scenery
means The geological process by which one tectonic plate slides beneath another and sinks into the mantle, often building mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes along the way.
from From Latin 'subducere,' to lead or draw away from below — 'sub-' (under) plus 'ducere' (to lead, the same root behind 'conduct,' 'duke,' and 'aqueduct'). Long used in English for the simple act of taking away or withdrawing something underneath, the word was drafted into geology in the 20th century as plate tectonics took shape, when scientists needed a name for one slab being led downward beneath its neighbor.
- speed
- slabs sink a few centimeters per year
- recycling
- old crust melts and returns as fresh volcanoes
- quake source
- powers Earth's largest megathrust earthquakes
- depth
- plunging slabs reach over 600 kilometers down
- ring of fire
- draws Earth's most violent volcanic ring
cascadia subduction zone — 9.0 magnitude earthquake risk off washington and oregon coasts, last ruptured 1700
japan trench — site of 2011 tohoku 9.1 earthquake and fukushima disaster
peru-chile trench — deepest subduction zone on earth at 8,065 meters, off south america