10 Facts About Subduction

Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries.

Subduction is possible because the cold oceanic lithosphere is slightly denser than the underlying asthenosphere, the hot, ductile layer in the upper mantle underlying the cold, rigid lithosphere.

Subduction zones are where the cold oceanic lithosphere sinks back into the mantle and is recycled.

Subduction is the driving force behind plate tectonics, and without it, plate tectonics could not occur.

Subduction zones are defined by an inclined zone of earthquakes, the Wadati–Benioff zone, that dips away from the trench and extends down to the 660-kilometer discontinuity.

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Subduction typically occurs at a moderately steep angle right at the point of the convergent plate boundary.

Subduction can begin spontaneously if the denser oceanic lithosphere can founder and sink beneath the adjacent oceanic or continental lithosphere through vertical forcing only; alternatively, existing plate motions can induce new subduction zones by horizontally forcing the oceanic lithosphere to rupture and sink into the asthenosphere.

Subduction can continue as long as the oceanic lithosphere moves into the subduction zone.

Subduction concluded that the cause of the earthquake was a megathrust reaction in the Aleutian Trench, a result of the Alaskan continental crust overlapping the Pacific oceanic crust.

Subduction zones have been considered as possible disposal sites for nuclear waste in which the action of subduction itself would carry the material into the planetary mantle, safely away from any possible influence on humanity or the surface environment.