subduction zones tagged posts

Venus as a model: Today this planet looks like the Earth might have looked before the onset of plate tectonics. Credit: NASA/JPL

It is common knowledge that Earth’s rigid upper layer called lithosphere is composed of moving plates. But just what mechanism first set plate tectonics into motion still remains a mystery. Scientists have now come up with one possible answer with simulations. But just as in the past, earth scientists still do not understand what triggered plate tectonics in the first place, nor how the first subduction zone was formed. A weak spot in the Earth’s lithosphere was necessary in order for parts of the Earth’s crust to begin their descent into the Earth’s mantle...