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Published March 20, 1992 | public
Journal Article

Rapid Continental Subsidence Following the Initiation and Evolution of Subduction

Abstract

Dynamic topography resulting from initiation of slab subduction at an ocean-continent margin causes the continental lithosphere to subside rapidly. As subduction continues and the slab shallows, a basin depocenter and forebulge migrate in toward the continental interior. Finally, closure of the ocean basin leads to regional uplift. These active margin processes have commonly been ascribed to supracrustal loading, but numerical modeling shows that dynamic subsidence rates can exceed 100 meters per million years and are similar to rates of sediment accumulation along convergent North American plate margins over the Phanerozoic.

Additional Information

© 1992 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 22 October 1991; accepted 31 January 1992. Acknowledgment is made to the donors of The Petroleum Research Fund, administered by the American Chemical Society, for partial support of this research. Also supported by NSF grants EAR-8957164 and EAR-8904660. B. Wilkinson made detailed comments which substantially improved this manuscript.

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023