Publication Date:
2020-02-12
Description:
Geophysical experiments next year in Romania may provide insight into a common but short-lived seismic process that can be observed and understood at only one spot on Earth at present. About 150 stations will be set up in the Vrancea area in the southeast Carpathian Mountains to, in effect, record the terminal phase of the detachment of a subducting slab of oceanic lithosphere. This is a major regional tomographic study using a large number of broadband seismometers, which will operate for 6 months. Images will be used for hazard assessment as well as for a delineation of detachment history.Active subduction of oceanic lithosphere at convergent plate boundaries involves earthquakes, magmatism, metamorphism, and deformation—some of the most vivid manifestations of any plate tectonic process. The initiation and termination of subduction, however, remains relatively poorly understood. When convergence of lithospheric plates ceases and the suction force of the subducting plate becomes negligible, the subducting slab moves into an almost vertical position. If subduction occurs in an arcuate geometry, the slab is likely to be segmented.
Language:
English
Type:
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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