A transdisciplinary and community-driven database to unravel subduction zone initiation

Fabio Crameri*, Valentina Magni, Mathew Domeier, Grace E. Shephard, Kiran Chotalia, George Cooper, Caroline M. Eakin, Antoniette Greta Grima, Derya Gürer, Ágnes Király, Elvira Mulyukova, Kalijn Peters, Boris Robert, Marcel Thielmann

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Subduction zones are pivotal for the recycling of Earth’s outer layer into its interior. However, the conditions under which new subduction zones initiate are enigmatic. Here, we constructed a transdisciplinary database featuring detailed analysis of more than a dozen documented subduction zone initiation events from the last hundred million years. Our initial findings reveal that horizontally forced subduction zone initiation is dominant over the last 100 Ma, and that most initiation events are proximal to pre-existing subduction zones. The SZI Database is expandable to facilitate access to the most current understanding of subduction zone initiation as research progresses, providing a community platform that establishes a common language to sharpen discussion across the Earth Science community.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3750
Pages (from-to)1-14
JournalNature Communications
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Jul 2020

Funding

We are grateful to Carmen Gaina and CEED for the extraordinary support for this early career project via the YoungCEED programme. We used the Scientific Colour Maps74,75 to prevent perceptual data distortion and exclusion of readers with colour-vision deficiencies. StagLab’s open-access design routine, DiVA76,77, was used to create the figures and included in the included SZI Database plotting tool. The open source software GPlates was used to conduct some of the plate reconstruction analysis and generate figures. This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence project 223272.

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