Dynamic topography above retreating subduction zones
- 1Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
Abstract
Dynamic topography provides a measure of stresses within the Earth's interior. Dense slabs induce an upper mantle flow that deflects the surface of the Earth downward above them. By combining a simple theoretical (Stokeslet) model of subduction, gravity modeling, and seismic tomography, I show that a significant fraction (as much as 2000 m) of the topographic variations observed above the Scotia, Mariana, and Hellenic subduction systems appears to be dynamically induced by stresses related to the underlying subduction.
Footnotes
-
↵*lhusson{at}mit.edu
-
- Accepted 25 April 2006.
- Received 12 December 2005.
- Revision received 19 April 2006.
- Geological Society of America
