{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"27d5f384ac89bda02aa4ea5a7ce10586b49c3483b0bdcfa4eff983ecbb5c65c7","created":"2026-10-03T07:18:03Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["5475cf5dc5b1a72283d26dc95dc6e00d7ea4e00096a7c6492e409a1816eeb011"],"salt":"e476383138be571d391b4e1efdf6f6391b3706bcc397476c779fbe22797aaa6d","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"mechanism","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"earth.plate-tectonics.subduction-initiation","kind":"well-posed","literature_status":"contested","n":"1","parents":[],"plain":"Plate tectonics needs plates to sink back into the mantle at subduction zones, but a strong intact plate resists being bent and broken to start sinking. Whether new subduction zones begin by themselves or are pushed by neighboring plates is debated.","posed_since":"","precise":"Determine the conditions under which subduction initiates: spontaneously (gravitational foundering of old dense lithosphere along a weak zone) or induced (by plate convergence), and the roles of mantle plumes and inherited weak zones. An answer is a criterion in terms of lithospheric age, weak-zone strength and applied force, from thermomechanical models with lab-constrained rheology, tested against Cenozoic initiation events such as Izu-Bonin-Mariana near 52 Ma (review: Stern and Gerya, Tectonophysics 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2017.10.014).","problem_ref":null,"references":"","settled_by":"Dated magmatic and stratigraphic records of forearcs at young subduction zones compared with thermomechanical models using only experimentally constrained rheology.","status_note":"Ocean drilling of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc in 2014 recovered the volcanic sequence expected from spontaneous initiation; whether induced initiation dominates elsewhere remains debated.","title":"How do new subduction zones start?","topic_ref":"88e7a08ea0c1d2f0e59af928067327a0eae8144a9e50f4874c49df2a02aaf5a6"},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"ebfd155c8fc791f5adba122b09b2ab89d46765cd119e55e75b44dfc31b308b06","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"7c1d042b5884862047212fcc0cd773f8b41e6ecfd28d6aec6b881a6bddf9ee12","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"AOEIDl51MH9WacaJHxMbBNFnSSKr5qlEY-hxdu6DrO1M6NuKkEYKbmCmP8YNUehDyfAO2ktUYFDKN8gkgyDXCw"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"ebfd155c8fc791f5adba122b09b2ab89d46765cd119e55e75b44dfc31b308b06","leaf_index":1360}