Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences,
The University of British Columbia

PCIGR research supports new theory on how Earth’s subduction zones formed

August 2018

Subduction zones are unique to Earth and are fundamental in its evolution, yet we still know little about the causes and mechanisms of their initiation.

A new study, co-authored by PCIGR researcher Matthijs Smit and published this week in Nature Geoscience, investigates a fossil system, the archetypal Semail Ophiolite of Oman, which exposes both lower and upper plate relics of incipient subduction stages.

Pressure–temperature–time evolution of the Semail metamorphic sole.
Pressure–temperature–time evolution of the Semail metamorphic sole. [Fig. 6 of Guilmette et al., 2018]
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