Subduction zones
These processes include the formation of island arcs, that may ultimately form continental crust, recycling of the oceanic lithosphere, explosive volcanism, economic ore deposits, and intense earthquakes that extend to much greater depths than anywhere else in Earth, as well as plate tectonics and mantle flows.
Subduction zones efficiently cycle volatiles (H2O, CO2, F, Cl, S) from the Earth's surface into the mantle and back to the atmosphere and hydrosphere through explosive arc volcanism and degassing. Varying fluxes at subduction zones have regulated climate, magmatism and the composition of the continental crust through time. Their exchange between the deeper interior of the Earth and the atmosphere-hydrosphere also modulates the habitability of our planet. Understanding how subduction zones flux material and how the slab-fluids have evolved over space and time is therefore essential to understand Earth's evolution and its habitability.
Subduction zones efficiently cycle volatiles (H2O, CO2, F, Cl, S) from the Earth's surface into the mantle and back to the atmosphere and hydrosphere through explosive arc volcanism and degassing. Varying fluxes at subduction zones have regulated climate, magmatism and the composition of the continental crust through time. Their exchange between the deeper interior of the Earth and the atmosphere-hydrosphere also modulates the habitability of our planet. Understanding how subduction zones flux material and how the slab-fluids have evolved over space and time is therefore essential to understand Earth's evolution and its habitability.