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Geology & Earth Sciences vocabulary · Plate Tectonics & Structures

Subduction

Meaning in geology & earth sciences, with examples

/səbˈdʌkʃən/nounCore term

In geology & earth sciences, subduction means: The process in which one tectonic plate, usually an oceanic one, sinks beneath another plate and down into the mantle at a convergent boundary.

In Turkish: dalma-batma, yitim

How it is used

Most often seen in 'subduction zone', where deep ocean trenches, very large earthquakes and chains of volcanoes form, as in Japan and the Andes. The verb is subduct: 'the plate is being subducted'.

Example sentences

  1. South of Crete, the African Plate sinks beneath the Aegean along the Hellenic subduction zone.

  2. Subduction zones produce the largest earthquakes on Earth.

Common collocations

  • subduction zone
  • active subduction
  • slab subduction
  • subduction-related volcanism
  • plate boundaryThe zone where two tectonic plates meet. Plates move apart at divergent boundaries, towards each other at convergent boundaries and past each other at transform boundaries.
  • tectonic plateOne of the large, rigid pieces of the Earth's lithosphere that move slowly over the mantle, usually by a few centimetres a year.
  • volcanoAn opening in the Earth's crust where magma, gas and ash come out, and the mountain or hill built around it by repeated eruptions.
  • tsunamiA series of very long sea waves caused by a sudden movement of the sea floor, usually an undersea earthquake, but sometimes a landslide or volcanic eruption.

More terms: Plate Tectonics & Structures

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