Publications by authors named "Andreas Rietbrock"

Subduction zones generate the largest earthquakes on Earth, yet their detailed structure, and its influence on seismic and aseismic slip, remains poorly understood. Geological studies of fossil subduction zones characterize the seismogenic interface as a 100 m-1 km thick zone in which deformation occurs mostly on metres-thick faults. Conversely, seismological studies, with their larger spatial coverage and temporal resolution but lower spatial resolution, often image the seismogenic interface as a kilometres-wide band of seismicity.

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Volatiles expelled from subducted plates promote melting of the overlying warm mantle, feeding arc volcanism. However, debates continue over the factors controlling melt generation and transport, and how these determine the placement of volcanoes. To broaden our synoptic view of these fundamental mantle wedge processes, we image seismic attenuation beneath the Lesser Antilles arc, an end-member system that slowly subducts old, tectonized lithosphere.

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The margins of the Caribbean and associated hazards and resources have been shaped by a poorly understood history of subduction. Using new data, we improve teleseismic P-wave imaging of the eastern Caribbean upper mantle and compare identified subducted-plate fragments with trench locations predicted from plate reconstruction. This shows that material at 700-1200 km depth below South America derives from 90-115 Myr old westward subduction, initiated prior to Caribbean Large-Igneous-Province volcanism.

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Article Synopsis
  • Oceanic lithosphere transports water into the mantle via subduction at convergent plate boundaries, impacting magma generation, earthquakes, and mineral resources.
  • Atlantic subduction zones are particularly useful for studying water movement, as hydration is uneven due to the slow spreading of the ocean floor.
  • Research in the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc revealed that serpentine from the mantle is the main source of subducted water, linked to both earthquake activity and volcanic productivity in the region.
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