Sentences with phrase «first subduction zones»

The simulations show that mantle plumes and the weaknesses they create could have actually initiated the first subduction zones.

But just as in the past, earth scientists still do not understand what triggered plate tectonics in the first place, nor how the first subduction zone was formed.

Not exact matches

«This ocean drilling expedition will for the first time drill scientific boreholes within the sediments entering this subduction zone, including the layer of sediment that eventually develops into the earthquake - generating fault,» Professor Henstock explained.

It's the first time this tectonic process has been discovered beneath land; all other known subduction zones occur underwater where oceanic crusts meet.

Plans to build the nation's first tsunami - resistant building are unfolding in Cannon Beach, Ore., in a region that is almost identical, seismically, to the subduction zone that triggered the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last week.