 Subduction

Downward recycling of a lithospheric plate into the mantle. A sufficiently cold, dense slab can provide slab pull, while bending and friction resist motion. The resulting material and volatile recycling connects plate tectonics with volcanism and long-term climate.

Subduction is a geological process that occurs at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate moves under another and sinks into the Earth’s mantle. This typically happens when an oceanic plate, which is denser, collides with a continental plate or another oceanic plate. The descending plate creates a subduction zone, characterized by deep ocean trenches, volcanic arcs, and earthquake activity.