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The buoyancy of the mantle beneath a descending slab. Thermal, compositional or melt-related density anomalies can modify pressure and traction on the slab, potentially changing its contact with the overriding plate. It differs from the slab's own slab buoyancy. Inferring it from low seismic velocities requires independent constraints because temperature, fluids, melt and composition can produce overlapping signatures.

The spatial distribution of temperature in a region, such as a slab and its surrounding mantle wedge.

The component of three-dimensional mantle flow that circulates around a sinking slab's lateral edges.

An inclined distribution of earthquake sources associated with a descending slab. Shallow interface earthquakes and deeper intraslab earthquakes need not share the same failure mechanism. The pattern helps trace subduction, subject to the limits of source location and the distribution of seismically active material. Named for Kiyoo Wadati and Hugo Benioff.