Abstract
The oceanic crust primarily has a basaltic composition1,2 which must transform into eclogite on subduction of the oceanic crust beneath continents3,4. There has been a considerable debate about the role of the basalt–eclogite transformation in driving lithospheric plate motion5 and in the thermal regieme of subducting plates6. How important this transformation is in tectonics critically depends on the depth of transformation, which is affected by factors such as temperature7,8, bulk rock chemical composition2, water content9 and, perhaps, stress environment. Becuase it would be practically impossible to evaluate all these factors correctly, we attempt here to constrain the transformation depth by a more direct seismological method.
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Fukao, Y., Hori, S. & Ukawa, M. A seismological constraint on the depth of basalt–eclogite transition in a subducting oceanic crust. Nature 303, 413–415 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/303413a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/303413a0
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