The art of unsubduction

The established view3 is that subduction to the west of South America has been continuous since sometime in the Jurassic period (which lasted from about 201 million to 145 million years ago), but that the onset of Andean uplift occurred much more recently, with estimates ranging from the Early Creta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2019-01, Vol.565 (7740), p.432-433
Main Author: Müller, Dietmar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cenozoic
Cretaceous
Divergence
Earth
Earth mantle
Geological history
Jurassic
Lower mantle
Magma
Plate tectonics
Plates (tectonics)
Slabs
Subduction (geology)
Uplift
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Summary:The established view3 is that subduction to the west of South America has been continuous since sometime in the Jurassic period (which lasted from about 201 million to 145 million years ago), but that the onset of Andean uplift occurred much more recently, with estimates ranging from the Early Cretaceous period4 (about 130 million years ago) to the Early Cenozoic era5 (about 50 million years ago). Despite the differences in these estimates, geodynamicists agree that the interaction of subducted slabs of tectonic plates beneath the ocean with the deep, lower part of Earth's mantle is responsible for the uplift of the Andes4,5, and modulates the balance oftectonic forces at the planet's surface. Chen et al. now ingeniously show that the proposed periods7 of divergence between South America and the subducting Farallon-Nazca plate are consistent with the extent of subducted slabs in the lower mantle under South America, as measured using seismic imaging, and with the geological history of the Andes.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/d41586-019-00160-7