title: Tearing of stagnant slab.
abstract: Subducted slabs of oceanic lithosphere below the western Pacific tend to be stagnant in the transition zone with poorly known mechanical properties. Typical examples are the Izu-Bonin and Japan slabs that meet each other to form a cusplike junction beneath southwest Japan. Here, we show that these two slabs are torn apart at their junction when they bend to flatten over the 660-kilometer discontinuity, as is expected from a simple geometric argument. We present three lines of evidence for this ongoing slab tear.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan. obayashi@jamstec.go.jp
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Obayashi
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoshimitsu
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukao