New pre-print! Metamorphic-mechanical changes during subduction infancy

Take a look at the new pre-print by Alissa and her colleagues, Caroline Seyler, Jamie Kirkpatrick, and Douwe van Hinsbergen! This research explores how dropping temperatures affect metamorphic minerals, microstructures, and the mechanical traits of the plate interface when subduction is just getting started. We point out how these factors interact to cause the weakening needed for strain to localize during the creation of a subduction plate boundary.

The paper's currently being reviewed by the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. Check it out, share it around, and feel free to reach out if you want to chat about it!

Check out the pre-print here!

Above: The High-Temperature metamorphic sole which forms during the first phase of underthrusting comprises coarse-grained amphibole rich frameworks, clinopyroxene, and garnet.

Above: The 'Low-Temperature' metamorphic sole forms later in the initiation sequence, and records very different structures and mineralogy. A finer-grained compositionally-layered foliation in epidote-amphibolites is cross-cut by a strong crenulation cleavage.