Subduction drives plate tectonics, forms continents, and mixes surface material back to the deep Earth. Therefore, it is arguably the most important geodynamical and geochemical phenomenon on Earth. Seismological data show a fascinating range in shapes of subducting slabs. Arc volcanism illustrates the complexity of geochemical and petrological phenomena associated with subduction. Surface topography provides insight in the orogenic processes related to subduction and continental collision. Numerical and laboratory modelling studies have successfully reproduced many of these shapes and processes, but with different technical approaches, set-ups, inputs and material properties, and a consistent picture has so far not emerged.

This session aims to follow subducting lithosphere on its journey from the surface down into the Earth's mantle, addressing topics such as: subduction initiation; the migration of fluids and melts; controls of the slab dip angle; the fate of subducted crust, sediments and volatiles; the importance of subducting seamounts, LIPs, and ridges; links between near-surface processes and slab dynamics; slab break-off; and imaging subduction zones processes.

With this session, we aim to form an integrated picture of the subduction process, and invite contributions from a wide range of disciplines, such as geodynamics, modelling, geochemistry, petrology, and seismology, to discuss subduction zone dynamics at all scales from the surface to the lower mantle.

Accepted keynote speakers:
Dr Meghan Miller, University of Southern California, USA
Dr Fabio Capitanio, Monash University, Australia
Dr Mathias Rosenau, GFZ, Potsdam, Germany