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Oceanic subduction zone

By Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Cartoon shows a cross-section of the earth and how to tectonic plates might move under each other to create continental crust.
Original Thumbnail Medium

Detailed Description

General diagram of an oceanic subduction zone. Sumatra and the Andaman Islands are part of an island arc.
this figure is taken from the online edition of This Dynamic Earth

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.

This Dynamic Earth
This product gives a brief introduction to the concept of plate tectonics and complements the visual and written information in This Dynamic Planet, a map published in 1994 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Smithsonian Institution. The product highlights some of the people and discoveries that advanced the development of the theory and traces its progress since its proposal. Although the general idea of plate tectonics is now widely accepted, many aspects still continue to confound and challenge scientists. The earth-science revolution launched by the theory of plate tectonics is not finished.