Download What do we want to understand?

What do we want to understand?
• What is the flow pattern in the wedge mantle?
– Temperature distribution (how hot is the corner?)
– 2-D laminar flow versus 3-D flow involving trench parallel component?
• Do subducting slabs contain a large amount of water
(serpentine)?
• What is the distribution of water in the wedge mantle?
– Is the wedge mantle “wet” throughout, or is it “wet” only in limited
regions? (Comparison to the continental tectosphere.)
•
Does basalt->eclogite transformation occur at equilibrium
condition?
• Do dehydration reactions cause earthquakes?
– could dehydration reactions at high-P (V<0) cause instability?
• Rheology, deformation fabrics (anisotropy), effects on
geophysical observables
– Effects of water and partial melting on rheology
– Effects of water and partial melting on anisotropy, attenuation,
(average) seismic wave velocity and electrical conductivity
• Transport of water (fluids)
– Porous flow, convection
– How do melting and water flux interact?
• Kinetics of phase transformations (e.g., basalt->eclogite)
– Effects of water, grain-size (dependence on tectonic history)
• Instability of deformation associated with dehydration
reactions