Slow subduction initiation drives fast mantle upwelling and lithosphere formation 
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Subduction zones are crucial features of Earth’s plate tectonics, yet subduction initiation remains enigmatic and controversial. Herein, we reappraise the timing of formation of the first fragments detached from the leading edge of the downgoing slab during subduction initiation (i.e., the Semail metamorphic sole; Oman–United Arab Emirates). Based on geochronology and phase equilibrium modeling, we demonstrate that subduction initiated prior to 105 Ma and at a slow pace (< cm/yr). Subduction stagnated at relatively warm conditions (15–20°C/km) for at least 10 Myr before evolving into a faster (≥ 2–5 cm/yr) and colder (~7°C/km) self-sustained regime. Subduction unlocking at 95-96 Ma, through the progressive change of the interplate thermo-mechanical structure, triggered the onset of slab retreat, large-scale corner flow and fast ocean spreading in the overriding plate. These results reconcile conflicting analogue and numerical subduction initiation models and reveal the thermal, mechanical and kinematic complexity of early subduction steps.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".