When a Plate Subducts What Happens?

Plates Subduct When an ocean plate collides with another ocean plate or with a plate carrying continents, one plate will bend and slide under the other. This process is called subduction. A deep ocean trench forms at this subduction boundary.

What happens first when a plate Subducts?

When two oceanic plates come together, one may sink under the other. The mantle underneath the lithosphere is hot, fluid rock. When one plate sinks into it during subduction, it melts into the mantle. Essentially, the rock making up that plate is getting recycled.

What is the plate that Subducts?

Where two tectonic plates converge, if one or both of the plates is oceanic lithosphere, a subduction zone will form. An oceanic plate will sink back into the mantle. Remember, oceanic plates are formed from mantle material at midocean ridges.