New subduction zone in the area of Portugal

2013/06/19 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia

In the Atlantic, in the vicinity of Portugal, the geologists of the University of Monash have detected the first indications that an area that so far has been a passive continental arista begins to be active. As they have published in the journal Geology, this would open a new cycle in which Europe and America are approaching.

In the subduction zones a plate is introduced under the other. In this case, this would mean a decrease in the Atlantic. When analyzing the marine bottom of the southwest of the Iberian plate, the researchers found that the bottom is beginning to break, indicating a tectonic activity. What they have discovered has been described by researcher Joao Duarte as the “embryo of a subduction field” in the percussion note that has opened the University of Monash.