Subduction recycles seafloor into magma that feeds arc volcanoes
Where an oceanic plate dives beneath another plate, water-rich rocks help lower melting temperatures in the mantle wedge above, generating magma that rises to build volcanic arcs.
That conveyor explains chains like the Andes and Japan’s islands — mountains born from recycled seafloor rather than simple hotspot plumes. Earthquakes and deep trenches mark the same sinking slab.
Oceans disappear into fire. Subduction shows plate tectonics turns old seafloor into the fuel for some of Earth’s tallest, fiercest volcanoes.
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