Question #6c333
1 Answer
The rock of the ocean plate that is subducted deeper into the earth's mantle is first metamorphosed and then vulcanized
Explanation:
The Ocean crust is pushed under the the less dense Continental crust, as well as pulled down by the sinking mantle it is connected to. As the Ocean crust goes deeper into the earth the heat and pressure causes the Ocean sediments to be metaphorized. Turing the sedimentary crust into metamorphic rocks.
The heat of friction and the higher temperatures of the earth's interior melts the sedimentary and metaphoric rocks forming igneous rocks. Some of the Ocean crust comes back to the surface in the form of volcanic and vulcanizing actions. Some of the melted crust reaches the surface and is spud out as lava. Some of the melted crust hardens under the surface become granite
Other parts of the Ocean crust are pulled down into the mantle and melted. These parts of the Ocean crust become part of the semi liquid material of the mantle.
The unanswered question is how so much Ocean sediments have ended up on the continents instead of being melted as presently observed at the subduction zones.
