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TOPIC: Banda arc

Blobrana

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Date: Jul 26 17:26 2010

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New scientific findings explain the mystery behind the development of the Banda arc The Banda arc - a gigantic 1,000km long, 180-degree curve in eastern Indonesia - has puzzled geologists for many years, with much debate and controversy surrounding its complex origin and evolution. A solution to this enigma, resolving many of the previous problems, has finally been found by scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London and Utrecht University, and is published in 'Nature Geoscience' this week. Situated at the centre of three converging and colliding major tectonic plates - India-Australia, Eurasia, Pacific - the Banda arc comprises young oceanic crust enclosed by a volcanic inner arc, outer arc islands and a trough parallel to the Australian continental margin. It is a complex subduction setting (where one plate moves under another, sinking into the Earth's mantle), with possibly the largest fold on Earth, extending to a depth of about 650km, in a subducted plate. Read more __________________

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