Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Source: TOI
Context: A modelling study suggests that a dormant subduction zone beneath the Gibraltar Strait could become active and migrate into the Atlantic Ocean, potentially forming an Atlantic “Ring of Fire” in about 20 million years.
- The subduction zone, known as the Gibraltar arc, has been slowly moving westward for millions of years but has recently stalled.
- Researchers predict that it will resume its advance and break into the Atlantic in a process called “subduction invasion.”
A subduction zone is a place where two tectonic plates collide and one dives beneath the other. Subduction zones can occur when a plate with a thinner oceanic crust descends beneath a plate with a thicker continental crust.
