Reports related to this discovery have been published in the journal "Geology". This new research led by geologists from Monash University has found the first evidence that "the passive margin of the Atlantic Plate is becoming active." The so-called subduction zone is an area where a tectonic plate on the Earth's surface is subducting beneath another plate into the mantle layer.
The researchers mapped the seabed and found that it is beginning to fracture, indicating that tectonic activity is starting to occur near the seemingly calm southwestern edge of the Iberian Plate. "What we are now finding is the early stage of an active margin, like an embryonic subduction zone. This is the first time we have been able to provide evidence that not only is there tectonic activity there, but it is also a continuous driving mechanism."
The early subduction in the Iberian region may signal the beginning of a new phase in the Wilson Cycle (the phenomenon of ocean opening and closing). The Wilson Cycle refers to the tectonic activity that splits supercontinents, opens oceans, then stabilizes, forming new subduction zones, which in turn close oceans, causing dispersed continents to reassemble.
This phenomenon of supercontinent breakup and reassembly has occurred at least three times over the past 4 billion years. The Iberian subduction zone will gradually pull the Iberian Peninsula towards the United States over the next approximately 220 million years.
The above discovery provides an excellent opportunity to observe the activation of passive margins, which will take nearly 20 million years. Even in its early stages, this area will generate some data that is very important for redefining Earth's dynamic patterns.
