Abstract

Brief summary: Subduction zones are crucial areas for understanding lithospheric-scale coupling between plates, risk assessment, or vertical movements and material recycling on Earth. In recent years a wealth of geophysical (low-velocity layers on top of most subducting slabs, partly serpentinized mantle wedge tips, ETS and fluid release…) and petrological data (including detailed T-depth-time-fluid evolutions) were gathered and, together with increasingly detailed thermomechanical models, shed light on subduction dynamics and exhumation models. Yet, in detail, the nature and structure of the subduction interface are still poorly constrained: e.g., which lithologies and mixed to which extent? which rheologies? which fluids and where? what is their exact bearing on earthquake ruptures? etc… I herein focus on showing how the fate of oceanic crustal slices along the subduction interface provides further insights into interplate mechanical coupling and element transfer in subduction zones.