Linking seismic geochemical and geodynamic perspectives with subduction processes

This paper synthesizes recent progress and emerging frontiers in subduction zone science, from shallow megathrust behavior to deep mantle recycling. Integrating geophysical, geochemical, and modeling approaches reveals how dehydration reactions, fluid migration, and metasomatism modulate fault mechanics, seismic slip, and arc magmatism. New global datasets highlight the prevalence and variability of slow slip events, linking them to transient fluid overpressure and permeability evolution along subduction interfaces. Geochemical and petrological studies demonstrate that brucite bearing serpentinites and carbonates play a major role in transporting H2O and CO2. Seismic tomography and laboratory experiments further suggest that slabs undergo segmentation, stagnation, and phase transitions in the transition zone, controlling surface deformation and slab–mantle coupling. The integration of real-time seafloor sensing, GNSS/InSAR data, and AI is now enabling digital twins of subduction margins, offering new opportunities for probabilistic earthquake and tsunami forecasting. Finally, geochemical and numerical evidence that subduction may have initiated as early as 4.3 Ga, possibly driven by plume-induced lithospheric rupture. Taken together, these findings underscore a fundamental shift toward cross-disciplinary, multi-scale research that unites mineral-scale processes with plate-scale dynamics. The coming decade will be defined by this integrative approach to unravel the full spectrum of subduction zone behavior through Earth’s history.