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island arc
(redirected from Island arcs)

    Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.17 sec.
island arc
A usually curved chain of volcanic islands bounded on the convex side by a deep oceanic trench. Island arcs form in the overriding tectonic plates of subduction zones as the result of rising melt from the downgoing plate. The arcs are curved because of the curvature of the Earth. The Aleutian Islands, in Alaska, are an island arc. An island arc is a kind of volcanic arc.


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The next step is that plate motions sweep up the island arcs and the underlying depleted mantle material into larger pieces that get stuck onto continents.
Rooting for continental roots; the discovery that the old cores of ... by Weisburd, Stefi / Science News
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