ABSTRACT One of the most striking and rare occurrences in the Earth’s history is the amalgamation of most of the continental lithosphere into one supercontinent. The most recent

supercontinent, Pangaea, lasted from 320 to 200 million years ago. Here, we show that after the continental collisions that led to the formation of Pangaea, plate convergence continued in a

large, wedge-shaped oceanic tract. We suggest that plate strain at the periphery of the supercontinent eventually resulted in self-subduction of the Pangaean global plate, when the ocean

margin of the continent subducted beneath the continental edge at the other end of the same plate. Our scenario results in a stress regime within Pangaea that explains the development of a

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about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS SUBDUCTION INITIATION TRIGGERED THE CARIBBEAN LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCE

Article Open access 11 February 2023 A RECORD OF PLUME-INDUCED PLATE ROTATION TRIGGERING SUBDUCTION INITIATION Article 08 July 2021 CLOSURE OF THE PROTEROZOIC MOZAMBIQUE OCEAN WAS INSTIGATED

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS G.G.-A. has been funded by the Spanish Education and Science Ministry Project CGL2006-00902 O.D.R.E. (Oroclines and Delamination: Relations and Effects) and the Mobility

Program Grant PR2007-0475; J.B.M. and S.T.J. acknowledge NSERC (Canada) support. This article is a contribution to IGCP 497. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Departamento de

Geología, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca 37008, Spain Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso * Departamento de Petrología y Geoquímica, Universidad Complutense, Madrid 28040, Spain Javier

Fernández-Suárez * Department of Geology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvaniya 19010, USA Arlo B. Weil * Department of Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova

Scotia, B2G 2W5, Canada J. Brendan Murphy * Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA R. Damian Nance * Institute of Geology, University of Oslo, Blindern,

Postboks 1047, N-0316 Oslo, Norway Fernando Corfú * School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 3P6, PO Box 3055 STN CSC, Canada Stephen T.

Johnston Authors * Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Javier Fernández-Suárez View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Arlo B. Weil View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * J. Brendan Murphy View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * R. Damian Nance View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Fernando

Corfú View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Stephen T. Johnston View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS The primary idea for this paper was coined by G.G.-A and the paper herein is the result of several years of intense research and discussion among all of the authors in

an effort to piece together a unifying hypothesis accounting for many observations, geological facts and a variety of data from different areas of the world. All of the authors have

contributed equally to the manuscript. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE

Gutiérrez-Alonso, G., Fernández-Suárez, J., Weil, A. _et al._ Self-subduction of the Pangaean global plate. _Nature Geosci_ 1, 549–553 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo250 Download

citation * Received: 09 May 2008 * Accepted: 09 June 2008 * Published: 06 July 2008 * Issue Date: August 2008 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo250 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the

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