Continental Accretion: From Oceanic Plateaus to Allochthonous Terranes

Abstract

Some of the regions of the anomalously high sea-floor topography in today's oceans may be modern allochthonous terranes moving with their oceanic plates. Fated to collide with and be accreted to adjacent continents, they may create complex volcanism, cut off and trap oceanic crust, and cause orogenic deformaton. The accretion of plateaus during subduction of oceanic plates may be responsible for mountain building comparable to that produced by the collision of continents.