A tectonic plate may have peeled apart

This action may be providing the necessary spark for one plate to start grinding beneath another in what’s known as a subduction zone, according to computer simulations Duarte presented in April at the European Geosciences Union meeting. If confirmed, the new work would be the first time an oceanic plate has been caught in the act of peeling—and it may mark one of the earliest stages of the Atlantic Ocean shrinking, sending Europe inching toward Canada as predicted by some models of tectonic activity. Scientists believe tectonic peeling may be common under thick continental plates through a slightly different mechanism, and possibly even in old subduction zones, but it has never been documented before in pristine oceanic plates.

Source: www.nationalgeographic.com