Subduction For Dummies (Tectonics Week 2)

Slab rollback in subduction setting

It's hard for us to determine whether the Antisocial Network's staff geologist is having fun this week or is gradually becoming more depressed every day. All he did for Tectonics Week was run a web search on the word "tectonic" to learn how the term's been used by dummies writing for money, and he was simply flabbergasted to see the level of scientific illiteracy out there. Today's example comes, once again, from good old eHow.com, where Andrea Stein leveraged her B.A. in English to "answer" for readers the question "What Is Slab Rollback?"  (eHow files it under "gardening"? really?)

The correct answer is a bit esoteric, i.e., it requires at least some knowledge of plate tectonic theory to understand: in a subduction zone characterized by rollback, the trench, or site of subduction, migrates toward the younger oceanic crust through time. This often causes back-arc spreading. The other style of subduction, "simple" sliding, results in a trench that stays in the same relative position as the subducting crust slips under the other plate. But that's not what Andrea says...

"Slab rollback refers to the process that involves an older oceanic crust, which is colder and more dense than other slabs, subducting at a steep angle. As the older slab collapses into the asthenosphere, it can "roll back" through the mantle." That's her "definition"; which, as an English major, she should have recognized as begging the question during the proofreading process (as should have eHow's content "editor"). For those of you who think "begging the question" means "suggests that the question be asked," it doesn't -- it means answering a question by restating the question. And that's what Andrea did, probably because she had no idea what she was talking about: a classic example of a dumbass writing for money.

Not only is Andrea Stein a science dumbass, she's also a dumbass in her own field! A Dumbass of the Day! A most palpable Dumbass of the Day!

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