Geophysicists uncover new evidence for an alternative style of plate tectonics

Scientists have determined that a volcano and mountain plateau across Turkey formed not by the collision of tectonic plates, but by a massive detachment of plate material beneath Earth’s surface. They propose that uplift of the Central Anatolian Plateau over 10 million years was caused by a dripping of the deep lithosphere. It first formed an above-ground basin which sprang up when the weight below broke off and sank into the depths of the mantle.