Which mechanism causes intermediate-depth earthquakes along subduction zones?

💡 Explanation

When the subducting slab descends, hydration-induced fault weakening occurs because water is released from hydrous minerals within the slab, reducing the effective normal stress on the fault, leading to brittle failure at intermediate depths. Therefore hydration-induced weakening is the cause, rather than convection, thermal expansion, or rebound, which do not occur dominantly within subducting slabs at intermediate depths.

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