<p>Rock has very low tensile strength at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_temperature_and_pressure" rel="nofollow noreferrer">STP</a> but the majority of the lithosphere is at far higher temperatures and pressures. The surface layers of the crust do have very little tensile strength and tend to buckle and break but the more plastic layers at depth don't have that same problem and flow instead. Slab pull was explained to me as a displacement process as much as a tensile process, i.e. the downward motion of the slab pushes the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthenosphere" rel="nofollow noreferrer">asthenosphere</a> away from the subduction zone as well as pulling the lithosphere forward behind it, the displaced athenospheric material then also pushes the slab in the direction of the subduction zone by reactive motion.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-08T01:19:30.377Z
2024-08-08T01:19:30.377Z
Ash
<p>In addition to @Ash's answer: A slab is many kilometers, perhaps tens of kilometers thick. If you have an object this large, you can transmit quite a lot of force, even in tension.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-08T19:54:08.903Z
2024-08-08T19:54:08.903Z
Wolfgang Bangerth
<p>My understanding is rocks are very weak in tension. How can a subducting slab &quot;pull&quot; an entire lithospheric plate behind it?</p>

<plate-tectonics><subduction>
How does slab pull work?
Henry
# How does slab pull work?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-08-07)

My understanding is rocks are very weak in tension. How can a subducting slab "pull" an entire lithospheric plate behind it?

**Tags:** plate-tectonics, subduction


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-08-08. Score: 1

Rock has very low tensile strength at [STP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_temperature_and_pressure) but the majority of the lithosphere is at far higher temperatures and pressures. The surface layers of the crust do have very little tensile strength and tend to buckle and break but the more plastic layers at depth don't have that same problem and flow instead. Slab pull was explained to me as a displacement process as much as a tensile process, i.e. the downward motion of the slab pushes the [asthenosphere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthenosphere) away from the subduction zone as well as pulling the lithosphere forward behind it, the displaced athenospheric material then also pushes the slab in the direction of the subduction zone by reactive motion.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2024-08-08. Score: 0

In addition to @username_1's answer: A slab is many kilometers, perhaps tens of kilometers thick. If you have an object this large, you can transmit quite a lot of force, even in tension.


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