Series of volcanoes that lies on the continental side of an oceanic trench of a lithospheric plate. The volcanicity, whose products are mainly of intermediate composition, results from the subduction process; typically it occurs approximately 100 km above the down-going oceanic plate. Island arcs are the sites of strong seismic activity, and have distinctive thermal and magnetic properties. See also benioff zone; plate motions; plate tectonics.
Island arc
An arcuate island chain, mostly of volcanic origin, formed when oceanic crust plunges into the mantle where it undergoes subduction. The magma thus formed creates a chain of submarine volcanoes—eventual islands; see Jicha et al. (2006) Geology 34, 8 on magma flow in the Aleutian Island arc. See also Takahashi et al. (2007) Geology 35, 3.
- peperite
- Pepin
- pepo
- peppercorn tree
- pepsin
- pepsinogen
- peptidase
- peptide
- peptide mapping
- peptide YY
- peptidoglycan
- Pepys, Samuel (1633–1703)
- Pequot War (1637)
- per-
- per accidens
- peralkaline
- peraluminous
- peramorphosis
- per capita income
- per capita real GDP
- per cent
- percentage
- percentage error
- percentage modulation
- percentage point