Geological record of fluid flow and seismogenesis along an erosive subducting plate boundary | Nature - Letter - Published: 07 February 2008 # Geological record of fluid flow and seismogenesis along an erosive subducting plate boundary - Paola Vannucchi 1, - Francesca Remitti 2 & - Giuseppe Bettelli 2 Nature volume 451, pages 699–703 (2008) Cite this article ## Abstract Tectonic erosion of the overriding plate by the downgoing slab is believed to occur at half the Earth’s subduction zones 1, 2. In situ investigation of the geological processes at active erosive margins is extremely difficult owing to the deep marine environment and the net loss of forearc crust to deeper levels in the subduction zone. Until now, a fossil erosive subduction channel—the shear zone marking the plate boundary 3—has not been recognized in the field, so that seismic observations have provided the only information on plate boundary processes at erosive margins. Here we show that a fossil erosive margin is preserved in the Northern Apennines of Italy. It formed during the Tertiary transition from oceanic subduction to continental collision, and was preserved by the late deactivation and fossiliza