<p>Layman here, sorry if this is a stupid question. I have a geology friend who recently told me that plate tectonics is like how warm milk cools on top to form thin solid layers. The convection cells in the warm milk drive these solid layers around like a conveyor belt. You can have layers emerge through ridges at places of upwelling of mantle convection, and layers subduct at places of downwelling.</p>
<img src="https://i.sstatic.net/rNiaZ.png" width="300">
<p>But the idea of 'circulation' implies 'recycling', right?. Does continental crust that gets subduced inside the mantle, come back up on the other side as new crust at the ridges?</p>

<geology><plate-tectonics><crust><mantle><continental-crust>
Do subducted continents rise up again through ridges?
AlphaLife
# Do subducted continents rise up again through ridges?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-09-21)

Layman here, sorry if this is a stupid question. I have a geology friend who recently told me that plate tectonics is like how warm milk cools on top to form thin solid layers. The convection cells in the warm milk drive these solid layers around like a conveyor belt. You can have layers emerge through ridges at places of upwelling of mantle convection, and layers subduct at places of downwelling.

![](https://i.sstatic.net/rNiaZ.png)

But the idea of 'circulation' implies 'recycling', right?. Does continental crust that gets subduced inside the mantle, come back up on the other side as new crust at the ridges?

**Tags:** geology, plate-tectonics, crust, mantle, continental-crust


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## 0 answers

