Removal of SCLM can be accomplished by thermal erosion associated with a rising plume head, by extensional thinning of the lithosphere (and associated mantle upwelling), or by processes related to contractional tectonics [e.g., foundering of lithosphere during thickening, peeling of lithosphere, shearing away of lithosphere during shallow subduction, or erosion of lithosphere induced by flow in the mantle wedge above a subducting slab (1-5, 7 )].