Which process causes a deep-water trench where an oceanic plate subducts under a continental plate?

💡 Explanation

When an oceanic plate meets a continental plate, subduction occurs because the denser oceanic plate is forced downward, causing the lithosphere to compress and bend downwards due to immense pressure, forming a trench. Therefore crustal bending results, rather than erosion, crystallization, or burial which require distinctly different circumstances.

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