Comment on: “Evolution of the slab bending radius and bending dissipation in three-dimensional subduction models with variable slab to upper mantle viscosity ratio” by W.P. Schellart, Earth and Planetary Science Letters 288 (2009) 309–319

A recent paper (Schellart, 2009) presents a suite of laboratory experiments on subduction to explore the role of slab bending and the associated dissipation. This work builds on previous experiments and provides a welcome complement to current computational efforts. Much of the recent progress is reviewed by Schellart (2009). However, the description of previous studies by Buffett (2006) and Buffett and Rowley (2006) contains a number of inaccuracies. The goal of this comment is to clarify several points and to suggest ways that recent theoretical results might be used to interpret the experiments.