Table 2

Experimental parameters. U_Model is the piston velocity; Δρ_c and Δρ_o are the continental and oceanic plate buoyancy, respectively; η_syrup is the glucose syrup viscosity that varies with temperature according to the following equation: η_syrup = 3740.e^{(-0.16 T)}, where T is the syrup temperature in °C; All the other experimental parameters remain the same between experiments: the density of the glucose syrup is 1444 kg/m³, the viscosity of the silicone plates modeling the continental and oceanic plate are 6.4 × 10⁴ and 4.1 × 10⁴ Pa.s, respectively, and their thickness is 12 mm; The thickness of the glucose syrup layer is 100 mm; The viscosity of the thin silicone oil layer deposited above the subducting plate is 2 Pa.s. The horizontal dimensions of the box and of silicone plates are indicated in Figure 1. U_Nature is the scaled piston velocity (in mm/yr), and we report the average counterclockwise rotation of Adria at the end of experiment. > 35 for Models 5 and 6 indicates that the microplate was still rapidly rotating when we stopped the experiment.