Numerical simulations of thermal convection in the Earth's mantle often employ a pseudoplastic rheology in order to mimic the plate-like behavior of the lithosphere. Yet the benchmark tests available in the literature are largely based on simple linear rheologies in which the viscosity is either assumed to be constant or weakly dependent on temperature. Here we present a suite of simple tests based on nonlinear rheologies featuring temperature, pressure, and strain rate-dependent viscosity. Eleven different codes based on the finite volume, finite element, or spectral methods have been used to run five benchmark cases leading to stagnant lid, mobile lid, and periodic convection in a 2-D square box. For two of these cases, we also show resolution tests from all contributing codes. In addition, we present a bifurcation analysis, describing the transition from a mobile lid regime to a periodic regime, and from a periodic regime to a stagnant lid regime, as a function of the yield stress. At a resolution of around 100 cells or elements in both vertical and horizontal directions, all codes reproduce the required diagnostic quantities with a discrepancy of at most $3% in the presence of both linear and nonlinear rheologies. Furthermore, they consistently predict the critical value of the yield stress at which the transition between different regimes occurs. As the most recent mantle convection codes can handle a number of different geometries within a single solution framework, this benchmark will also prove useful when validating viscoplastic thermal convection simulations in such geometries.

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During continental collision, a part of the lower‐plate material can be subducted, emplaced at the base of the upper plate, and eventually incorporated into its crust. This mechanism of continental‐crust transformation is called relamination, and it has been invoked to explain occurrences of high‐pressure felsic rocks in different structural positions of several orogenic systems. In the present study we reproduced relamination during continental collision in a thermomechanical numerical model. We performed a parametric study and distinguished three main types of evolution regarding the fate of the subducted continental crust: (i) return along the plate interface in a subduction channel or wedge, (ii) flow at the bottom of the upper‐plate lithosphere and subsequent translithospheric exhumation near the arc or in the back‐arc region (“sublithospheric relamination”), and (iii) nearly horizontal flow directly into the upper‐plate crust (“intracrustal relamination”). Sublithospheric relamination is preferred for relatively quick convergence of thin continental plates. An important factor for the development of sublithospheric relamination is melting of the subducted material, which weakens the lithosphere and opens a path for the exhumation of the relaminant. In contrast, a thick and strong overriding plate typically leads to exhumation near the plate interface. If the overriding plate is too thin or weak, intracrustal relamination occurs. We show that each of these evolution types has its counterpart in nature: (i) the Alps and the Caledonides, (ii) the Himalayan‐Tibetan system and the European Variscides, and (iii) pre‐Cambrian ultrahot orogens.

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