Kinematics and dynamic implications of terrane transfer, a case study from Baja California, Mexico

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Valerian Bachtadse, since 11/2009
• Subject Area: Geophysics
• Term: from 2007 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 31291521

Many continental plate boundaries appear to be composed of various accreted terranes (e.g. California, Alaska, Sumatra, Sulawesi sea, Mediterranean sea). Such terranes have been ruptured from the continental plate along the plate boundary and transferred from one plate to another, in a process which is poorly understood. The observed kinematics can be outlined as a complex deformation pattern of interacting blocks and plates, separated by active faults and partition slip across the plate boundary. We suggest the Baja California peninsula, Mexico (Baja) as a study region for the kinematics settings and their dynamic implications of terrane transfer. In particular we want to evaluate the current kinematics of Baja, its coupling with the Pacific Plate (PA), its effect on obliquerifting in the Gulf of California to the east and to the north, the impact of Baja with the North American plate (NA) in southern California. Coupling geodetic measurements from Global Positioning System (GPS) with numerical modeling we constrain the kinematics of this region and quantify the dynamic implications. Three dense GPS networks in Baja California will provide observations of lithospheric deformation and can aid in answering questions about regional kinematics, as well as strain and slip rates along single faults. Such data is also important for estimating seismic hazard in populated regions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Rocco Malservisi, until 10/2009