The space for time substitution and the build-up of mountain belts

• Antragsteller: Dr. David Boutelier
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Paläontologie
• Förderung: Förderung von 2010 bis 2012
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 181403435

The space for time substitution is a powerful tool for tectonic analysis based on the assumption that oblique collision between lithospheric plates produce similar deformation in all points along the plate boundary, only shifted in time. Therefore moving along the active or passive margin away from the location of a presently active collision is equivalent to moving back in time. This is fundamental because the space-time equivalence thus provide a bypass around the fact that quantity and quality of geological data decrease with time. Implicitly, the space-time equivalence also led to a second assumption that the deformation mechanism is essentially 2D, which means that the on-going deformation in one segment the plate boundary is assumed to be mechanically independent from the on-going deformation and deformation history of the rest of the plate boundary. This is in contradiction with the mountain belt being a continuum of stress and strain, which suggests there should be a feedback between neighboring segments of the plate boundary. In this project we propose to investigate in which geodynamic conditions the deformation propagating along the strike of the orogen can be consider similar and the space for time substitution can be employed. We also propose to investigate whether this similarity grants the use of 2D models or whether the feedback between adjacent segments of the plate boundary cannot be ignored and 3D modeling is required. These important questions can only be explored with a 3D modeling technique. We propose to use an innovative 3D thermo-mechanical analogue modeling technique to provide insights on the effects of the lateral gradient of orogen-perpendicular horizontal compression during oblique collision as well as the produced orogen-parallel stresses. Finally, we propose to also include in the modeling the role of structural inheritance and the 3D flow in the asthenosphere, which could also trigger some discontinuities of the propagating deformation mechanism.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen
• Gastgeber: Professor Dr. Mark R. Handy