Investigating the Partitioning of Vertical Strength within the India-Eurasia Lithosphere using Surface Observations: A Numerical Modeling Approach

GSTDTAP

项目编号	1447100
	Investigating the Partitioning of Vertical Strength within the India-Eurasia Lithosphere using Surface Observations: A Numerical Modeling Approach
	Lucy Flesch
主持机构	Purdue University
项目开始年	2015
	2015-08-01
项目结束日期	2017-07-31
资助机构	US-NSF
项目类别	Standard Grant
项目经费	190000(USD)
国家	美国
语种	英语
英文摘要	The theory of plate tectonics was revolutionary in the field of geophysics and explained the motion of plates and locations of earthquakes and volcanoes. However, this theory breaks down at continental boundaries where earthquakes extend 1000?s of km and significant topography is created. The ongoing collision of the Indian and Eurasian plate provides a natural laboratory for studying such regions and the factors controlling deformation patterns in continental collisional zones. In the absence of direct sampling of the lithosphere with depth, numerical modeling can provide bounds on physically allowable lithospheric properties. Understanding the variation in strength within the continental lithosphere is fundamental to assessing the forces that generate earthquakes and build mountains. Results obtained within this proposal will have important implications relating to forces generating deformation of the Tibetan Plateau, stress transfer within the lithosphere, the depth to which surface observations sample lithospheric properties, partitioning of strength between upper crust, lower crust and lithospheric mantle, influence of the lower Indian plate beneath southern Tibetan, and flow the base of the lithosphere resulting from convection of the interior of the Earth. This project will perform 3-D geodynamic modeling solving Stokes flow to investigate the lateral and vertical strength variations within the Eurasian lithosphere. Geophysical observations will be used to construct a physically accurate model volume of the India-Eurasian collision zone, and numeric simulations will be performed to determine the effects of variations in lithospheric strength (both vertically and laterally) on predicted surface deformation. Comparisons between predicted surface velocities and the observed surface deformation field, constrained by GPS and quaternary fault slip data, will differentiate between physically viable models. This work will seek to: (1) Map out the allowable vertical strength contrasts within the Eurasian deforming lithosphere; (2) Isolate the depth sensitivity of surface observations within Eurasia; (3) Investigate the influence of variable lithospheric thickness and mantle flow on the observed surface deformation field.
来源学科分类	Geosciences - Earth Sciences
文献类型	项目
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/68340
专题	环境与发展全球科技态势
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Lucy Flesch.Investigating the Partitioning of Vertical Strength within the India-Eurasia Lithosphere using Surface Observations: A Numerical Modeling Approach.2015.