Modeling suggests that oblique extension facilitates rifting and continental break-up
[1] In many cases the initial stage of continental break-up was and is associated with oblique rifting. That includes break-up in the Southern and Equatorial Atlantic, separation from eastern and western Gondwana as well as many recent rift systems, like Gulf of California, Ethiopia Rift and Dead Sea fault. Using a simple analytic mechanical model and advanced numerical, thermomechanical modeling techniques we investigate the influence of oblique extension on the required tectonic force in a three-dimensional setting. While magmatic processes have been already suggested to affect rift evolution, we show that additional mechanisms emerge due to the three-dimensionality of an extensional syst…
Quantifying the thermo-mechanical impact of plume arrival on continental break-up
Abstract The arrival of a plume head at Earth's continental lithosphere is often considered to be an important factor for continental break-up. However, the impact of plume impingement on strength and duration of a rift remains unclear. In this study, we quantify the mechanical and thermal influence of a plume (i.e. lithosphere erosion) on continental break-up. To do that we apply the three-dimensional numerical code SLIM3D that features realistic elasto-visco-plastic rheology. We model the thermo-mechanical response of a segment of Earth's lithosphere that is affected both by extension as well as plume-related lithosphere erosion in order to evaluate the influence on the overall force budg…
Modeling evolution of the San Andreas Fault system in northern and central California
[1] We present a three-dimensional finite element thermomechanical model idealizing the complex deformation processes associated with evolution of the San Andreas Fault system (SAFS) in northern and central California over the past 20 Myr. More specifically, we investigate the mechanisms responsible for the eastward (landward) migrationof the San Andreas plate boundary over time, a process thathas largely determined the evolution and present structure of SAFS. Two possible mechanisms had been previously suggested. One mechanism suggests that the Pacific plate first cools and captures uprising mantle in the slab window, subsequently causing accretion of the continental crustal blocks. An alt…