Development of topography in 3-D continental-collision models
Understanding the formation and evolution of high mountain belts, such as the Himalayas and the adjacent Tibetan Plateau, has been the focus of many tectonic and numerical models. Here we employ 3-D numerical simulations to investigate the role that subduction, collision, and indentation play on lithosphere dynamics at convergent margins, and to analyze the conditions under which large topographic plateaus can form in an integrated lithospheric and upper mantle-scale model. Distinct dynamics are obtained for the oceanic subduction side (trench retreat, slab rollback) and the continental-collision side (trench advance, slab detachment, topographic uplift, lateral extrusion). We show that sla…
The effect of rheological approximations in 3-D numerical simulations of subduction and collision
Abstract Subduction and collision zones evolve differently from one another due to different rheological properties, different amounts of regional isostatic compensation, and the different mechanisms by which forces are applied to the convergent plates. The rheology of mantle and lithosphere is known to have the largest influence on the dynamics of subduction and continental collision. However, previous 3-D geodynamic models of subduction/collision processes have used various rheological approximations, making their results difficult to compare, since there is no clear understanding on the extent of these approximations on the dynamics. Here, we test the effect of rheological approximations…