We present a new model for the tectonic evolution of the Tasman Sea based on dense satellite altimetry data and a new shipboard data set. We utilized a combined set of revised magnetic anomaly and fracture zone interpretations to calculate relative motions and their uncertainties between the Australian and the Lord Howe Rise plates from 73.6 Ma to 52 Ma when spreading ceased. From chron 31 (67....

Based on 43 Harvard CMT solutions in Yunnan region, GPS observations from 1999 to 2004 by China Crustal Movement Observatory Network, and results from SKS splitting and Pn fast wave anisotropy, we obtained the average directions of principle stress fields at different depths by average angle method. Then we further analyzed the coupling difference between geodynamic parameters in different tect...

Introduction: Crustal plateaus are a major class of tectonic features on Venus surface, and its study is essential in order to understand the geological evolution previous to the global resurfacing process. These regional units are flat topped highlands formed by tessera terrain, characterized by superposition of crosscutting structures [1-2], with complex tectonic patterns; also intratessera v...

[1] Fluid distribution in convergent margins is by most accounts closely related to tectonics. This association has been widely studied at accretionary prisms, but at half of the Earth’s convergent margins, tectonic erosion grinds down overriding plates, and here fluid distribution and its relation to tectonics remain speculative. Here we present a new conceptual model for the hydrological syst...

Many natural examples of complex joint and vein networks in layered sedimentary rocks are hydro-fractures that form by a combination of pore fluid overpressure and tectonic stresses. In this paper, a two-dimensional hybrid hydro-mechanical formulation is proposed to model the dynamic development of natural hydrofractures. The numerical scheme combines a Discrete Element Model (DEM) framework th...

Using an inversion strategy based on adjoint methods, we developed a three-dimensional seismological model of the southern California crust. The resulting model involved 16 tomographic iterations, which required 6800 wavefield simulations and a total of 0.8 million central processing unit hours. The new crustal model reveals strong heterogeneity, including local changes of +/-30% with respect t...

Tectonic setting exerts fi rst-order control on basin formation as refl ected in basin subsidence history. While our approach ignores the effects of fl exural loading and eustatic sea-level change, consistency of backstripped subsidence histories (i.e., with local loading effects of sediment removed) suggests consistent tectonic driving mechanisms in each tectonic setting, with the possible exc...

Sakhalin has been affected by several phases of Cretaceous and Tertiary deformation due to the complex interaction of plates in the northwest Pacific region. A detailed understanding of the strain is important because it will provide constraints on platescale processes that control the formation and deformation of marginal sedimentary basins. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) data wer...

The association of coal and oil shale had been a hot topic for a long time. Various types of association of coal and oil shale can be found in one basin, for instance, the coal can act as the roof or floor or interlayer of the oil shale, etc. The most crucial factor for the formation of oil shale is stratification and seasonal blooming of lower plankton, while the final formation of the coal st...

Several processes may produce global tectonic patterns on the surface of a planetary body. The stresses associated with distortions of biaxial figures due to despinning or reorientation were first calculated by Vening Meinesz [Vening Meinesz, F.A., 1947. Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 28 (1), 1–23]. We adopt a mathematically equivalent, but physically more meaningful treatment for distortions associ...