Kinematics and Dynamics of Continental Deformation
Creators: name: Penney, Camilla Emily
Publisher: name: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
Year: 2018
Subjects: tectonics
Makran
South East Tibet
geophysics
continental dynamics
accretionary prism
earthquakes

description: In contrast to the oceans, deformation in the continental lithosphere is distributed over broad regions. This dissertation is composed of three separate but related studies investigating the kinematics and dynamics of such deformation. The first two studies look at the Makran subduction zone, and the third focusses on deformation in South East Tibet. The first study is an investigation of the 11 May 2013 M w 6.1 Minab earthquake which occurred at the western end of the Makran subduction zone, adjacent to the transition to continent-continent collision in the Zagros mountains. Seismological, geodetic and field results are used to study the source parameters and slip distribution of this earthquake, and demonstrate that the earthquake was left-lateral and occurred on a fault striking ENE–WSW; approximately perpendicular to previously studied faults in the adjacent Minab-Zendan-Palami fault zone. Geological and geomorphological observations of similar faults in the vicinity are used to infer that vertical-axis rotations allow a series of such faults to accommodate ∼15–19 mm/yr of N–S right-lateral shear. The dynamic implications for the transition between subduction and continental collision are discussed. The second study looks at the Makran region as a whole. First, the shape and depth of the interface with the Arabian plate is constrained by modelling the depths and mechanisms of earthquakes across the region, and combining these with additional seismological constraints. These constraints on the subduction interface are used to investigate elastic strain accumulation on the megathrust in the western Makran, which has important implications for seismic and tsunami hazard in the region. Second, the kinematics at the northern edge of the Makran accretionary prism are investigated using a combination of geodetic and geomorphological observations, addressing the long-standing tectonic problem of how the right-lateral shear taken up by strike-slip faulting in the Sistan Suture Zone in eastern Iran is accommodated at the zone’s southern end. Finally, the kinematics and dynamics of the accretionary prism are investigated. By considering the kinematics of the 2013 Balochistan and Minab earthquakes, local gravitational and far-field compressive forces in the Makran accretionary prism are inferred to be balanced. This force balance allows the mean shear stress and effective coefficient of friction on the Makran megathrust to be calculated, 5–35 MPa and 0.01–0.03 respectively. The final part of this thesis focusses on the temporal evolution of topography in South East Tibet. Recently published paleoaltimetry results based on stable-isotope geochemistry are used to provide constraints on vertical motions. These demonstrate that uplift is much slower than had previously been suggested from thermochronometric data. Numerical modelling of the time evolution of a gravitationally-driven fluid is used to investigate the effect of lateral rheological contrasts on the shape and evolution of topography. In such a flow, material at the surface can be transported hundreds of kilometres, an effect which should be accounted for in paleoaltimetric analysis. Lateral rheological contrasts, analogous to the relatively undeforming Sichuan Basin and Central Lowlands of Myanmar, can reproduce the main features of the present-day topography, GPS velocity field and earthquake-derived strain rate without the need for a low-viscosity lower-crustal channel.
description: NERC PhD studentship through the Earth System Science DTP