HR: 13:40h
AN: T32D-01    [PDF]
TI: Diffuse Continental Deformation in the Western US: A Preliminary 4D Modeling Effort of the GEON Project
AU: * Liu, M
EM: lium@missouri.edu
AF: University of Missouri - Columbia, Dept. of Geological Sciences, Columbia, MO 65211 United States
AU: Yang, Y
EM: yangyo@missouri.edu
AF: University of Missouri - Columbia, Dept. of Geological Sciences, Columbia, MO 65211 United States
AB: The GEON (GEOscience Network, www.geongrid.org) is a large NSF/ITR research project for building a national geosciences information cyberinfrastructure that will seamlessly integrate geoscience data and analytic tools. One of the major goals of GEON is to facilitate studies of four-dimensional (4D) evolution of continents. We have developed a suite of 3D finite element models as a pilot study of GEON to address some of the first-order questions of continental deformation in the western US in the past ~80 Myr: 1) What caused the Laramide deformation? Was it flat subduction or gravitational spreading of a high-standing Sevier plateau in the western Cordillera? 2) What caused the Tertiary extension in the Cordillera? Did metamorphic core-complex formation directly lead to Basin and Range extension? 3) What is the major driving force for the present crustal deformation in the western US? By exploring the impact of possible changes of tectonic boundary conditions and driving forces with time, we derive a preliminary model of the 4D evolution of diffuse continental deformation in the western US. Through this work we will also show how the multi-scale and multidisciplinary data sets from GEON may be used to help scientific investigations, and the computing resources that will be provided to the geoscience community by the GEON grid.
DE: 8102 Continental contractional orogenic belts
DE: 8107 Continental neotectonics
DE: 8110 Continental tectonics--general (0905)
DE: 8122 Dynamics, gravity and tectonics
DE: 8123 Dynamics, seismotectonics
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting