HR: 10:50h
AN: NG42A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: An Inverse Model of Lithosphere Global Dynamics
AU: * Iaffaldano, G
EM: giampiero@geophysik.uni-muenchen.de
AF: Geophysics Section, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Theresienstrasse 41, Munich, 80333 Germany
AU: Bunge, H P
NG42A-03 AF: Geophysics Section, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Theresienstrasse 41, Munich, 80333 Germany
AU: Buecker, M
NG42A-03 AF: Institute for Scientific Computing RWTH Aachen University , Seffenter Weg 23 , Aachen, 52056 Germany
AB: In the last decade the geophysics community has been increasingly using large computational tools to describe and model complex processes. An example is plate tectonics, for which different finite elements (FE) codes have been developed. Those codes are capable to predict, both on local and global scale, plate velocities depending on assumptions made on driving forces and plate boundaries. As observed plate velocities are an essential constrain, it is of great interest to invert those models and run them backwards in order to find the optimal parameters which best fit the observations. Here we focus on the inversion, through automatic differentiation technique, of the FE code SHELLS developed by Bird. The SHELLS code computes global plate velocities and accounts explicitly for faults and lithosphere brittleness through contact elements and linear/non-linear rheologies. We perform several inverse simulations of global plate motion constrained by geodetic measurements and explore the effect of variations in friction at faults as well as in mantle flow pattern. We find that the results are highly sensitive to variations of those parameters and that the optimal values of them are in agreement with independent indications.
DE: 0500 COMPUTATIONAL GEOPHYSICS (3200, 3252, 7833)
DE: 1213 Earth's interior: dynamics (1507, 7207, 7208, 8115, 8120)
DE: 3200 MATHEMATICAL GEOPHYSICS (0500, 4400, 7833)
DE: 3260 Inverse theory
DE: 7290 Computational seismology
SC: Nonlinear Geophysics [NG]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005