TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ibarra, Federico
A1  - Liu, Sibiao
A1  - Meeßen, Christian
A1  - Prezzi, Claudia Beatriz
A1  - Bott, Judith
A1  - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena
A1  - Sobolev, Stephan Vladimir
A1  - Strecker, Manfred
T1  - 3D data-derived lithospheric structure of the Central Andes and its implications for deformation: Insights from gravity and geodynamic modelling
JF  - Tectonophysics : international journal of geotectonics and the geology and physics of the interior of the earth
N2  - We present a new three-dimensional density model of the Central Andes characterizing the structure and composition of the lithosphere together with a geodynamic simulation subjected to continental intraplate shortening. The principal aim of this study is to assess the link between heterogeneities in the lithosphere and different deformation patterns and styles along the orogen-foreland system of the Central Andes. First, we performed a 3D integration of new geological and geophysical data with previous models through forward modelling of Bouguer anomalies. Subsequently, a geodynamic model was set-up and parametrized from the previously obtained 3D structure and composition. We do not find a unambigous correlation between the resulting density configuration and terrane boundaries proposed by other authors. Our models reproduce the observed Bouguer anomaly and deformation patterns in the foreland. We find that thin-skinned deformation in the Subandean fold-and thrust belt is controlled by a thick sedimentary layer and coeval underthrusting of thin crust of the foreland beneath the thick crust of the Andean Plateau. In the adjacent thick-skinned deformation province of the inverted Cretaceous extensional Santa Barbara System sedimentary strata are much thinner and crustal thickness transitions from greater values in the Andean to a more reduced thickness in the foreland. Our results show that deformation processes occur where the highest gradients of lithospheric strength are present between the orogen and the foreland, thus suggesting a spatial correlation between deformation and lithospheric strength.
KW  - Central Andes
KW  - Lithospheric structure
KW  - Gravity modelling
KW  - Geodynamic modelling
KW  - Deformation
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2019.06.025
SN  - 0040-1951
SN  - 1879-3266
VL  - 766
SP  - 453
EP  - 468
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sobolev, Stephan Vladimir
A1  - Brown, Michael
T1  - Surface erosion events controlled the evolution of plate tectonics on Earth
JF  - Nature : international weekly journal of science
N2  - Plate tectonics is among the most important geological processes on Earth, but its emergence and evolution remain unclear. Here we extrapolate models of present-day plate tectonics to the past and propose that since about three billion years ago the rise of continents and the accumulation of sediments at continental edges and in trenches has provided lubrication for the stabilization of subduction and has been crucial in the development of plate tectonics on Earth. We conclude that the two largest surface erosion and subduction lubrication events occurred after the Palaeoproterozoic Huronian global glaciations (2.45 to 2.2 billion years ago), leading to the formation of the Columbia supercontinent, and after the Neoproterozoic ‘snowball’ Earth glaciations (0.75 to 0.63 billion years ago). The snowball Earth event followed the ‘boring billion’—a period of reduced plate tectonic activity about 1.75 to 0.75 billion years ago that was probably caused by a shortfall of sediments in trenches—and it kick-started the modern episode of active plate tectonics.
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1258-4
SN  - 0028-0836
SN  - 1476-4687
VL  - 570
IS  - 7759
SP  - 52
EP  - +
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  -