Projectdetails

The research forms part of a 'duo-project' that has the aim of constraining possible scenarios for tectonic deformation, using various thermochronological methods combined with numerical modelling. The emphasis of the project will be on fault-related deformation and its link to the rheological and thermal structure of the crust and lower lithosphere.

Researcher A will focus on the modelling of fault-related deformation in the upper crust, the infill of sedimentary basins and development of topographic relief, and the relation of these topics to processes in the deeper lithosphere. Special efforts will be made to analyse quantitatively the connection between the styles of deformation in mountain-belts and processes in the underthrusting lithosphere. The deformed structures will be studied using advanced 3D balancing software and 2D forward simulations.

A workgroup existing of the MEERVOUD-researchers in co-operation with the Netherlands Institute for Applied Geosciences (NITG-TNO) will develop new 3D semi-dynamic modelling software in which earlier 2D models (Zoetemeijer et al., 1993; Ter Voorde and Cloetingh, 1996) merge and in which surface processes are integrated. By choosing a semi-dynamic and kinematic approach in a complex heterogeneous lithosphere (instead of a fully dynamic approach in a simplified homogeneous medium) we aim to overcome the gap in scales between (small-scale) field-observations and (large-scale) plate-tectonic processes.