Continental Kinematics: Asia, New Zealand and the Rest of the World

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9316581 Holt This research involves the investigation of the kinematics of deforming continental lithosphere in regions such as Asia, Iran, New Zealand, and Japan. Plate motions are an important process on the earth since they are responsible for almost all of the observed surface deformation. While rigid plate models do an excellent job in matching observations globally, relative motion models within continental lithosphere are more complex. Yet the relative motions, or velocity gradient tensor, are fundamental to the understanding of the dynamics of deformation, especially seismic hazard. Strain rates within regions with adequate deformation rate data will be modeled using continuous sets of functions such as splines. The goal is to significantly advance the understanding of the kinematics and dynamics of several complicated regions of deforming continental lithosphere. This research is a component of the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program. ***