Recent deformation across the Basin and Range: from kinematics to mechanics

盆地和山脉的近期变形：从运动学到力学

• 批准号: NE/N015479/1
• 负责人: Matthew Fox
• 金额: $ 75.65万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FN015479%2F1
• 关键词: Recent; deformation; across; Basin; Range

I request funds to investigate the growth of mountain ranges across the Basin and Range Province, Nevada. At isolated locations across this province there is evidence that activity on faults driving the uplift of these mountain ranges has increased within the last 3-4 million years, however it is unclear if this increased fault activity is widespread or localised. Understanding the nature of this activity will reveal the processes that are driving this increased activity. I plan to use two types of data to investigate these processes. First, I will use a "top-down" approach, based on topographic signatures of the landscape to identify when fault activity changed at individual mountain ranges. The principle behind this approach is that when fault activity increases, rivers steepen and cut down, and this incision can be measured using digital elevation models. Second, I will combine these observations with a "bottom-up" approach, based on geochemical methods that tell us about the thermal history of rocks as they approach Earth's surface through erosion. As rocks approach the Earth's surface due to erosion, they cool and this cooling is preserved in the concentration of helium atoms that are produced by radioactive decay. At high temperatures, helium is lost through diffusion, but as temperatures decrease, the rate of diffusion also decreases and helium is retained. We can measure the amount, and distribution of helium, within a single crystal of apatite and use this to infer the cooling history of a rock as it approaches the surface. By combining the "bottom-up" approach and "top-down" approach it is possible to estimate fault activity with increased accuracy, but also gain an insight into the processes of erosion. Furthermore, the abundance of digital elevation data allows us to tackle many ranges at the same time and therefore, measure the extent of increased fault activity. Finally, by synthesizing these datasets and observations using numerical models of how erosion and tectonic processes interact, we can understand the forces driving fault activity, and potentially predict fault activity in the future.

我请求资金来调查横跨内华达州盆地和山脉省的山脉的增长。在该省的一些孤立地点，有证据表明，在过去的3-4百万年里，推动这些山脉隆起的断层活动有所增加，但目前尚不清楚这种增加的断层活动是广泛的还是局部的。理解这种活动的本质将揭示驱动这种增加的活动的过程。我计划使用两种类型的数据来调查这些过程。首先，我将使用一种“自上而下”的方法，基于地形特征来确定各个山脉的断层活动何时发生变化。这种方法背后的原理是，当断层活动增加时，河流会变陡并减少，而这种减少可以使用数字高程模型来测量。其次，我将把这些观察结果与“自下而上”的方法结合起来，这种方法基于地球化学方法，告诉我们岩石通过侵蚀接近地球表面时的热历史。当岩石由于侵蚀而接近地球表面时，它们会冷却，这种冷却被保存在放射性衰变产生的氦原子的浓度中。在高温下，氦通过扩散损失，但随着温度的降低，扩散速率也降低，氦被保留下来。我们可以测量单个磷灰石晶体中氦的数量和分布，并以此推断岩石接近地表时的冷却历史。通过结合“自底向上”和“自顶向下”的方法，可以更准确地估计断层活动，同时也能深入了解侵蚀过程。此外，丰富的数字高程数据使我们能够同时处理多个范围，从而测量断层活动增加的程度。最后，通过综合这些数据集和使用侵蚀和构造过程相互作用的数值模型的观测结果，我们可以了解驱动断层活动的力量，并有可能预测未来的断层活动。

项目成果

Late Cenozoic deepening of Yosemite Valley, USA

美国约塞米蒂山谷晚新生代加深

• DOI: 10.1130/b36497.1
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: GSA Bulletin
• 作者: Cuffey K

Detrital Thermochronometry Reveals That the Topography Along the Antarctic Peninsula is Not a Pleistocene Landscape

• DOI: 10.1029/2019jf005447
• 发表时间: 2020-06
• 期刊: Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
• 作者: A. Clinger;M. Fox;G. Balco;K. Cuffey;D. Shuster

Tectonic controls on the timing of fjord incision at the Antarctic Peninsula

构造对南极半岛峡湾切割时间的控制

• DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117528
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• 影响因子: 5.3
• 作者: Clinger A

Two Stages of Accelerated Exhumation in the Middle Reach of the Yarlung River, Southern Tibet Since the Mid-Miocene

中新世中期以来藏南雅砻江中游的两期加速剥露

• DOI: 10.1029/2020tc006618
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Tectonics
• 影响因子: 4.2
• 作者: Dai Jin-Gen;Fox Matthew;Han Xu;Tremblay Marissa M.;Xu Shi-Ying;Shuster David L.;Liu Bo-Rong;Zhang Jiawei;Wang Cheng-Shan
• 通讯作者: Wang Cheng-Shan

Heated Topics in Thermochronology and Paths towards Resolution

• DOI: 10.3390/geosciences10090375
• 发表时间: 2020-09
• 期刊: Geosciences
• 影响因子: 2.7
• 作者: M. Fox;A. Carter