Collaborative Research: The Southern Sierra Continental Dynamics Project

这个项目涉及多学科（地震、大地电磁）在内华达山脉沿线和整个横断面，以检查这些山脉下面的地壳和上地幔。主要研究人员解决了内华达山脉隆起的原因及其与毗邻的死亡谷伸展省和南部圣华金盆地的关系。目前提出了两种端元隆升模型。它们是：(a)地壳深层根的均衡补偿和(b)与向东扩展有关的流层上升流。这两种模式对大陆的动力学行为有着根本不同的结果，特别是在地壳部分要么(a)被上地幔的物质下镀，要么(b)被削弱和挤压以填补伸展空洞的方式上。除了世界范围内可比山脉的隆起和相关延伸外，通过解决塞拉根问题将更好地理解全球重要特征的例子包括：控制基底推覆体分离方式的因素；碰撞区如何在自己的负担下崩溃；以及大陆内部的转换断层是如何在莫霍构造和莫霍构造之外进行分割的。

This project invoves multidisciplinary (seismic, magneto- telluric) transects along and across the Sierra Nevada in order to examine the crust and upper mantle beneath these mountains. The principal investigators resolve the cause of uplift of the Sierra Nevada and its relation to the adjoining Death Valley extensional province and the southern San Joaquin basin. Currently, two end- member models for uplift of the range have been presented. These are: (a) isostatic compensation of a deep crustal root and (b) upwelling of the astenosphere associated with extension to the east. These two models have fundamentally different consequences for the dynamic behavior of the continents, particularly in the manner in which crustal sections are either (a) underplated by materials from the upper mantle or (b) weakened and extruded to fill in extensional voids. In addition to the uplift and related extension of comparable mountain ranges worldwide, examples of globally significant features that will be better understood by resolution of the Sierran root question include: factors controlling the manner in which sialic basement nappes detach; how collision zones collapse under their own burden; and how intra- continental transform faults partition strain to and beyond the Moho.