Using Geology to Constrain the Role of Plate Bounding Forces in Geodynamic Models of Mantle Convection with Plates

9901477 Conrad最近的地幔对流模型表明，板块运动的历史可以部分地通过板块与地幔对流的耦合来描述，地幔对流是由先前的俯冲板片驱动的。 由于板块在地幔中的分布变化很慢，所以在几百万年的时间尺度上发生的板块运动的变化一定是由于板块-地幔系统的其他动力学成分。 PI将调查板块边界力的作用，可能发生在俯冲带和转换断层。 包含这些力的地幔对流模型应该可以预测板块速度、动应力和地幔密度分布的变化。 这些预测可以通过地质观测数据进行检验，如板块运动史、应力史和隆起观测以及地震层析成像，并应限制板块边界力在地幔对流和板块构造动力学中的作用。

9901477ConradRecent models of mantle convection show that the history of plate motions can be partly described by the coupling of plates to mantle convection driven by previously subducted slabs. Because the distribution of slabs in the mantle changes only slowly, changes in plate motion that occur on time scales of a few million years must be due to some other dynamical component of the plate-mantle system. The PI will investigate the role of plate bounding forces that may occur at subduction zones and transform faults. Models of mantle convection that include such forces should yield predictions of changes in plate velocity, dynamic stresses, and the distribution of density in the mantle. These predictions can be tested against data from geological observables such as the history of plate motions, observations of stress history and uplift, and seismic tomography, and should constrain the role of plate bounding forces in the dynamics of mantle convection and plate tectonics.