The Origin and Evolution of the Paleozoic Variscan Orogen: Implications for the Development of Curvilinear Mountain Belts

我的主要研究兴趣是造山过程中发生的组装和合并的超大陆。北美东部和西欧的晚古生代Alleghanian-Variscan造山带特别重要，因为它们记录了与超大陆Pangea形成有关的一级过程，这对我们地球的许多自然系统产生了深远的影响。因此，深入了解这些山脉带是如何发展的，将有助于我们了解过去和现在的全球构造事件与我们的自然环境之间的关系。有大量的构造模型试图解释华力西造山带的地质。然而，当区域构造模型集成到这些模型中存在着大量的不一致，突出了我们的理解之间的根本脱节的地方和造山带规模的过程中华力西。此外，人们对华力西带的地球动力学过程与阿巴拉契亚山脉的已知事件之间的关系缺乏了解。为了解决这些问题，我将选择一些关键领域，在这些领域中可以检验竞争假说和区域构造模型。我提出的研究计划有四个互补的目标：（1）检验沿着华力西造山带沿着长度的盘古大陆缝合带沉积物之间的成因关系;（2）确定冈瓦纳和劳鲁西亚最初碰撞后该造山带是如何演化的; ㈢在全球范围内更好地了解这一演变，特别是从北美东部华力西造山带和阿巴拉契亚造山带之间的联系的角度;以及（iv）了解这些过程如何与超大陆的组装和合并相关。为了实现这些目标，我和我的学生将进行详细的实地工作，并对整个华力西造山带的关键样品进行地球化学和同位素分析。

My main research interests are orogenic processes occurring during the assembly and amalgamation of supercontinents. The Late Paleozoic Alleghanian-Variscan orogenic belts of eastern North America and Western Europe are of particular importance, because they record the first-order processes related to the formation of the supercontinent Pangea, which had profound influences on many of our earth's natural systems. Therefore, insight into how these mountain belts developed will contribute to our understanding of how global tectonic events in both the past and present relate to our natural environment. There are a plethora of tectonic models, which attempt to explain the geology of the Variscan orogen. However, when regional tectonic models are integrated into these models there exists a multitude of inconsistencies, highlighting a fundamental disconnect between our understanding of local and orogen-scale processes in the Variscan. In addition, there is a lack of understanding of how geodynamic processes in the Variscan belt relate to known events in the Appalachians. To address these questions, I will select some critical areas in which rival hypotheses and regional tectonic models can be tested.My proposed research program has four complementary goals: ((i) to test proposed genetic relationships between Pangean suture zone deposits along the length of the Variscan orogen; (ii) to determine how this orogen evolved following initial collision between Gondwana and Laurussia; (iii) to better understand this evolution in a global context, especially in terms of the connections between the Variscan orogen and the Appalachian orogen of eastern North America; and (iv) to understand how these processes relate to the assembly and amalgamation of supercontinents.To achieve these goals, I and my students will undertake detailed field work augmented by geochemical and isotopic analysis of critical samples throughout the Variscan orogen.