Mountain belt growth inferred from histories of past plate convergence: A new tectonic inverse problem

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Standard

Mountain belt growth inferred from histories of past plate convergence: A new tectonic inverse problem. / Iaffaldano, Giampiero; Bunge, Hans-Peter; Buecker, Martin.

In: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 260, No. 3-4, 30.08.2007, p. 516-523.

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Iaffaldano, G, Bunge, H-P & Buecker, M 2007, 'Mountain belt growth inferred from histories of past plate convergence: A new tectonic inverse problem', Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 260, no. 3-4, pp. 516-523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.006

APA

Iaffaldano, G., Bunge, H-P., & Buecker, M. (2007). Mountain belt growth inferred from histories of past plate convergence: A new tectonic inverse problem. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 260(3-4), 516-523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.006

Vancouver

Iaffaldano G, Bunge H-P, Buecker M. Mountain belt growth inferred from histories of past plate convergence: A new tectonic inverse problem. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 2007 Aug 30;260(3-4):516-523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.006

Author

Iaffaldano, Giampiero ; Bunge, Hans-Peter ; Buecker, Martin. / Mountain belt growth inferred from histories of past plate convergence: A new tectonic inverse problem. In: Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 2007 ; Vol. 260, No. 3-4. pp. 516-523.

Bibtex

@article{33f9731effd94a0f9a60611597fe3d4b,
title = "Mountain belt growth inferred from histories of past plate convergence: A new tectonic inverse problem",
abstract = "Past plate motions display a range of variability, including speedups and slowdowns that cannot easily be attributed to changes in mantle related driving forces. One key controlling factor for these variations is the surface topography at convergent margins, as previous modeling shows that the topographic load of large mountain belts consumes a significant amount of the driving forces available for plate tectonics by increasing frictional forces between downgoing and overriding plates. Here we use this insight to pose a new tectonic inverse problem and to infer the growth of mountain belts from a record of past plate convergence. We introduce the automatic differentiation method, which is a technique to produce derivative code free of truncation error by source transformation of the forward model. We apply the method to a publicly available global tectonic thin-shell model and generate a simple derivative code to relate Nazca/South America plate convergence to gross topography of the Andes mountain belt. We test the code in a search algorithm to infer an optimal paleotopography of the Andes 3.2 m.y. ago from the well-known history of Nazca/South America plate convergence. Our modeling results are in excellent agreement with published estimates of Andean paleotopography and support the notion of strong feedback between mountain belt growth and plate convergence.",
keywords = "plate convergence, mountain building, numerical inversion, Andean paleotopography",
author = "Giampiero Iaffaldano and Hans-Peter Bunge and Martin Buecker",
year = "2007",
month = aug,
day = "30",
doi = "10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.006",
language = "English",
volume = "260",
pages = "516--523",
journal = "Earth and Planetary Science Letters",
issn = "0012-821X",
publisher = "Elsevier",
number = "3-4",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Mountain belt growth inferred from histories of past plate convergence: A new tectonic inverse problem

AU - Iaffaldano, Giampiero

AU - Bunge, Hans-Peter

AU - Buecker, Martin

PY - 2007/8/30

Y1 - 2007/8/30

N2 - Past plate motions display a range of variability, including speedups and slowdowns that cannot easily be attributed to changes in mantle related driving forces. One key controlling factor for these variations is the surface topography at convergent margins, as previous modeling shows that the topographic load of large mountain belts consumes a significant amount of the driving forces available for plate tectonics by increasing frictional forces between downgoing and overriding plates. Here we use this insight to pose a new tectonic inverse problem and to infer the growth of mountain belts from a record of past plate convergence. We introduce the automatic differentiation method, which is a technique to produce derivative code free of truncation error by source transformation of the forward model. We apply the method to a publicly available global tectonic thin-shell model and generate a simple derivative code to relate Nazca/South America plate convergence to gross topography of the Andes mountain belt. We test the code in a search algorithm to infer an optimal paleotopography of the Andes 3.2 m.y. ago from the well-known history of Nazca/South America plate convergence. Our modeling results are in excellent agreement with published estimates of Andean paleotopography and support the notion of strong feedback between mountain belt growth and plate convergence.

AB - Past plate motions display a range of variability, including speedups and slowdowns that cannot easily be attributed to changes in mantle related driving forces. One key controlling factor for these variations is the surface topography at convergent margins, as previous modeling shows that the topographic load of large mountain belts consumes a significant amount of the driving forces available for plate tectonics by increasing frictional forces between downgoing and overriding plates. Here we use this insight to pose a new tectonic inverse problem and to infer the growth of mountain belts from a record of past plate convergence. We introduce the automatic differentiation method, which is a technique to produce derivative code free of truncation error by source transformation of the forward model. We apply the method to a publicly available global tectonic thin-shell model and generate a simple derivative code to relate Nazca/South America plate convergence to gross topography of the Andes mountain belt. We test the code in a search algorithm to infer an optimal paleotopography of the Andes 3.2 m.y. ago from the well-known history of Nazca/South America plate convergence. Our modeling results are in excellent agreement with published estimates of Andean paleotopography and support the notion of strong feedback between mountain belt growth and plate convergence.

KW - plate convergence

KW - mountain building

KW - numerical inversion

KW - Andean paleotopography

U2 - 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.006

DO - 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.006

M3 - Journal article

VL - 260

SP - 516

EP - 523

JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters

JF - Earth and Planetary Science Letters

SN - 0012-821X

IS - 3-4

ER -

ID: 138730390