The Williamson Family Colloquium Series 

MU Department of Geological Sciences 

Modelling the stress field along rifts from tomography models

Claudia Adam 

Associate Professor

Department of Geology

Kansas State University

Passive margins created by rifting of the continental lithosphere are economically important, because they are prolific sources for oil and gas. Better understanding of the tectonic phenomena that have shaped them is required for conducting broad, integrative thinking in basin analysis. It may therefore facilitate our efforts to explore for these valuable natural resources. Despite the tremendous progress that has been made during the last 40 years through data acquisition and the design of complex analogical, analytical and numerical models, there are still some open questions. The role of mantle on the rift initiation and propagation is still debated, for example. In this study I use highly resolved regional tomography models as well as global tomography models to model the instantaneous mantle flow under continental rifts such as the Baikal rift and the East African rift. This modeling allows the computation of the stresses induced by mantle dynamics and the inferred tectonic regimes. These model outputs are compared to surface observations to quantitatively assess the role of the mantle on the observed surface deformation.

For more information about Mikaela Pulsipher’s research, please see their Google Scholar page: 

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1gD252EAAAAJ&hl=en