Studying subduction zone dynamics and continental evolution in South America using data-oriented geodynamic models
type: CreativeWork
description: Among all continental plates, South America remains one of the least explored regarding its geological evolution. This continent possesses the longest subduction zone, the second highest continental plateau and tremendous amounts of volcanic eruption on its western coast. On the eastern coast, the Brazilian highlands that reach more than 1 km above the sea level were once submerged by shallow ocean in Mid-Cretaceous. All these magnificent landscapes and the associated dramatic geologic events are potentially linked to the underlying restless mantle convection that has persisted for billions of years. The purpose of my dissertation is to understand the causes and consequences of the major geological events in South America and evaluate the potential role of mantle convection in driving subduction zone dynamics and continental evolution. Yet, these geological events usually have distinct characteristics. Some of them are extreme events that occur within several minutes to days and have great impact on local societies, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; while others may span a long geological period and exert gradual but significant influence in Earth evolution, such as mountain building and surface uplifts. Modern observations have contributed a lot to the study of the tectonics in South America, but they usually have limited spatial or temporal coverage. For example, seismic tomography reveals the present mantle structure which is only a snapshot of Earth's history. Thermochronology can tell us the exhumation history of a rock that may span tens to hundreds of millions of years, but the inference is spatially restricted to the sampling area. While numerical modeling can largely overcome these shortcomings, it is affected by uncertain model parameters. As a result, many tectonic questions remain open, with little consensus from decades' of dedicated research. One promising way to further investigate the tectonics of South America is through the cutting-edge m…
abstract: Among all continental plates, South America remains one of the least explored regarding its geological evolution. This continent possesses the longest subduction zone, the second highest continental plateau and tremendous amounts of volcanic eruption on its western coast. On the eastern coast, the Brazilian highlands that reach more than 1 km above the sea level were once submerged by shallow ocean in Mid-Cretaceous. All these magnificent landscapes and the associated dramatic geologic events are potentially linked to the underlying restless mantle convection that has persisted for billions of years. The purpose of my dissertation is to understand the causes and consequences of the major geological events in South America and evaluate the potential role of mantle convection in driving subduction zone dynamics and continental evolution. Yet, these geological events usually have distinct characteristics. Some of them are extreme events that occur within several minutes to days and have great impact on local societies, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; while others may span a long geological period and exert gradual but significant influence in Earth evolution, such as mountain building and surface uplifts. Modern observations have contributed a lot to the study of the tectonics in South America, but they usually have limited spatial or temporal coverage. For example, seismic tomography reveals the present mantle structure which is only a snapshot of Earth's history. Thermochronology can tell us the exhumation history of a rock that may span tens to hundreds of millions of years, but the inference is spatially restricted to the sampling area. While numerical modeling can largely overcome these shortcomings, it is affected by uncertain model parameters. As a result, many tectonic questions remain open, with little consensus from decades' of dedicated research. One promising way to further investigate the tectonics of South America is through the cutting-edge m…
author: Hu, Jiashun
language: en
keywords: Subduction, craton modification, flat slab, seismic anisotropy, mantle flow, geodynamic model, data assimilation, South America
date published: 2018-09-27T16:17:38Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:40Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101529