T157 Near Surface Geophysics to Solve Geological Problems

Tuesday, 24 September 2024
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
303A

SEISMIC, STRATIGRAPHIC, TECTONIC AND GEODETIC DATA COMPUTED SYNTHETICALLY FROM GLOBAL GEODYNAMIC EARTH MODELS: A JOURNEY OF PROCESS-BASED DATA INTERPRETATION FROM GLOBAL TO LOCAL SCALES AND BACK

Paper number: T157-15
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:20 AM – 11:35 AM

Authors

Abstract

Todays tremendous computational capabilities are beginning to make it possible to compute global geodynamic earth models at near earthlike convective vigor, with grid point spacings throughout the entire mantle of 10 km or less, or equivalently a total of ~1 billion grid points within the mantle volume. This paves the way to systematically obtain a range of synthetic data from such models in an approach that is known as closed loop experiments. Here we present results from closed loop experiments in geodynamic earth models targeted at four classes of data that are sensitive to the mantle convection process, namely seismic data, the gravity field as represented by the Geoid, global stress field patterns as reported by the world stress map, and continent scale stratigraphy processed from interregional scale geological maps for the distribution of conformable and unconformable successions in recently developed so-called hiatus maps as a proxy for mantle convection maintained so-called dynamic topography. Our results reveal effects from spatially variable data collection and quality (as expected) evident, for instance, in seismic imaging. The profound effects from global mantle flow geometries are less expected, and revealed by our prediction of the global stress field distribution, where SHmax in some continents is parallel to plate motion while in others it is not, and where our results link to the scale of earthquake physics. Still poorly known effects from histories of paleo mantle flow are recorded in continent scale stratigraphic successions. We conclude that it is vital to derive synthetic data from geodynamic earth models, because it provides us with crucial process-based information for data interpretion. This makes closed loop experiments a powerful tool to link geodynamic earth models simultaneously to a variety of data collected from a wide range of disciplines thereby exploiting synergies between data sets. We suggest that closed loop experiments will be essential to guide future data collection efforts.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 5

doi: 10.1130/abs/2024AM-402641

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