Simultaneous Inference of Plate Boundary Stresses and Mantle Rheology Using Adjoints: Large-Scale Two-Dimensional Models

Plate motions are a primary surface constraint on plate and mantle dynamics and rheology, plate boundary stresses, and the occurrence of great earthquakes. Within an optimization method, we use plate motion data to better constrain uncertain mantle parameters. For the optimization problem characterizing the maximum a posteriori rheological parameters we derive gradients using adjoints and expressions to approximate the posterior distributions for stresses within plate boundaries. We apply these methods to a 2-D cross section from the western to eastern Pacific, with temperature distributions and fault zone geometries developed primarily from seismic and plate motion data. We find that the best-fitting stress exponent, $n$, is about 2.8 and the yield stress about 100 MPa or less. The normal stress on the interplate fault zones is about 100 MPa and the shear stresses about 10 MPa or less.

The thermochemical structure of West Antarctica from multi-observable probabilistic inversion

<p>The interaction between ice sheets and mantle dynamics is crucial to understanding the present-day topography in many regions (Antarctica, Patagonia, North America, Scandinavia) and recent ice mass losses on a large scale. A better knowledge of mantle rheology and the physical properties beneath these regions will improve our understanding of this interaction. To better characterize these processes, we investigate the present-day thermochemical structure (temperature and major-element composition) of the lithospheric and sub-lithospheric mantle. The thermal structure provides indirect information on variations in mantle viscosity, key parameter in glacial isostatic adjustment models (GIA). Recent geophysical studies in Antarctica show a relationship between mantle viscosity inferred from GIA and seismic velocity anomalies. Here we use a 3-D multi-observable probabilistic inversion method to retrieve estimates of the thermal and lithological structures (velocities and densities) beneath West Antarctica at a resolution of 1°x1°. The method is based on a probabilistic (Bayesian) formalism and jointly inverts Rayleigh wave dispersion data, bouguer gravity anomalies, satellite‐derived gravity gradients, geoid height, absolute elevation and surface heat flow. With the Markov chain Monte Carlo procedures applied here, we use highly optimized forward problem solvers to sample the parameter space and determine geological structure and feature with full characterization of their uncertainties. In this presentation, we will discuss the main results, interpretation in terms of mantle rheology, and its implication for GIA model in this region.</p>

Self-weakening feedbacks in the ductile lithospheric mantle: looking for a realistic mantle rheology enabling plate boundary formation

<p>Deformed plate boundaries, rigid lithospheric plates, and the more deformable asthenospheric mantle underneath, are for the most part made of homogeneous peridotite, which most abundant mineral is olivine. The key ingredient explaining such contrasted mechanical properties is the rheology, with deformation mechanisms depend on physical conditions and on intrinsic, possibly inherited, material properties such as grain size or crystal orientation. Here, we investigate plate break-up using thermo-mechanical models of subduction with a deforming upper plate. Our models feature cutting-edge low-temperature dislocation creep ensuring a continuity in rheology from asthenosphere to lithosphere. We discuss the dynamical transition from lithosphere to asthenosphere at the base of the plates, and how this transitions shallows during plate extension. The potential of deformation to localize from the base of the lithospheric plate is evaluated through the partitioning between diffusion and dislocation creep and its evolution resulting from a feedback related to strain-rate dependent viscosity. We analyze the evolution of physical fields to understand why deformation sometimes (but not always) localize to form a new plate boundary.</p>

Feedbacks between a non-Newtonian upper mantle, mantle viscosity structure and mantle dynamics

SUMMARY Previous studies have shown that a low viscosity upper mantle can impact the wavelength of mantle flow and the balance of plate driving to resisting forces. Those studies assumed that mantle viscosity is independent of mantle flow. We explore the potential that mantle flow is not only influenced by viscosity but can also feedback and alter mantle viscosity structure owing to a non-Newtonian upper-mantle rheology. Our results indicate that the average viscosity of the upper mantle, and viscosity variations within it, are affected by the depth to which a non-Newtonian rheology holds. Changes in the wavelength of mantle flow, that occur when upper-mantle viscosity drops below a critical value, alter flow velocities which, in turn, alter mantle viscosity. Those changes also affect flow profiles in the mantle and the degree to which mantle flow drives the motion of a plate analogue above it. Enhanced upper-mantle flow, due to an increasing degree of non-Newtonian behaviour, decreases the ratio of upper- to lower-mantle viscosity. Whole layer mantle convection is maintained but upper- and lower-mantle flow take on different dynamic forms: fast and concentrated upper-mantle flow; slow and diffuse lower-mantle flow. Collectively, mantle viscosity, mantle flow wavelengths, upper- to lower-mantle velocities and the degree to which the mantle can drive plate motions become connected to one another through coupled feedback loops. Under this view of mantle dynamics, depth-variable mantle viscosity is an emergent flow feature that both affects and is affected by the configuration of mantle and plate flow.

Thermo-mechanical numerical modelling of the South American subduction zone: a multi-parametric investigation

The South American subduction zone remains a topic of debate with long-lasting questions involving the origin of non-collisional orogeny and the effect of very large trench-parallel extent, slab sinking to great mantle depths, and aseismic ridge subduction. A key to help solve those issues is through studying the subduction zone dynamics with buoyancy-driven numerical modelling that uses constrained independent variables in order to best approximate the dynamics of the real subduction system. We conduct a parametric investigation on the effect of upper mantle rheology (Newtonian or non-Newtonian), subduction interface yield stress and slab thermal weakening. As a means of constraining those model variables we attempt to find best-fits by comparing our model outcomes with the present-day upper- and lower-mantle slab geometry observed on tomography models and obtained from earthquake hypocentre locations, as well as with estimates of Cenozoic velocities obtained from kinematic reconstruction. Key ingredients that need to be reproduced are slab flattening close to the surface, strong oscillation of the Farallon-Nazca subducting plate velocity and progressive decrease in trench retreat rate after a long period of time. We include these ingredients to define a model fitting score that contains a total of 9 criteria. Our best fitting model involves significant slab thermal weakening in order to attain the fast Farallon-Nazca subducting plate velocity and to better reproduce the subduction partitioning in the past 48 Myr, due to strong reduction of the shear stresses resisting downdip slab sinking and of the slab bending resistance. We further find that a non-Newtonian upper mantle rheology promotes slab folding and realistic associated oscillation of the subducting plate velocity. Our parametric study also indicates that the subduction interface must be weak in agreement with earlier laboratory subduction models, but not too weak, with a yield stress of ~ 14–21 MPa, otherwise the fit becomes poor. Our models moreover suggest that slab folding at the 660 km discontinuity can be a cause of the Farallon-Nazca subducting plate velocity oscillation. Whether and how this slab folding process induces periodic/episodic variations in deformation of the Andes remains an open question that requires further research.