Modelling of folding and salt tectonics
Naiara Fernandez
This project is aimed at obtaining insights into the physical processes related to the formation of (i) folding dominated fold-and-thrust-belts and (ii) salt-related structures in sedimentary basins.
Part of the work is mainly devoted to study how the onset and evolution of 3D multilayer detachment folding and down building diapirism occurs and what controls the physics of those processes. Some related interesting questions are: How is the final observable wavelength of folding selected during deformation? How are the sinuous long length anticlines such as the ones in Zagros Simply Folded Belt formed? Is the fold wavelength adapted to pre-existing salt diapirs or does it remain unaffected? What controls the spacing of the regularly distributed diapirs in the salt basins?
Our aim is to decipher the mechanics of those processes so that we can use the regional scale observations (e.g. fold spacing, 3D shape…) of the different structures to better constrain their rheology.
We mainly use 2D visco-elasto-plastic (MILAMIN-VEP) and 3D viscous (LaMEM) finite element codes (running in parallel on high-performance clusters) to perform forward dynamic simulations that fit available geological and geophysical observations. When possible, we compare analytical solutions with the numerical results.
