SCEC Award Number 07042 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title California Lithosphere Model (CLM)
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Robert Clayton California Institute of Technology Paul Davis University of California, Los Angeles
Other Participants
SCEC Priorities A11, A3, C SCEC Groups Seismology, LAD
Report Due Date N/A Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
Key to building a LAD model is how the 3D tectonics and geology evolved, so that current and starting conditions for geodynamical modeling are consistent with what we know about the margin. We keep seeing more and more examples of how the past is the key to the present: The 3D distribution of rock types, the drip under the San Gabriels and southern Sierras due to transpression, the formation of major basins though transtension, and volcanism from the slab window. Knowing rock type each side of a fault is important for problems of directivity and damage. The relationship between mantle temperatures, depth of seismogenic zone, rock type, and its rheology may be traced to tectonic inheritance. Much of the information we have on these properties is heterogeneous, based on localized refraction and tomographic surveys. A 3D lithospheric architecture model is needed in a format that can handle the heterogeneity, be readily modified as new data are added, and serve as kinematic boundary conditions for geodynamical modeling. Most information comes from Southern California, which is where the model will be most detailed. However we propose to make the model California-wide (CLM) since this dimension spans the full transform margin and Southern California evolved from structures seen in Central California which can serve as a reference.