Browsing by Author "Wang, Yijun"

The Southern Andes is an important region to study strain partitioning behavior due to the variable nature of its subduction geometry and continental mechanical properties. Along the plate margin between the Nazca plate and the South American plate, the strain partitioning behavior varies from north to south, while the plate convergence vector shows little change. The study area, the LOFZ region, lies between 38⁰S to 46⁰S in the Southern Andes at around 100 km east of the trench. It has been characterized as an area bounded by margin-parallel strike-slip faults that creates a forearc sliver, the Chiloe block. It is also located on top of an active volcanic zone, the Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ). This area is notably different from the Pampean flat-slab segment directly to the north of it (between latitude 28⁰ S and 33⁰ S), where volcanic activity is absent, and slip seems to be accommodated completely by oblique subduction. Seismicity in central LOFZ is spatially correlated with NE trending margin-oblique faults that are similar to the structure of SC-like kinematics described by Hippertt (1999). The margin-oblique faults and rhomb-shaped domains that accommodate strain have also been captured in analog experiments by Eisermann et al. (2018) and Eisermann relates the change in GPS velocity at the northern end of LOFZ to a decrease in crustal strength southward possibly caused by the change in dip angle. This project uses DOUAR (Braun et al. 2008), a numerical modelling software, to explore the formation of the complex fault system in the LOFZ in relation to strain partitioning in the Southern Andes. We implement the numerical versions of the analog models from Eisermann et al. (2018), called the MultiBox and NatureBox models to test the possibility to reproduce analog modelling results with numerical models. We also create simplified models of the LOFZ, the Natural System models, to compare the model displacement field with deformation pattern in the area. Our numerical model results in general replicate the findings from MultiBox experiment of Eisermann et al. (2018). We observe the formation of NW trending margin-oblique faulting in the central deformation zone, which creates rhombshaped blocks together with the margin-parallel faults. More strain is accommodated in the stronger part of the model, where the strain is more distributed across the area or prefers to settle on a few larger bounding faults, whereas in the weaker part of the model, the strain tends to localize on more smaller faults. The margin-oblique faults and rhomb-shaped domains accommodating strain is not present in the Natural System models with and without a strength difference along strike. This brings the question about the formation of the complex fault system in both the analog models and our numerical versions of them and hypothesis other than a strength gradient could be tested in the future.