SOME ISOSTATIC AND THERMAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE VERTICAL STRAIN GEOMETRY IN CONVERGENT OROGENS

Abstract

The thermal and isostatic consequences of continental deformation, particularly surface elevation, horizontal buoyancy forces and metamorphism in the crust, depend to a considerable extent on the way in which strain is distributed between the crust and the mantle lithosphere [1]. Since these vertical strains may be strongly "decoupled" by processes such as convective thinning or detachment of the lower thermal boundary layer [2], with the extent of this "decoupling" varying in space and time in an orogen [3], it is useful to parameterise the vertical strain on the scale of the crust, f{hook}c, and lithosphere, f{hook}1, respectively. We illustrate this parameterisation by considering the the..