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The role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes

Within extreme continental extension areas, ductile middle crust is exhumed at the surface as metamorphic core complexes. Sophisticated quantitative models of extreme extension predicted upward transport of ductile middle-lower crust through time. Here we develop a general model for metamorphic core...

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Autores principales: Bahadori, Alireza, Holt, William E., Austermann, Jacqueline, Campbell, Lajhon, Rasbury, E. Troy, Davis, Daniel M., Calvelage, Christopher M., Flesch, Lucy M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9513114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36163354
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33361-2
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author Bahadori, Alireza
Holt, William E.
Austermann, Jacqueline
Campbell, Lajhon
Rasbury, E. Troy
Davis, Daniel M.
Calvelage, Christopher M.
Flesch, Lucy M.
author_facet Bahadori, Alireza
Holt, William E.
Austermann, Jacqueline
Campbell, Lajhon
Rasbury, E. Troy
Davis, Daniel M.
Calvelage, Christopher M.
Flesch, Lucy M.
author_sort Bahadori, Alireza
collection PubMed
description Within extreme continental extension areas, ductile middle crust is exhumed at the surface as metamorphic core complexes. Sophisticated quantitative models of extreme extension predicted upward transport of ductile middle-lower crust through time. Here we develop a general model for metamorphic core complexes formation and demonstrate that they result from the collapse of a mountain belt supported by a thickened crustal root. We show that gravitational body forces generated by topography and crustal root cause an upward flow pattern of the ductile lower-middle crust, facilitated by a detachment surface evolving into low-angle normal fault. This detachment surface acquires large amounts of finite strain, consistent with thick mylonite zones found in metamorphic core complexes. Isostatic rebound exposes the detachment in a domed upwarp, while the final Moho discontinuity across the extended region relaxes to a flat geometry. This work suggests that belts of metamorphic core complexes are a fossil signature of collapsed highlands.
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spelling pubmed-95131142022-09-28 The role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes Bahadori, Alireza Holt, William E. Austermann, Jacqueline Campbell, Lajhon Rasbury, E. Troy Davis, Daniel M. Calvelage, Christopher M. Flesch, Lucy M. Nat Commun Article Within extreme continental extension areas, ductile middle crust is exhumed at the surface as metamorphic core complexes. Sophisticated quantitative models of extreme extension predicted upward transport of ductile middle-lower crust through time. Here we develop a general model for metamorphic core complexes formation and demonstrate that they result from the collapse of a mountain belt supported by a thickened crustal root. We show that gravitational body forces generated by topography and crustal root cause an upward flow pattern of the ductile lower-middle crust, facilitated by a detachment surface evolving into low-angle normal fault. This detachment surface acquires large amounts of finite strain, consistent with thick mylonite zones found in metamorphic core complexes. Isostatic rebound exposes the detachment in a domed upwarp, while the final Moho discontinuity across the extended region relaxes to a flat geometry. This work suggests that belts of metamorphic core complexes are a fossil signature of collapsed highlands. Nature Publishing Group UK 2022-09-26 /pmc/articles/PMC9513114/ /pubmed/36163354 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33361-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Bahadori, Alireza
Holt, William E.
Austermann, Jacqueline
Campbell, Lajhon
Rasbury, E. Troy
Davis, Daniel M.
Calvelage, Christopher M.
Flesch, Lucy M.
The role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes
title The role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes
title_full The role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes
title_fullStr The role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes
title_full_unstemmed The role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes
title_short The role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes
title_sort role of gravitational body forces in the development of metamorphic core complexes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9513114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36163354
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33361-2
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