Geophysics and Tectonics Seminar fall-2021

Earth's topography generally represents the outcome of a contest between creation of relief by tectonics and destruction, or filling, of relief by surface processes. We'll review studies our group has done over many years in which we attempt to parameterize the outcome of this competition in terms of tectonic versus sedimentary rates, based mostly on lab experiments with imposed deformation fields. A prevailing theme is the importance of dimensionless numbers involving tectonic versus sedimentary mass input rates.