Triaxial tectonics cause the emergence of fault networks which may display complex behavior due to interaction on all time scales.
Deformation of tectonic plates is rarely plane-strain. Instead, extensional thinning and crustal thickening are generally associated with lateral contraction and extension, respectively, i.e., triaxial deformation. Hallmarks of triaxial deformation are non-parallel and non-cylindrical structures, network of oblique slip faults, as well as conjugate fault sets. This project aims at unravelling the manifestation of triaxial deformation of the earth in tectonic structures.
We choose an analogue modelling approach to account for the large-scale, three-dimensional character of the natural prototypes, e.g. the Basin and Range province (USA) or the South-China Sea, and the high resolution required. We complement the analogue models with numerical models to cross-validate and extend the parameter space and observables (e.g. stress tensor, volumetric strain).
Funding agencies
Heltec/GFZ, China Scholarship Council (CSC), Northwest University (Xi'an, China), Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China), University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
Publications
Liu, J., Rosenau, M., Brune, S., Kosari, E., Rudolf, M., & Oncken, O. (2024): Fault networks in triaxial tectonic settings: Analog modeling of distributed continental extension with lateral shortening. Tectonics, 43, e2023TC008127. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023TC008127
Liu, J., Rosenau, M., Kosari, E., Brune, S., F. Zwaan, & Oncken, O. (2025): The evolution of fault networks during multiphase triaxial and biaxial strain: An analogue modeling approach, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JB031180 (see also Editors' Highlights)
Zwaan, F., Muluneh, A. A., Liu, J., Kosari, E., Rosenau, M., Corti, G., & Sani, F. (2025). Local Strain Reorientation Explains Deformation of Rift-oblique Tectonic Lineaments Along the Main Ethiopian Rift. Τeκτoniκa, 3(2), 40–57. https://doi.org/10.55575/tektonika2025.3.2.86