Formation of fold and thrust belts on Venus due to horizontal shortening of a laterally heterogeneous lithosphere

Details Formation of fold and thrust belts on Venus due to horizontal shortening of a laterally heterogeneous lithosphere Formation of fold and thrust belts on Venus due to horizontal shortening of a laterally heterogeneous lithosphere

Mar 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994lpi....25.1577z&link_type=abstract

In Lunar and Planetary Inst., The Twenty-Fifth Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Part 3: P-Z p 1577-1578 (SEE N94-35448 11

Computer Science

Folds (Geology), Geodynamics, Lithosphere, Planetary Geology, Tectonics, Topography, Venus Surface, Deformation, Geomorphology, Planetary Crusts, Structural Properties (Geology)

Scientific paper

An outstanding question relevant to understanding the tectonics of Venus is the mechanism of formation of fold and thrust belts, such as the mountain belts that surround Lakshmi Planum in western Ishtar Terra. These structures are typically long (hundreds of km) and narrow (many tens of km), and are often located at the margins of relatively high (km-scale) topographic rises. Previous studies have attempted to explain fold and thrust belts in various areas of Venus in the context of viscous and brittle wedge theory. However, while wedge theory can explain the change in elevation from the rise to the adjacent lowland, it fails to account for a fundamental aspect of the deformation, i.e., the topographic high at the edge of the rise. In this study we quantitatively explore the hypothesis that fold and thrust belt morphology on Venus can alternatively be explained by horizontal shortening of a lithosphere that is laterally heterogeneous, due either to a change in thickness of the lithosphere or the crust. Lateral heterogeneities in lithosphere structure may arise in response to thermal thinning or extensive faulting, while variations in crustal thickness may arise due to either spatially variable melting of mantle material or by horizontal shortening of the crust. In a variable thickness lithosphere or crust that is horizontally shortened, deformation will tend to localize in the vicinity of thickness heterogeneity, resulting in a higher component of dynamic topography there as compared to elsewhere in the shortening lithosphere. This mechanism may thus provide a simple explanation for the topographic high at the edge of the rise.

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