SurfingTheEutecticJul 7, 2023
Vicky Veritas

Lithospheric drips (a relatively cold and dense mass of lithosphere that sinks vertically into the upper mantle) have been identified using geophysical methods in the Great Basin and now in northern Borneo. The Borneo study published in Nature was accompanied by this startling artist’s depiction of a lithospheric drip.

More on Borneo here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-023-01201-7#data-availability

#LithosphericDrip #Delamination #GreatBasin #NorthernBorneo #geology

Post-subduction tectonics induced by extension from a lithospheric drip - Nature Geoscience

Post-subduction downwelling of lithosphere—or drips—can lead to extension and crustal thinning, influencing the tectonic evolution of continental crust after subduction termination, according to thermo-mechanical simulations.

Nature
Jul 3, 2023 at 9:42pmWeb
Show threadVicky VeritasJul 3, 2023

Lithospheric drips have been linked to metamorphic core complexes, including the northern Snake Range. More on the northern Snake Range metamorphic core here: https://c.im/@vickyveritas/110606985485629442

Figure and more information at: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022GC010488

Vicky Veritas (@[email protected])

Attached: 3 images Metamorphic core complexes result from continental extension, low angle detachment and other types of faults, and isostatic rebound that exposes deep crustal metamorphic rocks such as the mylonitic quartzite exposed in the Northern Snake Range, in northeast Nevada. This type of faulting can quickly (in geology time) cause tectonic denudation, and is how we get some of the deeply metamorphosed rocks up to the surface. See the ALT text for more details. Sorry to be gone so long. I’ll try to keep up :) #MetamorphicCoreComplex #DetachmentFault #NorthernSnakeRange #geology

C.IM
Show threadTomscimyt ☥Jul 3, 2023
@vickyveritas I love this as it's a nice artwork but I dislike the immense scale of the thing being shown
Show threadVicky VeritasJul 3, 2023
@Tomscimyt It can be unsettling. Thanks, Tom.