This data set includes videos depicting the surface evolution (time-lapse photography, topography data and Digital Image Correlation [DIC] analysis) of 11 analogue models, divided in three model series (A, B and C), simulating rifting and subsequent inversion tectonics. In these models we test how orthogonal or oblique extension, followed by either orthogonal or oblique compression, as well as syn-rift sedimentation, influenced the reactivation of rift structures and the development of new inversion structures. We compare these models with an intracontinental inverted basin in NE Brazil (Araripe Basin). All experiments were performed at the Tectonic Modelling Laboratory of the University of Bern (UB).
We used an experimental set-up involving two long mobile sidewalls, two rubber sidewalls (fixed between the mobile walls, closing the short model ends), and a mobile and a fixed base plate. We positioned a 5 cm high block consisting of an intercalation of foam (1 cm thick) and Plexiglas (0.5 cm thick) bars on the top of the base plates. Then we added layers of viscous and brittle analogue materials representing the ductile and brittle lower and upper crust in our experiments, which were 3 cm and 6 cm thick, respectively. A seed made of the same viscous material was positioned at the base of the brittle layer, in order to localize the formation of an initial graben in our models. The standard model deformation rate was 20 mm/h, over a duration of 2 hours for a total of 40 mm of divergence, followed by 2 hours of convergence at the same rate (except for Models B3 and C3, since the oblique rifting did not create space for 40 mm of orthogonal inversion). For syn-rift sedimentation, we applied an intercalation of feldspar and quartz sand in the graben. Model parameters and detailed description of model set-up are summarized in Table 1, and results and their interpretation can be found in Richetti et al. (2023).
This data set includes the results of digital image correlation (DIC) of two experiments on gravitational tectonics at passive margins performed at the Helmholtz Laboratory for Tectonic Modelling (HelTec) of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam in the framework of EPOS transnational access activities in 2018. The experiments aim at documenting the difference in structural evolution between two tilting scenarios: Instant versus progressive, or fast versus slow. Detailed descriptions of the experiments and results can be found in Ge et al. (2019, Geology) to which this data set is supplement. The DIC analysis yields quantitative deformation information of the experiment surfaces by means of 3D surface displacements from which strain has been calculated. The data presented here are visualized as surface uplift and strain maps, strain evolution maps and surface velocity time-series. Python scripts for visualization of data are appended. Parts of this data (see list of files) are derived from Ge et al. (2019, http://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.4.1.2019.001).
This data set includes the results of digital image correlation of three experiments on gravitational tectonics at passive margins performed at the Helmholtz Laboratory for Tectonic Modelling (HelTec) of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam in the framework of EPOS transnational access activities in 2018. Detailed descriptions of the experiments and monitoring techniques can be found in Ge et al. (submitted) to which this data set is supplement. The DIC analysis yields quantitative deformation information of the experiment surfaces by means of 3D surface displacements from which strain has been calculated. The data presented here are visualized as surface displacement maps, strain maps and strain evolution maps.
This data publication includes animations and figures of eight scaled analogue models that are used to investigate the evolution of a curved mountain belt akin to the Pamir and Hindu Kush orogenic system and adjacent Tadjik basin. Crustal deformation is simulated by means of indentation of two basement blocks into a sedimentary sequence and the formation of a curved fold-and-thrust belt.
The experimental set-up has two adjacent rigid indenters representing the basement blocks moving in parallel with a velocity difference (Figure 1). The slow indenter moves with a relative velocity ranging from 40 to 80% of that of the fast one. A layer of quartz sand in front of the indenters, 1 by 1 meter in size and 1.5 cm thick, represents the sedimentary basin infill. A basal detachment layer is made up of low-friction glass beads or viscous silicone oil representing weak shale or evaporates layers, respectively. The surface evolution by means of topography and strain distribution is derived from 3-D particle image velocimetry (PIV). This allows visualizing and analysing the development of the model surface during the complete model run at high spatio-temporal resolution. All details about the model set-up, modelling results and interpretation can be found in Reiter et al. (2011).
The here provided additional material includes time-lapse movies showing the topographic evolution of the eight models. These visualizations are oblique views played back at 60-fold velocity for the “glass beads experiments” (gb40 to gb80) and 3600-fold velocity for the “silicone experiments” (si60, si-gb60).
In addition to the experiment movies we provide a set of figures. The figures include surface views as well as cross-sections through the finite models highlighting the link between topography and internal structure of the simulated curved fold-and-thrust belts. Additionally, attribute maps of distinct morphometric measures (curvature, slope) and deformation parameters (uplift, horizontal translation) for the experiments with glass beads detachments are given. Finally, the movie “Experimenting.avi” shows in time-lapse the whole workflow of setting up, conducting and documenting an experiment, which originally required three days (for experiment si-gb60).
An overview on the parameters used in the experimental series of the movie sequences is given in the explanatory file (Explanations_Reiter-et-al-2016.pdf). A full list of files is given in “list-of-files-Reiter-et-al-2016.pdf”.