Mantle Convection Modeling with Viscoelastic/Brittle Lithosphere: Numerical Methodology and Plate Tectonic Modeling

Louis Moresi (1, 2) , Frédéric Dufour (2, 3, 4) , Hans-Bernd Mühlhaus (5, 2)

1 School of Mathematical Sciences [Clayton]
2 CSIRO - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation [Canberra]
3 3SR - Laboratoire sols, solides, structures - risques [Grenoble]
4 GeM - Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique
5 Quakes

The earth's tectonic plates are strong, viscoelastic shells which make up the outermost part of a thermally convecting, predominantly viscous layer. Brittle failure of the lithosphere occurs when stresses are high. In order to build a realistic simulation of the planet's evolution, the complete visco-elastic/brittle convection system needs to be considered. A particle-in-cell finite element method is demonstrated which can simulate very large deformation viscoelasticity with a strain-dependent yield stress. This is applied to a plate-deformation problem. Numerical accuracy is demonstrated relative to analytic benchmarks, and the characteristics of the method are discussed.

Mots clés: viscoelasticity; brittle failure; finite element; Lagrangian; geodynamics; Mantle convection

Domaines: Mécanique des structures [physics.class-ph]

Louis Moresi, Frédéric Dufour, Hans-Bernd Mühlhaus. Mantle Convection Modeling with Viscoelastic/Brittle Lithosphere: Numerical Methodology and Plate Tectonic Modeling. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 2002, 159 (10), pp.2335-2356. ⟨10.1007/s00024-002-8738-3⟩. ⟨hal-01620839⟩