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).
We implemented, by means of analogue laboratory modelling, the key processes of the feedback among erosion and landslides, isostatic response and lithospheric flexure, to address how these lead to landsliding. The processes involved have different response times and characteristic length-scales and/or threshold behaviours and are suitable to the investigation in scaled analogue experiment, which aptly capture the behaviour of the natural prototype.
These processes have been simulated using sand, to simulate mountain slopes, erosion and landslides, and viscous solids, e.g., syrup and silicone, to simulate the underlying lithosphere and mantle. This approach combines established techniques, such as laboratory fluid-filled tanks reproducing deformation and restoring force of the Earth’s mantle, and silicone to reproduce the viscoelastic lithosphere dynamics, whereas sand is used to capture the plastic behaviour of slopes and landslides, while climate-driven precipitation is routinely simulated to address slope erosion.
All the modelling techniques are well established, minimising the risk of the project. Combining these techniques into a single modelling approach is novel as it reliably captures the feedback between processes acting across vastly different spatial and temporal scales, so far addressed in isolation.
This publication results from work conducted under the transnational access/national open access action at Laboratory of Experimental Tectonics (University of Roma TRE, Italy), supported by WP3 ILGE - MEET project, PNRR - EU Next Generation Europe program, MUR grant number D53C22001400005.
During this research at the 40Ar-39Ar Geochronology Laboratory, CNR, Pisa, Italy, the analysis focused on 40Ar- 39Ar radiometric dating to investigate three distinct periods of volcanism from the Kula Volcanic Province in western Türkiye. This area is a monogenetic volcanic field (MVF) and exhibits three eruptive periods in the Quaternary Period. The three periods of volcanism are named the Burgaz (first stage), the Elikcitepe (second stage), and the DivilitTepe (third stage). This type of volcanism is poorly understood due to their small eruption size and limited material, lack of suitable datable material, and short eruption duration, with geological histories often poorly constrained.
The data publication includes data of four samples from the three different eruptive phases that were analysed, including one from the first stage, one from the second stage, and two from the third stage. The samples were successfully dated and gave ages as the Early Pleistocene (first stage), the Middle Pleistocene (second stage) and the Holocene (third stage). The data from this work will be used as part of a PhD thesis. The ages will be integrated into a more detailed geochemical analysis and facilitate a detailed examination of the temporal and spatial relationships for the evolution of the volcano, and insights into the mechanisms driving volcanic activity in the region.
Data was acquired by an ARGUS VI multi-collector noble gas mass spectrometer, using the step-heating process for all samples. Between 9.9 and 11.1 mg of groundmass material was analysed.