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Indenter tectonics
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<h2 id="model">Model</h2> <p>The concept of indenter tectonics was first introduced by Molnar and Tapponnier in 1975,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> with reference to the <a href="/facts/Himalayas/eRSf0yyE">Himalayan</a> <a href="/facts/Orogeny/XrvRMpsw">orogeny</a>. Various experiments have illustrated the process by which deformation occurs.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p><p>A <a href="/facts/Continental_collision/wn48WRtR">continent-continent collision</a> can be visualized as a 'die-and-metal' model, with a rigid die (the 'indenter') moving into a softer, rigid-plastic metal (the 'host').<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> In a tectonic setting, the terms 'rigid' and 'soft' refer to the strength of the <a href="/facts/Lithosphere/1mqaxASd">lithosphere</a>. The strong lithosphere of the indenter remains relatively undeformed and its boundaries are preserved, while the host allows deformation by lateral movement of crust both along the contact with the indenter and within the host.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> The indenter block is too buoyant to subduct, so crustal accommodation is achieved by either shallow underthrusting and crustal thickening, or formation and later lateral displacement of several microplates. It is possible to have a combination of the two models. </p> <h2 id="examples">Examples</h2> <p>Real-world examples differ by the rigidity of the indenter, the size and <a href="/facts/Rheology/KexaBNCS">rheology</a> of both the host and the indenter, and the extent of lateral confinement.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> The best known active example is the system of strike-slip structures observed in the <a href="/facts/Eurasian_Plate/WztRQ8pA">Eurasian Plate</a> as it responds to collision with the <a href="/facts/Indian_Plate/Apeb9LNF">Indian Plate</a>, but similar events can be found all over the Earth. </p> <h3>Asia</h3> <ul><li>Indian and Eurasian plates (Himalayan orogeny)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Palawan_Province/jun0la0I">Palawan microcontinental block</a> and <a href="/facts/Philippine_Mobile_Belt/2m6P7NUv">Philippine Mobile Belt</a></li></ul> <h3>North America</h3> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Slave_craton/Kt2vlcYU">Slave craton</a> and <a href="/facts/Churchill_craton/ntuNuxax">Churchill province</a></li> <li>Ouachita Terrane<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></li></ul> <h3>Europe</h3> <ul><li><a href="/facts/African_Plate/U4akPN82">African Plate</a> and Eurasian Plate (<a href="/facts/Alpine_orogeny/VAkm6zRj">Alpine orogeny</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2> <ul><li>Redfield, T. F.; Scholl, David W.; Fitzgerald, Paul G.; Beck, Myrl E. Jr. (1 November 2007). "Escape tectonics and the extrusion of Alaska: Past, present, and future". <i>Geology</i>. 35 (11): 1039–1042. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007Geo....35.1039R">2007Geo....35.1039R</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1130%2FG23799A.1">10.1130/G23799A.1</a>.</li> <li>Jacobs, Joachim; Thomas, Robert J. (1 August 2004). "Himalayan-type indenter-escape tectonics model for the southern part of the late Neoproterozoic–early Paleozoic East African– Antarctic orogen". <i>Geology</i>. 32 (8): 721–724. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004Geo....32..721J">2004Geo....32..721J</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1130%2FG20516.1">10.1130/G20516.1</a>.</li> <li>Walls, Christian; Rockwell, Thomas; Mueller, Karl; Bock, Yehuda; Williams, Simon; Pfanner, John; Dolan, James; Fang, Peng (July 1998). "Escape tectonics in the Los Angeles metropolitan region and implications for seismic risk". <i>Nature</i>. 394 (6691): 356–360. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998Natur.394..356W">1998Natur.394..356W</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F28590">10.1038/28590</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4428612">4428612</a>.</li> <li>Allen, Mark B.; Blanc, Eric J.-P.; Walker, Richard; Jackson, James; Talebian, Morteza; Ghassemi, Mohammad R. (2006). "Contrasting styles of convergence in the Arabia-Eurasia collision: Why escape tectonics does not occur in Iran". <i>Postcollisional Tectonics and Magmatism in the Mediterranean Region and Asia</i>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1130%2F2006.2409%2826%29">10.1130/2006.2409(26)</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-8137-2409-6.</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Molnar, Peter; Tapponnier, Paul (8 August 1975). "Cenozoic Tectonics of Asia: Effects of a Continental Collision". Science. 189 (4201): 419–426. Bibcode:1975Sci...189..419M. doi:10.1126/science.189.4201.419. PMID 17781869. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Molnar, Peter; Tapponnier, Paul (8 August 1975). "Cenozoic Tectonics of Asia: Effects of a Continental Collision". Science. 189 (4201): 419–426. Bibcode:1975Sci...189..419M. doi:10.1126/science.189.4201.419. PMID 17781869. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Gibb, R. A. (1978). "Slave-Churchill collision tectonics". Nature. 271 (5640): 50–52. Bibcode:1978Natur.271...50G. doi:10.1038/271050a0. S2CID 4295459. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>McKenzie, D (1972). "Active Tectonics of the Mediterranean Region". Geophysical Journal International. 30 (2): 109–185. Bibcode:1972GeoJ...30..109M. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1972.tb02351.x. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1365-246X.1972.tb02351.x" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1365-246X.1972.tb02351.x</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Cobbold, P. R.; Davy, P. (1988). "Indentation tectonics in nature and experiment; II, Central Asia". Bulletin of the Geological Institutions of the University of Uppsala. New Series. 14: 143–162. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Gibb, R. A. (1978). "Slave-Churchill collision tectonics". Nature. 271 (5640): 50–52. Bibcode:1978Natur.271...50G. doi:10.1038/271050a0. S2CID 4295459. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Cox, Randel Tom (10 September 2009). "Ouachita, Appalachian, and Ancestral Rockies deformations recorded in mesoscale structures on the foreland Ozark plateaus". Tectonophysics. 474 (3): 674–683. Bibcode:2009Tectp.474..674C. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2009.05.005. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>