Breakout A

1
Breakout A

• Extensional Tectonics on a Large Scale
• Why Isnt the Great Basin a Narrow Rift?

2
Science Questions

• Processes Related to and Controlling Rheology
• Is weak lower crust key to G.B. behavior, or is
  it the integrated strength of the lithosphere?
• What role did arc-magmatism play in
  pre-conditioning the lithosphere, both
  compositionally and thermally?
• Is transition from distributed to localized
  deformation controlled simply by plate boundary
  conditions (dominantly divergent vs. later
  transform?)
• What controls the strength of the lithosphere?

3
Science Questions Contd

• Processes Related to and Controlling Uplift and
  Subsidence
• What is the relationship between length scales of
  topography and Upper Mantle heterogeneity?
• Why is G.B. high north of 37N and lower to the S?

4
Science Questions Contd

• Processes Related to and Controlling the Spatial
  and Temporal Patterns of Strain
• Why does the Sierra Nevada move?
• Was strain localization in the Walker lane
  triggered by removal of a lithospheric keel?
• How much SAF motion is transferred to the Walker
  Lane, and when?
• Is magmatism a cause or an effect of extension?
• Is elevation a cause or effect?

5
Science Questions Contd

• Issues Related to Patterns of Magmatism
• What is the present abundance of melt and where
  is it? Is it the melting process or plumbing that
  controls where we find magmatism?
• We need a better database of timing relns
  between magamtism extension
• We need a better map of the geometry of intrusive
  bodies and their connectivity

6
Some Desirable Big Products of EarthScope

• We need to build a map of strain as a function of
  x, y, z, and t
• Talks directly to all of process-oriented
  questions
• Is key to palinspastic restorations

7
What Does it Mean to be Self-Organized?

• We define this to mean establishing
  collaborative, interdisciplinary science projects
  through community-driven efforts
• How do we promote this?
• We can define a problem that attracts people to
  it
• We can define a funding structure that demands
  S-O.
• We can establish community data
  products/models/modeling tools to attract
• Is a new paradigm for interdisciplinary research
  needed?
• One to promote small interdisciplinary groups
  working on focused problems rather than large
  groups working on Mega-problems
• Model that promotes interdisciplinary
  collaboration from start rather than single
  efforts united at the end.