Corporate video made for Geodynamics. An Australian Geothermal Energy Company.

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From Ontario Geofish Mythbusting the Canadian Shield

Slides of visualizations of CIG's open-source software packages CitcomS, Gale, MAG, and PyLith, plus PyLith and MAG movies. Visit geodynamics.org for more information.

The temperature cross section and a composition isosurface are shown. A dense chemical layer is at the base of the mantle initially. As the layer heats up and convection develops, the layer gets entrained into the ambient mantle. More details at http://geodynamics.org/cig/software/packages/mc/citcoms

The 2D model covers a region 1000 km x 100 km with a resolution of 2048x512 (about 0.5 km/grid point). The crust is 32 km thick at the edges, thickening to about 50 km in the center to keep everything isostatically compensated. The right side is pulled at 1 cm/year. The model was run with 512 processors and used a direct solver (Mumps). See http://geodynamics.org/cig/software/packages/long/gale for more.

This movie shows what could potentially happen in the Earth's mantle as a large supercontinent moves around the surface. The non-subducting continent is shown by the green bar across the top. Cool mantle is in blue while hot mantle is in yellow. More details at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/Science_Captions/aggdisp.html

The 1st Annual Conference Into of GeoDynamics Research

PlusDeadly Earthquake Hits GreeceDeadly Earthquake Hits GreeceThe Associated PressA strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 struck southwestern Greece on Sunday, killing at least two people, injuring more than 100 and flattening dozens of homes It was the country's first fatal earthquake since 1999. (June 8)[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE] At least 2 people are dead and more than 100 injured after an earthquake rocked Greece.Dozens of homes were also destroyed in Sunday's tremor.The quake struck about 120 miles west of Athens...and it was felt as far away as southern Italy.Experts at Athens Geodynamics Institute say another quake in the coming days is unlikely, but the region will probably experience some major aftershocks. Local authorities have already blocked off a number unsafe buildingsand government officials say they'll give financial aid to anyone who lost their main residence in the disaster. Sunday's earthquake was the country's first fatal one in nearly a decade. 143 people were killed and thousands were left homeless when a 5 point 9 magnitude hit near Athens back in 1999. Greece is one of the most earthquake-prone countries, but the tremors rarely cause any major injuries.

Greek scientists developing an earthquake prediction system - called VAN - claim they are being denied funds which could enable them to improve accuracy and help save lives. The scientists say they achieved their most significant breakthrough to date recently when they forecast a series of powerful earthquakes in Greece, the most seismic country in Europe. From Western Greece,Malcolm Brabant reports.... Astons Dr Efthymios Skordas, Physicist, VAN system Professor Makis Choularis, Seismologist, National Observatory Professor George Stavrakakis, Director, Institute of Geodynamics

Graph taken from: (http://rainbow.ldeo.columbia.edu/~alexeyk/Papers/Fairbanks_etal2005.pdf) The following papers are the sources of the data used in the graph: Dendrochronology: (http://courses.washington.edu/twsteach/ESS/302/ESS%20Readings/Reimer2004.pdf) Speleothems: (http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~peter/Resources/Seminar/Beck_et_al_2001.pdf) Corals: (http://wwwrses.anu.edu.au/geodynamics/lambeck/pubs/217.pdf) Marine sedimentation and ice cores: (http://ecology.botany.ufl.edu/radiocarbon04/Downloads/Reprints/Hughen%20et%20al.%202004.pdf)

Sigma Program installs GPS station on the sumit of Aconcagua, Argentina.

The Collaboratory for Computational Geosciences http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ccog at the College of Science, University of Nevada, is modeling synthetic earthquake motions through complex geological structures. The simulations are teaching us what we need to know in order to accurately anticipate the ground shaking and other effects of likely earthquakes. This narrated video presents two scenarios for the same M7.5 earthquake affecting Las Vegas. In the first, the epicenter of the earthquake is at the southeast end of the fault near the resort of Furnace Creek, Calif., and the fault rupture propagates northwest, away from the city. In the second scenario, the epicenter of the earthquake is at the northwest end of the fault, at Ubehebe Crater, and the rupture is toward Las Vegas to the southeast. The one-minute video presents the the geologic and geotechnical data that went into the model, shows the wave propagation from both rupture scenarios, and compares the peak ground shaking from each scenario in Las Vegas. The direction of the fault rupture and the location of the earthquake's epicenter turn out to be the most important effects on the level of ground-shaking hazard in Las Vegas. To see additional earthquake scenarios affecting Nevada cities, please visit www.seismo.unr.edu/ma . The computations were set up and run by undergraduate Geological Sciences and Engineering students in the fall Geophysics and Geodynamics course at the Univ. of Nevada, Reno. Student Liz Lennox set up the Death Valley scenarios. John Louie, the course instructor, prepared the animations and narrated the video. The narrated video includes the sound of the synthetic seismic waves, sped up by a factor of ten and used to modulate pink noise, for clarity. The noise modulation makes the waves sound a little like ocean waves lapping at a beach. On the left channel is the sound of a station in Amargosa Valley, close to Death Valley. On the right channel is a station in Las Vegas Valley, at the Community College of Southern Nevada, Cheyenne Campus. Being closer to the earthquake, you will hear sounds on the left channel earlier than on the right. Additional sound effects were added for illustration. The wave-propagation animations each last 12 seconds, and they are sped up by a factor of ten over the 120 sec of wave propagation that is simulated. The the initially coherent earthquake energy soon converts to drawn-out horizontal vibrations of energy trapped in the soft sedimentary basins that are sprinkled through this region like the holes in Swiss cheese- each basin rings like a gong. This trapped energy has the highest amplitude and presents the greatest shaking hazard to Las Vegas. Though the trapped energy looks like noise, these synthetics have clean viscoelastic wave propagation with no noise or stochastic effects added. The animations showing the wave propagation illustrate the trapping and amplification well. As in the graphic on the right, each frame of the movies present a map of 3-component ground motions for the region on the map. The movie frames are 281 km wide from NW to SE and 251 km high from SW to NE. The three primary computer display colors of red, green, and blue (RGB) are used to represent the three directional components of ground vibration X, Y, and Z, respectively. Each color is given an intensity related to the intensity of shaking motion in the respective direction. Where there is no color, and you can just see the gray shaded-relief of the basin model, there is very little ground motion; red is motion in the X direction (East, horizontal on the screen); green is motion in Y (North, vertical on the screen); and blue is motion in Z (in and out of the screen). Where shaking directions combine, the colors combine according to the rules of colored light- yellow indicates combined horizontal motion (relative to the ground) of X and Y, adding red and green light, so could be north-south or east-west. White color, adding red, green, and blue all together, indicates high-intensity shaking on all components, including up and down. With these colors, P waves will be mostly blue, S waves red, green, or yellow; and the Rayleigh surface wave is identifiable by having blue up-down motion between the red, green, or yellow radial motions (elliptical particle motions). The wave propagation movies were created with the help of the software listed on the Creating Wave-Propagation Movies page http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/pub/louie/convimage/.

The 3D model covers a region 1000km x 1000km x 100 km with a resolution of 128x128x16 (about 8 km/grid point). The crust is 32 km thick everywhere, with topography from a part of the Tibetan plateau just layered on. The north (right side) is pulled at 1 cm/year. The model was run with 128 processors and used an iterative solver (GMRES). Because we used an iterative solver, we had to modify the cohesion so that it does not soften as strongly. See http://geodynamics.org/cig/software/packages/long/gale for more.

This movie shows the radial component of the geomagnetic field on the Earth's core-mantle boundary during a reverse-to-normal magnetic polarity transition, calculated using CIG's MAG program. Red contours indicate outward magnetic flux, blue and black contours indicate inward magnetic flux. This animation represents approximately 10,000 years of simulated time.

This animation shows what would happen to the topography of a continent and relative sea level change as the continental plate interacted with mantle convection. More details at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/Science_Captions/couple-flood.html

This is an animation of thermal convection with a strong temperature and stress dependent rheology in which perfect tectonic plates develop. More details at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/Science_Captions/cylinder.html

This movie shows what happens to the surface of the Earth in the vicinity of Australia from the Early Cretaceous to the present. Find our more about the science behind the movie at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/Science_Captions/ups_and_downs.html

This animation shows the evolution of passive tracers which are stirred by a simple, but plausible, model of time dependent mantle convection associated with plate tectonics. More details at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/Science_Captions/stirring.html

Caltech graduate student Eh Tan, working with Dr. Michael Gurnis, has recently discovered a plausible mechanism of generating superplumes at the core mantle boundary. This animation shows the evolution of an ancient slab which is resting at the core mantle boundary for millions of years. More details at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/Science_Captions/caption_slab-plume.html

This high-resolution movie shows the radial component of the geomagnetic field on the Earth's core-mantle boundary during a reverse-to-normal magnetic polarity transition, calculated using CIG's MAG program. Red contours indicate outward magnetic flux, blue and black contours indicate inward magnetic flux. This animation represents approximately 10,000 years of simulated time.

Caltech postdoc Chad Hall, working with Dr. Michael Gurnis and Luc Lavier, has recently discovered a mechanism for initiating an entirely new subduction zone, perhaps the most important unsolved problem in plate tectonics. Read more at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/Science_Captions/subduction_initiation.html

"An example of multiple models of convection (CitcomS) coupled with the Pyre framework" (2004) by Eh Tan et al. Find out more at our paper http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Papers/2006_Tan_etal_G3.pdf

Former Caltech postdoc Lijie Han and graduate student Eh Tan, working with Michael Gurnis, formulated a regional spherical model of the subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath North America. More details at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/Science_Captions/caption_farallon.html

This animation shows a set of models created in collaboration with Dr. Shijie Zhong (U. Colorado, Boulder) that simulates the evolution of an oceanic plate in 3D. The unique aspect of this set of models was the use of 3D faults. More details at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/Science_Captions/paragon_models.html