Determination of a consistent viscosity distribution in the Earth's mantle beneath Northern and Central Europe

• Main Author: Steffen, Holger
• Other Authors: n, Prof. Dr. Georg Kaufmann, Prof. Dr. Serge Shapiro
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Glacial rebound; Scandinavia; mantle viscosity; FE modelling; ddc:550; Fennoscandia
• Online Access: https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/12557; https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-16755; https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:188-fudissthesis000000002636-2

Title, Zusammenfassung, Abstract, Contents 1\. Introduction 1 1.1. Concept of the thesis 6 1.2. Outline of the thesis 7 2\. Glacial isostatic adjustment of Scandinavia and northwestern Europe and the radial viscosity structure of the Earth's mantle 11 2.1. Introduction 11 2.2. Theory 14 2.3. Ice and ocean models 14 2.4. Observational data 15 2.5. Results 17 2.5.1. Three-layer models 17 2.5.2. Multi-layer models 20 2.5.3. Comparison with sea-level observations 24 2.6. Discussion 25 3\. Holocene relative sea-level change, isostatic subsidence and the radial viscosity structure of the mantle of north-western Europe (Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, southern North Sea) 27 3.1. Introduction 28 3.2. Sea-level observational data: an overview 29 3.2.1. Nature and constraints of the applied sea-level observational data 29 3.2.2. The database 31 3.2.2.1. Belgium 32 3.2.2.2. The Netherlands 34 3.2.2.3. North-western Germany 36 3.2.2.4. The southern North Sea 37 3.3. Comparison of north-western European sea-level curves: relative isostatic subsidence 39 3.4. Geodynamic modelling 43 3.4.1. Earth model 44 3.4.2. Ice model 44 3.5. Observational data 44 3.6. Results 46 3.6.1. Model results without compaction corrections in the observational dataset 46 3.6.2. Model results with compaction corrections in the observational dataset 49 3.6.3. Comparison with sea-level observations 50 3.7. Conclusions 55 4\. Three-dimensional finite-element modeling of the glacial isostatic adjustment in Fennoscandia 59 4.1. Introduction 60 4.2. FE-model geometry 62 4.3. Ice load 64 4.4. Earth models 64 4.4.1. 1D viscosity profiles 65 4.4.2. 3D viscosity structures 66 4.5. Results 70 4.5.1. 1D earth model 70 4.5.2. 3D earth models 72 4.5.3. Sensitivity of GIA predictions to upper-mantle viscosity structure 76 4.6. Conclusions 78 5\. Sensitivity of crustal velocities in Fennoscandia to radial and lateral viscosity variations in the mantle 81 5.1. Introduction 81 5.2 FE-Modelling 83 5.2.1. Earth models 83 5.2.2. Ice load 85 5.3. Results 86 5.3.1. ...