Behr Lab

Research focus

ERC Starting Grant · 2020

Sediments and Subduction Interface Mechanics: from micro-scale creep to global plate tectonics

This project seeks to test the hypothesis that sediment subduction strongly influences both the short-term (seismic) and long-term (million-year) mechanical behavior of the subduction interface. The underlying basis of this hypothesis is the possibility that sediments exhibit fundamentally different frictional and viscous properties than subducted mafic oceanic rocks— specifically that sediments are weaker at all conditions along the plate interface. To test this hypothesis, I have split my approach into three complementary and carefully linked tasks, including Task I. Observations from Exhumed rocks, Task II: Rock Deformation Experiments, and Task III: Numerical Modeling. Task I will…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.