STEEP: St. Elias Erosion and Tectonics Project
STEEP is a project supported by the NSF Continental Dynamics program, aimed at studying linkages between tectonics and erosion, in the St. Elias orogen of southern Alaska. Our part of this project involves GPS measurements and modeling of crustal deformation in this system. Graduate student Julie Elliott is working with me on this project.Fundamental Questions
- 1. Has intense Quaternary glacial erosion redistributed mass in the orogen sufficiently to change regional deformational patterns, and has focused erosion along deep glacial valleys been sufficient to localize crustal strains?
- 2. How is deformation partitioned into lithospheric shortening and uplift versus lateral extrusion of the detached crust, and does intense erosion influence this partitioning?
- 3. Is the orogeny driven primarily by subduction of a buoyant oceanic plateau or by collision of a small microcontinental block attached to allochthonous ocean crust?
The overall STEEP project website is hosted at the UT Institute of Geophysics.
Dr. Jeffrey T. Freymueller
Professor of Geophysics
Geophysical Institute
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320