Stephane Dominguez

• PhD Tectonics and Geophysics
• Senior Researcher at Université de Montpellier

New satellite geodetic data challenge our knowledge of the deformation mechanisms driving the active deformations affecting southeastern Sicily. The PS-InSAR (Permanent Scatterer Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar) measurements evidence a generalized subsidence and an eastward tilting of the Hyblean Plateau, combined with a local relative upli...

New satellite geodetic data challenge our knowledge of the deformation mechanisms driving the active deformations affecting Southeastern Sicily. The PS-InSAR measurements evidence a generalized subsidence and an eastward tilting of the Hyblean Plateau combined with a local relative uplift along its eastern coast. In order to find a mechanical expla...

Poster on thesis work during the third year. Effect of extreme tectonic and climatic events on the landscape morphology. Application on the Siwaliks chain (North of India).

The Tianshan mountains have complex and variable topography and documenting their growth is important for understanding both intracontinental mountain building and the evolution of the global climate. We investigate whether this topography is in equilibrium with crustal influx (thickening) and sediment outflux (denudation). Based on literature, we...

The scientific analysis and use of geophysical and seismological data on subduction earthquakes are chiefly based on the use of analytical and numerical models that enable the study of deformation processes and their couplings. The experimental device used to illustrate the scientific contributions of analog modeling corresponds to the 2D subductio...

The Quaternary geodynamics of the Central Mediterranean region is controlled by the migration of narrow orogenic belts within the slow Nubia-Eurasia plate convergence. As testified by the occurrence of major volcanic and seismic events, the Eastern Sicilian Margin is presently one of the most active regions. Using a Permanent-Scatterer approach, we...

The Multi-scale Laboratories (MSL) are a network of European laboratories bringing together the scientific fields of analogue modeling, paleomagnetism, experimental rock and melt physics, geo- chemistry and microscopy. MSL is one of nine (see below) Thematic Core Services (TCS) of the European Plate Observing System (EPOS). The overarching goal of...

The Quaternary geodynamics of the Central Mediterranean region is controlled by the migration of narrow orogenic belts within the slow Nubia‐Eurasia plate convergence. As testified by the occurrence of major volcanic and seismic events, the Eastern Sicilian Margin is presently one of the most active regions. Using a Permanent‐Scatterer approach, we...

Surface topography results from complex couplings and feedbacks between tectonics and surface processes. We combine analog and numerical modeling, sharing similar geometry and boundary conditions, to assess the topographic evolution of an alluvial fan crossed by an active thrust fault. This joint approach allows the calibration of critical paramete...

Fault damage zones strongly influence fluid flow and seismogenic behavior of faults and are thought to scale linearly with fault displacement until reaching a threshold thickness. Using analog modeling with different frictional layer thicknesses, we investigate damage zone dynamic evolution during normal fault growth. We show that experimental dama...

Faults form dense, complex multi‐scale networks generally featuring a master fault and myriads of smaller‐scale faults and fractures off its trace, often referred to as damage. Quantification of the architecture of these complex networks is critical to understanding fault and earthquake mechanics. Commonly, faults are mapped manually in the field o...

Tectonic inversion of passive margins is a common but poorly documented process preceding subduction inception. We perform here a comprehensive land‐sea experimental modeling of this key process by reproducing the morphotectonic and sedimentary evolution of the central Algerian margin over the last 6 Myr. Our approach is based on scaled analog mode...

We have developed a scaled analog model of a subduction zone simulating seismic cycle deformation phases. Its rheology is based on multilayered visco‐elasto‐plastic materials to account for the mechanical behavior of a continental lithospheric plate overriding a subducting oceanic plate. The seismogenic zone displays unstable slip behavior, extendi...

The Mw 7.8 2016 Kaikoura earthquake ruptured the Kekerengu-Needle fault resulting in the loading of its eastern continuation, the Wairarapa fault. Since the most recent earthquake on Wairarapa occurred in 1855 and is one of the strongest continental earthquakes ever observed, it is critical to assess the seismic potential of the Wairarapa fault, wh...

Southeastern Sicily is characterized by a prominent topography known as the Hyblean Plateau. It is commonly considered as a flexural bulge formed by the northwest plunging of the Hyblean‐Malta platform beneath the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt. However its noncylindrical shape and multiphase uplift history correlated to the Late Miocene and Plio‐Pl...

In this study, we reconstruct the Miocene to Quaternary shortening history across the Qiultag anticline, a complex fault‐bend fold located in southern Tianshan. We studied the Yaha and Kuche sections, where we combined surface structural measurements and seismic imaging to model the stratigraphic horizons. The history of folding was reconstructed b...

Many orogens on the planet result from plate convergence involving subduction of a continental margin. The lithosphere is strongly deformed during mountain building involving subduction of a plate composed generally of accreted continental margin units and some fragments of downgoing oceanic crust and mantle. A complex deformation involving strong...

Talk about earthquake cycle analog modeling at the Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Department of the Rice University - Keith-Weiss Geological Laboratory.

We have developed an experimental approach to complement numerical modeling techniques used to analyze available geological and geophysical observations and measurements of subduction earthquakes such as the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman or the 2011 Tohoku earthquakes. Main goal is to validate a kinematically and mechanically first-order scaled analogue mod...

We have developed an experimental approach to complement numerical modeling techniques used to analyze available geological and geophysical observations and measurements of subduction earthquakes such as the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman or the 2011 Tohoku earthquakes. Main goal is to validate a kinematically and mechanically first-order scaled analogue mod...

Drainage networks link erosional landscapes and sedimentary basins in a source‐to‐sink system, controlling the spatial and temporal distribution of sediment flux at the outlets. Variations of accumulation rates in a sedimentary basin have been classically interpreted as changes in erosion rates driven by tectonics and/or climate. We studied the int...

The study of earthquake cycle dynamics faces several limiting factors related to the difficulty to integrate the characteristic time scales of deformation processes that extend from seconds to thousands of years. To overcome part of these limitations, we have developed a new experimental approach allowing for the simulation of strike-slip fault and...

Several recent studies have suggested that maps of flow length normalized for drainage area called chi (χ) could reveal landscapes in a transient state, which are prone for reorganizations of basin geometry, flow lines topology, and water divide locations. However, the potentially long timescales associated with the evolution of basin geometry make...

Description of supplementary materials and Supporting informations.

We document the temporal evolution of deformation in the northern Tianshan piedmont where the deformation is partitioned across several thrusts and folds. We focus on the Dushanzi anticline, where abandoned terraces and growth strata allow us to constrain the history of folding since the Miocene. Based on subsurface seismic imaging, structural meas...

Measuring fault offsets preserved at the ground surface is of primary importance to recover earthquake and long-term slip distributions and understand fault mechanics. The recent explosion of high-resolution topographic data, such as Lidar and photogrammetric DEMs, offers an unprecedented opportunity to measure dense collections of fault offsets. W...

The modern high topography of the Tianshan resulted from the reactivation of a Paleozoic orogenic belt by the India/Asia collision. Today, the range exhibits tectonically active forelands and intermontane basins. Based on quantitative morphotectonic observations and age constraints derived from cosmogenic 10Be dating, single-grain post-infrared inf...

We use a strike-slip fault analog model to study experimentally the role played by along-fault non-uniform and asymmetric applied normal stress on both coseismic slip and long-term fault behavior. Our model is based on a visco-elasto-plastic multi-layered rheology that allows to produce several hundreds of scaled analog microquakes and associated s...

Earth deformation is a multi-scale process ranging from seconds (seismic deformation) to millions of years (tectonic deformation). Bridging short- and long-term deformation and developing seismotectonic models has been a challenge in experimental tectonics for more than a century. Since the formulation of Reid's elastic rebound theory 100 years ago...

The detailed morphology and internal structure of the Calabrian accretionary wedge and adjacent Eastern Sicily margin are imaged in unprecedented detail by a combined dataset of multi-beam bathymetry and high-resolution seismic profiles. The bathymetric data represent the results of 6 recent marine geophysical surveys since 2010 as well as a compil...

Since the formulation of Reid’s elastic rebound theory 100 years ago laboratory mechanical models combining frictional and elastic elements have joined the forefront of the research on the dynamics of earthquakes. In the last decade, with the advent of high resolution monitoring techniques and new rock analogue materials, laboratory earthquake expe...

Poster

Because of its essential role in coupling climate and tectonics, d< nudation is a key parameter when constraining the history of Earth surface. This is particularly true at the Pliocene-Pleistocene trans tion, and the potential impact of the onset of Quaternary glaciation remains strongly debated. In the present study, we measured in sit cosmogenic...

The study of earthquake dynamics faces several limiting factors related to the difficulty to access the deep source of earthquake and to integrate the characteristic time scales of deformation processes that extend from seconds to thousands of years. To overcome part of these limitations and better constrain the role and couplings between kinematic...

The morphometry of geomorphological features along mountains front has been classically applied to characterize the regional degree of tectonic activity. The analysis of the shape and slope of alluvial fans as well as the geometry and distribution of the rivers and drainage basins is useful to detect enhanced/decreased uplift and ongoing tectonic d...

Transverse- to longitudinal-dominated drainage network reorganization process: from nature to experimental modelling

Orogenic wedges locally present chaotic tectonostratigraphic units that contain exotic blocks of various size, origin, age and lithology, embedded in a sedimentary matrix. The occurrence of ophiolitic blocks, sometimes huge, in such “mélanges” raises questions on i) the mechanisms responsible for the incorporation of oceanic basement rocks into an...

In oblique collision settings, parallel and perpendicular components of the relative plate motion can be partitioned into different structures of deformation and may be localized close to the plate boundary, or distributed on a wider region. In the Southern Alps of New Zealand, it has been proposed that one-third of the regional convergence is dist...

Taiwan is a young and seismically active mountain belt, where a series of strong earthquakes (M>7) have occurred over the past hundred years. Identifying historical earthquakes around Taiwan is a key to better constrain the geodynamic of this active region. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses of surface sediments from one station offshore eas...

Taiwan is a young and seismically active mountain belt, where a series of strong earthquakes (M>7) have occurred over the past hundred years. Identifying historical earthquakes around Taiwan is a key to better constrain the geodynamic of this active region. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses of surface sediments from one station offshore eas...

We have discovered in a marine core, located 20. km east of the Coastal Range of Taiwan at the top of a 1200. m deep submarine high, sheltered from rivers discharges and gravitational flows, a 23. cm-thick anomalous sequence topped with broken bivalves and wood fragments. Based on radiocarbon dating, we distinguish five sub-events within ∼. 100. yr...

Subduction of a narrow slab of oceanic lithosphere beneath a tightly curved orogenic arc requires the presence of at least one lithospheric scale tear fault. While the Calabrian subduction beneath southern Italy is considered to be the type example of this geodynamic setting, the geometry, kinematics and surface expression of the associated lateral...

In fold and thrust belts drainage organization and patterns of sedimentation depend conceptually on the ability or not for preexisting reaches to incise uplifting thrust sheets. In this study we investigate experimentally the dynamics of drainage network in a wedge submitted to shortening and erosion. It allows us to reproduce and to monitor the in...

Knowing the slip amplitudes that large earthquakes produced in prehistorical times is one key to anticipate the magnitude of large forthcoming events. It is long known that the morphology is preserving remnants of paleoearthquake slips in the form of fault-offset landforms. However the measured offsets that can be attributed to the most recent pale...

Geophysical Research Abstracts. Vol. 17, EGU2015-15200, 2015

Tectonically controlled landforms develop morphologic features that provide useful markers to investigate crustal deformation and relief growth dynamics. In this paper, we present results of morphotectonic experiments obtained with an innovative approach combining tectonic and surface processes (erosion, transport, and sedimentation), coupled with...

Nowadays, technological advances in satellite imagery measurements as well as the development of dense geodetic and seismologic networks allow for a detailed analysis of surface deformation associated with active fault seismic cycle. However, the study of earthquake dynamics faces several limiting factors related to the difficulty to access the dee...

Northwest Iran is characterized by a high level of historical and instrumental seismicity related to the ongoing convergence between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. In this region, the main right-lateral strike-slip fault known as the North Tabriz fault (NTF) forms the central portion of a large crustal fault system called the Tabriz fault system...

Iran belongs to the central portion of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone. Consequently, strong-moderate earthquakes (mostly with long recurrence intervals), as a part of total tectonic deformation, strike this domain. In most cases, the well-preserved coseismic surface faulting features (according to low rate of erosion) and more than 2500 years lo...

Mass balances are often used to calculate sediment fluxes in foreland basins and denudation rates in adjacent mountain ranges on intermediate to long timescales (from a few tens of thousand to a million years). Here, we study the simple Quaternary catchment–alluvial fan system of the Kuitun River, in northern Tian Shan, to discuss some ideas about...

Erosion rates in mountain ranges control the flux of clastic sediments transported by the drainage network and deposited in foreland basins. Changes in clastic sedimentary flux are classically interpreted as variations of erosion rates driven by Tectonics and/or climate. Using an experimental approach, we tested the interactions between deformation...

Erosion rates in mountain ranges control the flux of clastic sediments transported by the drainage network and deposited in foreland basins. Changes in clastic sedimentary flux are classically interpreted as variations of erosion rates driven by Tectonics and/or climate. Using an experimental approach, we tested the interactions between deformation...

The Tianshan is one of the largest and highest mountain belts in central Asia and it accommodates an important part of the total India/Eurasia convergence. It is therefore critical to better quantify the deformation across this range, especially across its piedmonts that presently absorb most of the shortening. The deformation across the southern T...

The coseismic growth of folds during earthquakes is a fundamental process in the evolution of mountain range fronts. Linking this incremental growth to the observable finite geometry of the structure is challenging because extrapolating short-term deformation data to long-term geological times is problematic for many tectonic issues. We address thi...

The average seismic cycle duration extends from hundred to a few thousands years but geodetic measurements and seismological data extend over less than one century. This short time observation scale renders difficult to constrain the role of key parameters such as fault friction and geometry, crust rheology, stress and strain rate that control the...

Les flux sédimentaires dans les bassins d'avant-pays dépendent de l'activité érosive des rivières qui drainent en amont les chaînes de montagnes. Les variations du flux sédimentaire sont généralement attribuées à des variations de l'activité érosive en réponse à la tectonique ou aux changements climatiques. A l'aide d'un dispositif expérimental nou...

Deformation mechanisms, long-term kinematics and evolution of fold and thrust belts subjected to erosion are studied through 2D analogue experiments involving large convergence. First-order parameters tested include (1) décollements and/or plastic layers interbedded at different locations within analogue materials and (2) synconvergence surface ero...

RAW data of the experiments

[1] Past earthquake slips on faults are commonly determined by measuring morphological offsets at current ground surface. Because those offsets might not always be well preserved, we examine whether the first 10 m below ground surface contains relevant information to complement them. We focus on the Te Marua site, New Zealand, where 11 alluvial ter...

The average seismic cycle duration extends from hundred to a few thousands years but geodetic measurements, including trilateration, GPS, Insar and seismological data extend over less than one century. This short time observation scale renders difficult, then, to constrain the role of key parameters such as fault friction and geometry, crust rheolo...

The Gibraltar arc, spans a complex portion of the Africa-Eurasia plate boundary marked by slow oblique convergence and intermediate and deep focus seismicity. The seemingly contradictory observations of a young extensional marine basin surrounded by an arcuate fold-and-thrust belt, have led to competing geodynamic models (delamination and subductio...

Experimental modelling applied to the study of orogenic wedge dynamics has been a subject of fruitful re-search for more than 30 years, although the technique dates back as far as the early XIX th century. On one hand, several first order parameters controlling the structural evolution of mountain belts have been inten-sively investigated using the...

Recovering information on past (i.e., last 102-104 yrs) large earthquakes on faults is a challenge. The classical approach -especially used on strike-slip faults- consists in searching morphological markers such as river channels, streams, alluvial fans, ridges or terrace risers, etc, that would be offset by the fault, and measure these offsets by...

Orogenic wedges locally present chaotic tectonostratigraphic units that contain exotic blocks of various size, origin, age and lithology, embedded in a sedimentary matrix. The occurrence of ophiolitic blocks, sometimes huge, in such "mélanges" raises questions on i) the mechanisms responsible for the incorporation of oceanic basement rocks into an...

The growth of relief in active tectonic areas is mainly controlled by the interactions between tectonics and surface processes (erosion and sedimentation). The study of long-lived morphologic markers formed by these interactions can help in quantifying the competing effects of tectonics, erosion and sedimentation. In regions experiencing active ext...

1] In Taiwan, about one third of the lithospheric plate convergence between Eurasia and the Philippine Sea plate is accommodated on the eastern coast across the narrow Longitudinal Valley (LV). The Longitudinal Valley Fault (LVF) is the main seismically active fault zone in this region. However, the spatial distribution of ground deformation due to...

Poster

Poster

1] The present‐day topography of the Tian Shan range is considered to result from crustal shortening related to the ongoing India‐Asia collision that started in the early Tertiary. In this study we report evidence for several episodes of localized tectonic activity which occurred prior to that major orogenic event. Apatite fission track analysis an...