anima-nfr
NFR funded - Young Talent Project 2021-2025

ANIMA - ANIsotropic viscosity in MAntle dynamics

Hosted by the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics at the University of Oslo

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Latest News: Paper accepted to Tektonika

Wang et al., 2024: Viscous Anisotropy of Olivine Textures in Shear and Subduction Models


The Yijun's first paper has ben accepted to TEKTONIKA, a diamond open access journal publishing peer-reviewed research in structural geology, tectonics and geodynamics. In the paper, we compare different numerical methods that compute olivine texture (or LPO), evaluating the differences between D-REX and the MDM method, and further, the role of anisotropic viscosity on texture evolution. We make this exercise on fictional samples that experience either a simple deformation path during simple shear or a complex one within a subduction setting.

The figure below shows an example when anisotropic viscosity has a significant role on texture evolution. In this case, a particle that has been in the mantle wedge area of an advancing subduction zone, with the effect of anisotropic viscosity it might end up with a texture that is perpendicular to the previously predicted one using either numerical methods (D-REX or MDM). This has a significant implication to how we can interpret seismic anisotropy observations around subduction zones. 
Project objectives

Our primary goal is to evaluate the importance of anisotropic viscosity and olivine texture development for multi-scale geodynamic processes.

Secondary objectives:

  • Implementing anisotropic viscosity and texture development within a 3D mantle flow model.

  • Understanding how anisotropic viscosity and olivine texture interact to affect plate motions.

  • Constraining anisotropic viscosity for subduction, and relate this to seismic anisotropy observations.

  • Determining how frozen anisotropy in the lithosphere affects subduction initiation and slab deformation.
More about ANIMA 
Project Partners

Project Manager

Dr. Ágnes Király

Ági is an early career researcher in the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics at theUniversity of Oslo. Her research focuses on viscous anisotropy in the upper mantle, and on slab-interactions in the Central-Mediterranean area.

Project Ph.D. Student

Yijun Wang

Yijun is a Ph.D. student, studying the role of anisotropic viscosity on subduction dynamics. She started her project with ANIMA in September 2021. She moved to Oslo from Helsinki, Finnland, where she did her Master studies.

Project Partner

Prof. Clint Conrad

Clint is a professor of Geodynamics, and the Earth Modelling team's leader in CEED, at the University of Oslo. His research is directed toward gaining a better understanding of Earth's dynamic interior.

Project Partner

A.prof. Lars Hansen

Lars is an Associate Professor of Rock and Mineral Physics in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota. Lars is using laboratory methods to understand the rheological behaviour of rocks at high temperature and pressure conditions.

Project Partner

A.Prof. Juliane Dannberg

Juliane is an Assistant Professor of Geodynamics in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She is a principal developer of ASPECT, a free Geodynamics modelling software. Her research focuses on melt migration in the deep interior of the Earth.

Project Partner

A.Prof. Rene Gassmoeller

Rene is an Assistant Professor of Geodynamics in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He is a principal developer of ASPECT. His focus is on implementing better and more efficient models for the physical processes that occur in rocks on Earth.

Project Partner

Dr. Menno Fraters

Menno is a research associate in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Davis. He is a principal developer of ASPECT. His research focuses on anisotropic texture development in subduction zones and on software development.