This thesis investigates continental deformation at many different spatial and temporal scales and at several plate-tectonic settings. Our main purpose is to understand how the continental crust behaves under applied forces, both over geologic times and over shorter time scales such as the seismic cycle. The thesis consists of separate investigations of long-term and short-term plate boundary d...

In south China the Lushan massif forms a Jurassic through Early Triassic [e.g., Mattauer et al., 1985, topographic high of the South China Block south of the 1991; Okay et al., 1993; Hacker et al., 1996; Gilder et al., Qinling-Dabie belt. The Lushan massif consists of two main 1999]. The noah directed continental subduction of south lithotectonic units separated by a major tectonic ontact: a Ch...

The topographic midlands on Venus comprise about 80% of the surface and an understanding of their mode of formation is essential to unraveling the geologic and geodynamic history of the planet. We explore this question by undertaking a comprehensive geological mapping of the Fredegonde Quadrangle (V-57, 50–751S, 60–1201E, 1:5M scale) that represents the transition zone from the midlands to the ...

High-resolution Galileo images of grooved terrain on GanGrooved terrain covers over half of Ganymede’s surface ymede have revealed details of the morphology of grooves and their stratigraphic relationships. Based on lower resolution and records a period of intense surface deformation at Voyager images, complex areas of grooved terrain in Uruk some point in the satellite’s history. Ganymede’s ne...

We analyze the seismic moment-frequency relation in various depth ranges and for different seismic regions, using Flinn-Engdahl’s regionalization of global seismicity. Three earthquake lists of centroid-moment tensor data have been used: the Harvard catalog, the USGS catalog, and the HUANG et al. (1997) catalog of deep earthquakes. The results confirm the universality of the b-values and the ma...