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Coupling of long and short-term deformation during continental extension

How faulting of upper crust, ductile extension of the underlying lithosphere and melting of the mantle interact to form the topography that we see today at rifted basins and extensional margins is not well understood. An essential component that has been overlooked in the study of these interactions is the link between processes operating at short- and long-time scales. Here we intend to bridge this gap by developing dynamic models of rifting which include the seismic cycle and compare observations of interseismic cycle deformation with GPS observations at active rifts such as the Taupo volcanic zone in New Zealand, the Gulf of Corinth in Greece and the Basin and Range in the US, where mantle melting, faulting and deformation can be observed in real time. We plan to use these areas as natural laboratories to: 1) understand how faulting, ductile flow and melting interact at short- and long-time scales, 2) understand how faulting and temperature gradients shape hydrothermal systems active during rifting, 3) extrapolate the lessons learnt from active rifts to understand the sea-floor topography and seismicity at slow and ultra-slow spreading centers.