SPP 2017:  Mountain Building Process in Four Dimensions (4D-MB)

The goal of this proposal is to foster interdisciplinary solid-earth research during the second three-year phase of 4D-MB. Special focus is on controversies that have arisen as the international AlpArray seismic experiment draws to a close and processed data are becoming available for interpretation.The proposal entails two components: (1) An administrative arm that will facilitate bringing together scientists in collaborative groups that address their research interests and the main themes of 4D-MB; (2) a research arm that delves into processes underlying the so-called Neogene Orogenic Revolution, the explosive expansion and indentation of the Alpine mountain belts that began in late Paleogene and Neogene time. Keeping these two components together will require hiring a highly qualified early career scientist (postdoc) for the duration of the second phase of the priority programme.The research arm above is but one of three interdisciplinary working groups (WGs) that replace the four activity fields of the first phase in order to integrate the broad spectrum of geosciences in 4D-MB (see descriptions submitted separately):WG A: Neogene Orogenic (R)evolution – from bottom to top & back in timeWG B: Bridging models of Alpine Deformation and Sedimentary SystemsWG C: Active Tectonics at the Alps-Dinarides TransitionMeasures proposed to network projects in 4D-MB include (1) annual November meetings of all PIs and early career scientists (70 people), and including invited guest speakers; (2) small, freely schedules workshops (10-20 people) for working groups; (3) annual three-day short courses on specialized topic or themes aimed at early career scientists; (4) 5-7 day field trips across the Alpine orogen that highlight relationships between deep-seated and surface processes.All of these measures are continuations of successful initiatives in the first phase of 4D-MB. Further to this, members of 4D-MB will step up their already notable efforts to collaborate with AlpArray members across Europe and beyond. Several initiatives have been proposed for Collaborative Research Groups within AlpArray, adding to the impressive number already founded and/or co-founded by members of 4D-MB.As 4D-MB enters its second phase, we are looking ahead to establish a sustainable culture of collaboration between specialized branches of the geosciences. At this writing, efforts are underway to initiate new European projects in other tectonically active regions of the world.

DFG Programme Priority Programmes

International Connection Austria, Canada, Slovenia, United Kingdom, USA

• A comprehensive high resolution 3D P- and S-wave velocity model for the Alpine mountain chain using local earthquake data: Constraining crustal structure, lithologies and mountain-building processes (Applicants Haberland, Christian ;  Rietbrock, Andreas )
• Activity Field D, SWATH D: Providing seismological data for the SPP 4D-MB A dense seismological station network in the Central and Eastern Alps (Applicants Haberland, Christian ;  Tilmann, Frederik ;  Weber, Michael )
• Alpine subduction revisited - new structural and elastic wave velocity models for improved geophysical imaging towards greater depths (Applicants Froitzheim, Nikolaus ;  Keppler, Ruth ;  Stipp, Michael )
• Applying scattered wave tomography and joint inversion of high-density (SWATH D) geophysical and petrophysical datasets to unravel Eastern Alpine crustal structure (Applicants Friederich, Wolfgang ;  John, Timm ;  Pleuger, Jan ;  Tilmann, Frederik )
• Constraining the dynamics of the present-day Alps with 3D geodynamic inverse models. (Applicants Friederich, Wolfgang ;  Kaus, Boris J.P. ;  Meier, Thomas )
• Constraining the geodynamic evolution of the Alps with sedimentary provenance and detrital thermochronometer data (Applicants Glotzbach, Christoph ;  Stutenbecker, Laura )
• Constraining the near-surface response to lithospheric reorientation: Structural thermochronology along AlpArray geophysical transects (Applicants Glotzbach, Christoph ;  Kley, Jonas )
• Constraints on Quaternary processes in the Eastern Alps from a new detailed image of seismicity (Applicants Cesca, Simone ;  Kummerow, Jörn )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Handy, Mark R. )
• Deformation patterns in relation to the deep configuration of the lithosphere of the Alps and their forelands – DEFORM (Applicants Götze, Hans-Jürgen ;  Kaus, Boris J.P. ;  Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena )
• Earth surface response to Quaternary faulting and shallow crustal structure in the eastern Adria-Alpine collision zone and the Friulian plain (Applicants von Blanckenburg, Friedhelm ;  Grützner, Christoph ;  Reicherter, Klaus )
• FB-4D: Foreland basin evolution records the effects of plate reorganization, surface evolution and crustal deformation on mountain building (Applicants von Hagke, Christoph ;  Hindle, David ;  Kley, Jonas )
• From Localized to Distributed Faulting – Present-day Kinematics of the Southern and Eastern Alps (Applicant Metzger, Sabrina )
• From plate tectonic reconstructions to 4D geodynamic models of the Alpine Orogeny (Applicants Le Breton, Eline ;  Kaus, Boris J.P. )
• Generation and Destruction of Lithosphere in the Ligurian Sea (Applicants Lange, Dietrich ;  Thorwart, Martin )
• Glacial and erosional contributions to Late Quaternary uplift of the European Alps (Applicants Scherler, Dirk ;  Winkelmann, Ricarda )
• High- and ultrahigh-pressure rock exhumation and tectonic structure of the southeastern Austroalpine crust (Applicants Froitzheim, Nikolaus ;  Stipp, Michael )
• How large are tectonic deviations from lithostatic pressure in a continent-derived, lithologically heterogeneous Alpine UHP nappe (Koralpe-Saualpe-Pohorje Complex, Austria and Slovenia)? (Applicants John, Timm ;  Pleuger, Jan )
• Identifying fossil fault activity along the eastern Periadriatic Fault system by means of combined OSL- and ESR-dating of fault gouges (NE Italy, S Austria and N Slovenia) (Applicants Tsukamoto, Sumiko ;  Ustaszewski, Ph.D., Kamil Marek )
• Identifying Main Lithospheric Structures in the Eastern Alpine Domain by Joint Inversion of Receiver Function and Surface Wave Measurements for Seismic Anisotropy (Applicants Handy, Mark R. ;  Kind, Rainer ;  Meier, Thomas ;  Rümpker, Georg )
• Imaging structure and geometry of Alpine slabs by full waveform inversion of teleseismic body waves (Applicants Friederich, Wolfgang ;  Kaus, Boris J.P. ;  Meier, Thomas )
• Imaging the Alpine crust with ambient-noise tomography: linking surface observations to deep structures (Applicant Kästle, Emanuel David )
• Integrated 3D structural, thermal, gravity and rheological modeling of the Alps and their forelands -INTEGRATE (Applicants Ebbing, Jörg ;  Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena )
• Integrated records of tectonic and climate interactions in the Northern Alpine Foreland Basin sedimentary architecture (Applicants Ehlers, Todd Alan ;  Tomasevic, Nevena )
• Inverse and forward multiscale numerical modeling of the Alpine orogeny (IFMMALPO) (Applicant Petrunin, Alexey )
• Ligurian Ocean Bottom Seismology and Tectonics Research (LOBSTER) (Applicant Kopp, Heidrun )
• Linking surface kinematics to deep structure of the Adriatic indenter near a potential subduction-polarity switch, the Giudicarie Belt (Southern Alps) (Applicants Le Breton, Eline ;  Haberland, Christian ;  Handy, Mark R. )
• Linking the deep structure to surface deformation: Body wave tomography of the Ligurian Sea and South-Western Alps (Applicants Le Breton, Eline ;  Lange, Dietrich )
• Load/Unload Mechanisms of the Seismically Active Mt. Hochstaufen, Bad Reichenhall (Germany) - Identified by Seismological, Geodetic and Meteorological Aspects (Applicant Schlömer, Antje )
• Mantle deformation beneath the Alps and the physics of the subduction polarity switch: Constraints from thermomechanical modelling, seismic anisotropy and waveform modelling (Applicants Rümpker, Georg ;  Schmeling, Harro )
• Mountainbuilding in the Eastern and Southern Alps - large earthquakes and active faults (Applicants Grützner, Christoph ;  Reicherter, Klaus ;  Ustaszewski, Ph.D., Kamil Marek )
• Neogene Paleoelevation and Paleoclimate of the Central Alps - Linking Earth Surface Processes to Lithospheric Dynamics (Applicants Ehlers, Todd Alan ;  Mulch, Andreas ;  Mutz, Sebastian )
• Quantifying crustal fluid flow and its role in the thermal structure of the Alps (Applicants von Hagke, Christoph ;  Luijendijk, Elco )
• Quantifying Detachment Induced Surface Uplift in the Alps (Applicant Thielmann, Marcel )
• Quantifying the Effects of Mantle Processes and Climate Variability on Hinterland Denudation in the Central and Eastern Alps since the Oligocene (Applicants Ehlers, Todd Alan ;  Eizenhöfer, Ph.D., Paul R. )
• Reconstructing Eastward Propagation of Surface Uplift in the Alps: Integrating Stable Isotope Palaeoaltimetry and Palaeoclimate Modelling (Applicants Mulch, Andreas ;  Mutz, Sebastian ;  Rehfeld, Kira )
• Seismic imaging of the newly discovered Sub-Lithospheric Discontinuity (SLD) in the larger Alpine region (Applicant Kind, Rainer )
• Slab factory - ocean formation and subduction in the Western Alps (Applicants Froitzheim, Nikolaus ;  Keppler, Ruth )
• SPP2 Project - Switching pro- and retro-wedges in the Eastern Alps and their peripheral basins - clues to a change in subduction polarity? (Applicants Bauer, Klaus ;  Bernhardt, Anne ;  Handy, Mark R. )
• Stress transfer and Quaternary faulting in the northern Alpine foreland (Applicants Reicherter, Klaus ;  Ritter, Joachim )
• Surface Wavefield Tomography of the Alpine Region to Constrain Slab Geometries, Lithospheric Deformation and Asthenospheric Flow (Applicants Ebbing, Jörg ;  Friederich, Wolfgang ;  Meier, Thomas )
• The Brenner base tunnel (BBT) natural laboratory – From cross-section construction over fabric and elastic anisotropy analysis to 4D structural modeling (Applicants Brandes, Christian ;  Kühn, Rebecca ;  Stipp, Michael ;  Tanner, David )
• The Last Pulse – dating the youngest deformation in the Alps with ESR thermochronometry (Applicants Brandes, Christian ;  von Hagke, Christoph ;  Tanner, David ;  Tsukamoto, Sumiko )
• ThinkALPS - Thermokinematic models including Uncertainty of Geometry in the Alps (Applicants von Hagke, Christoph ;  Wellmann, Ph.D., Florian )
• Transpression and transtension in the Eastern Alps (TATEA): Kinematics and age of a sinistral wrench zone (Applicant Sobel, Ph.D., Edward )
• Understanding subduction by linking surface exposures of subducted and exhumed crust to geophysical images of slabs (Applicants Handy, Mark R. ;  John, Timm ;  Kaus, Boris J.P. ;  Mechie, James ;  Pleuger, Jan ;  Tilmann, Frederik ;  Yuan, Xiaohui )
• UNIBRA / DSEBRA -- the German seismological contri-bution to AlpArray (Applicants Friederich, Wolfgang ;  Korn, Michael ;  Meier, Thomas ;  Rümpker, Georg ;  Thomas, Christine ;  Tilmann, Frederik ;  Wassermann, Joachim )

Spokesperson Professor Dr. Mark R. Handy