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Fractal structure formation at various stages of the evolution of the oceanic lithosphere: Premises, examples, and problems

  • Marine Geology
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Oceanology Aims and scope

Abstract

Premises according to which the lithosphere represents a nonlinear dynamical system with particular fractal objects are considered. A series of examples helps to show that, at the principal stages of the evolution of the lithosphere, from continental rifts to passive continental margins and spreading centers on the crests of mid-ocean ridges, scale-invariant structures are generated associated with pull-apart features under the presence of a shear component. An hypothesis is posed according to which the latter structures are formed due to vortical movements similar to those in the hydrosphere and atmosphere at their origin. The diverse properties of the geological medium, which may be referred to as fractal, together with the examples assessed, allow us to make a conclusion concerning the development of the fractal (syneregetic) line in the structural-tectonic analysis. Within the frameworks of this line, selected problems are specified: the scales of the compressional deformations and horizontal stratification of the oceanic crust and lithosphere and the necessity for the development of a special terminological basis.

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  1. Vernadsky State Geological Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    E. G. Mirlin

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Original Russian Text © E.G. Mirlin, 2006, published in Okeanologiya, 2006, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 133–144.

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Mirlin, E.G. Fractal structure formation at various stages of the evolution of the oceanic lithosphere: Premises, examples, and problems. Oceanology 46, 123–133 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437006010140

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