Lesson 5 overview

Lesson 5 overview#

This week we will be introduced to the equations that govern the flow of viscous materials. At depths greater than those where rocks deform in a brittle manner, crustal and mantle rocks can be treated as viscous fluids with very high viscosities. Ice also behaves as a viscous fluid in glaciers, which will be further explored in this week’s exercise.

  1. Rock and ice as viscous materials lecture slides

  2. Gemmer et al., 2004 - Modelling salt tectonics (optional)

  3. Notes on viscous flow down an incline (optional)

  4. Theory for Exercise 5

  5. Exercise 5

Learning objectives#

After completing this week’s lesson you should be able to:

  • State what a fluid is and how its flow is related to its viscosity

  • Explain why geological fluids deform in a nonlinear fashion

  • Model the flow of ice in valley glaciers using viscous flow equations

Lesson videos#

Lesson 5.1 - Rocks and ice as viscous materials

Dave Whipp, University of Helsinki @ Quantitative Geology channel on Youtube.

Lesson 5.2 - Overview of Exercise 5

Dave Whipp, University of Helsinki @ Quantitative Geology channel on Youtube.

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