The effective strength of oceanic plate bounding faults. This project will address the anomalously weak behaviour of the seismically active faults on the boundary of the Australian plate, in three key geodynamic areas. This will constrain the mechanisms which weaken such faults, and produce a model for their effective strength and evolution over geological timescales.
Strength and resistance along oceanic megathrust faults: implications for subduction initiation. Hjorta Trench, south of Macquarie Island, is a seismically active boundary of the Australian plate and a unique natural laboratory for study of the initiation of the processes which are currently driving Australia north at 7 millimetres per year. Sophisticated computer models will be used to understand the evolution of this oceanic megathrust system.