Warning: This document is for an old version of IntroQG. The main version is master.

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 video

Lesson 5 - Viscous flows

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