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