Timothy Schmid

TS Tectonics and Structural Geology

The 2022 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to Timothy Schmid for the poster/PICO entitled:

Fault growth and rift propagation during rotational continental rifting: Insights from an analogue modelling study (Schmid, T.; Schreurs, G.; Adam, J.)

Click here to download the poster/PICO file.

Timothy Schmid is a PhD student in the Tectonics Group at the University of Bern supervised by Prof. Guido Schreurs (University of Bern) and Prof. Jürgen Adam (Royal Holloway University London). As part of his PhD project, he is investigating the influence of an extension gradient on rift evolution, fault interaction, and rift propagation. At the EGU 2022, Timothy presented results from an analogue modelling study in which he used digital image correlation techniques to quantitatively describe rift evolution in a rotational setting. By using spatiotemporal high-resolution imagery, his work shows how subsequent phases of rift segment linkage lead to a distinct pattern in rift propagation rates towards a vertical rotation axis, as well as strain partitioning among competing faults. The mechanisms of fault growth and linkage elucidated by this study occur segment-wise along the rift axis with a gradually decreasing extension gradient towards the rotation axis. This has important consequences for studies of segment-wise rift activation in natural settings.