Search

We are investigating the lithospheric properties and lithospheric architecture beneath Mongolia with three-dimensional models of the electrical resistivity generated from magnetotelluric measurements. In addition, thermo-mechanical numerical modelling, with geophysically-guided constraints, is being used to provide valuable insights by testing the mechanical viability of different hypotheses for the temporal evolution and dynamic processes within this region. Mongolia is located between the relatively stable Siberian craton and the extensional regime near the Baikal rift zone to the north and to the south the North China and Tarim cratons that have a northward-directed compressional regime. Due to its location, it is an excellent region to study intracontinental deformation. Furthermore, enigmatic continental intraplate basaltic volcanism of the Cenozoic age exists across Mongolia. In addition, this region contains economically important mineral zones (copper and gold), with the origin and evolution of the mineral systems linked to the whole-lithosphere architecture, crust-mantle interactions, and mantle convection dynamics. Magnetotelluric data has been collected across Western, Central, and Eastern Mongolia. Three field campaigns in 2016, 2017, and 2018 collected more than 328 sites on an array (50 km spacing) and along three dense profiles (3-15 km spacing) that focused on the Hangai Dome (plateau) and Gobi-Altai (Arkhangai, Bayankhongor) over an area of approximately 800 km (north-south) by 400 km (east-west). Between 2020 and 2022, the array was extended to the east with 77 sites collected across central-east Mongolia (Bulgan, Selenge, Tuv, Uvurkhangai, Dundgovi; 400 by 200 km), including 34 sites along an 810 km long north-south profile crossing the Mongol-Okhotsk suture zone. In late 2022, 79 measurements were acquired in northern Mongolia across the Hovsgol region and Darhad (200 by 200 km) with an array and several profiles, which connec, Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics