Tohoku University · Earth and Planetary Sciences
Professor Daniel Pastor-Galán’s research lab specializes in tectonics and geodynamics, focusing on the formation and evolution of supercontinents, particularly Pangea. The lab investigates orocline development, lithospheric deformation, and the kinematic and paleomagnetic constraints of continental collision zones, with a strong emphasis on the Iberian Peninsula as a key natural laboratory. Using a combination of fieldwork, paleomagnetic data, and analogue modeling, the lab explores how thick-skinned tectonics and mantle-lithosphere interactions shape orogenic belts during supercontinent assembly. Their work contributes to understanding long-term Earth system dynamics, including mantle convection, global climate change, and the distribution of geological resources.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
The supercontinent Pangea formed in the late Carboniferous as a result of the Gondwana-Laurussia collision, producing the strongly sinuous Variscan-Alleghanian orogen. Iberia is interpreted to comprise two Variscan bends, forming an S-shaped orogenic belt: the Cantabrian orocline to the north and the Central Iberian bend to the south. Coeval formation of both oroclines, however, requires significant north-south shortening (in present-day coordinates) during Pangea's amalgamation. In contrast to
We report on a series of analogue modeling experiments that study the oroclinal buckling process as a thick-skinned process involving the entire lithosphere. The results obtained in the experiments suggest that, during oroclinal buckling, extension in the outer arc and sig nifi-cant shortening in the inner arc are produced by tangential longitudinal strain as the main mechanism of deformation. The models also reveal that the mantle lithosphere thickens in different noncylindrical ways depending
Abstract There is an emerging consensus that Earth's landmasses amalgamate quasi-periodically into supercontinents, interpreted to be rigid super-plates essentially lacking tectonically active inner boundaries and showing little internal lithosphere–mantle interactions. The formation and disruption of supercontinents have been linked to changes in sea-level, biogeochemical cycles, global climate change, continental margin sedimentation, large igneous provinces, deep mantle circulation, outer cor
The supercontinent cycle explains how landmasses amalgamate into supercontinents that dismember after a ~ 100 Myr tenure in a quasi-periodic manner. Supercontinents are thought to be rigid superplates whose formation controls many of the Earth's secular variations, from long-term climate trends to global mantle circulation. Pangea, the latest continental superplate, formed ~330 Ma, began to rift ~240 Ma, finally broke-up ~200 Ma, is generally considered the template for all previous supercontine
Abstract Supercontinents are usually interpreted to be single and rigid continental plates. How and when Pangea became a rigid supercontinent is disputed, and age estimations vary from ~330 to ~240 Ma. The Gondwana‐Laurussia collision formed the Variscan‐Alleghanian belt, the most prominent witness of Pangea's amalgamation. In Iberia, this orogen draws an “S” shape featured by the Cantabrian Orocline and the Central Iberian curve. The curvature of Central Iberia is particularly evident in Galici
Abstract. The collision between Gondwana and Laurussia that formed the latest supercontinent, Pangea, occurred during Devonian to early Permian times and resulted in a large-scale orogeny that today transects Europe, northwest Africa, and eastern North America. This orogen is characterized by an “S” shaped corrugated geometry in Iberia. The northern curve of the corrugation is the well-known and studied Cantabrian (or Ibero–Armorican) Orocline and is convex to the east and towards the hinterland
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