Project Structure
ANIMA consists of 4 work packages, each aiming towards the overall goal of ANIMA: "to evaluate the importance of anisotropic viscosity and olivine texture development for multi-scale geodynamic processes"

WP 1 - Implementation

We will create a material model plugin for ASPECT that considers viscosity as a tensor and calculates it from the velocity gradient and the actual olivine CPO based on Hansen et al., 2016.

WP 2 - AV and Plate motion

We will evaluate the role of anisotropic viscosity in determining the direction and speed of the Pacific plates motion.

WP 3 - AV in subduction zones

Firstly, we will study how AV impacts mantle flow, slab geometry, and temperature distribution in subduction zones (WP3.1). Secondly we will look into the role of frozen anisotropy (in the lithospheric mantle) on subduction initiation.

WP 4 - (Ocean) plate tectonics with evolving AV

Finally, in WP4 we will  evaluate the role of anisotropic viscosity on the dynamics of an oceanic plate from its creation at mid-ocean ridges to its destruction at subduction zones.