Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg

Lothar Ratschbacher

(with Eva Enkelmann and unknown student in the field in Myanmar)

Personal Information  

office

Lothar Ratschbacher

Professor

Tektonophysik/Geochronology - Institut für Geologie
Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg
Bernhard-von-Cottastr. 2
D-09596 Freiberg/Sachsen, Germany
Tel.: +49-3731-393758, Fax.: +49-3731-393295
e-mail: lothar@geo.tu-freiberg.de

  home

Profs. Anne-Charlott Trepp and Lothar Ratschbacher
Novalisweg 5, D-09600 Oberschöna OT Kleinschirma
Tel.: 03731 206576
e-mail: lothar1@t-online.de
e-mail: anne-charlott_trepp@t-online.de

Education and Employment

Professor, Chair Tectonophysics/Geochronology, TU Bergakademie Freiberg (1999-today)

Calls on the Chair of Geodynamics, University of Vienna (2005), University of Graz (2007), Visiting Professor, Universität Wien (1997)
Associate Professor, Universität Würzburg (1996-1999)
Heisenberg-Stipendiat and Consulting Professor, Stanford University (1993-1996)
Assistant Professor, Universität Tübingen (1986-1993)
Teaching Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley (1990)
Habilitation, Universität Tübingen (1990)
Visting Scholar, Centre Armoricain d'Etude Structurale des Socles, Université Rennes (1989)
Assistant Professor, Universität Graz, Austria (1984)
Postdoctoral scholar, University of California, Los Angeles (1984-1985)
Dissertation, Universität Graz, Austria (1983)

Special characteristics

Austrian (Californianized with a Schwabian, Frankonian, and Saxonian touch )

Current professional service activities

Editorial Board of Geology (1995-1997) (2000-2002) (2003-2005)
Associate Editor Tectonics (2004-present)

Editorial Board of Tectonophysics (1996-2008)
Editorial Board of Geodinamica Acta (1998-today)

Referee "Tectonics section of  US-National Science Foundation (NSF)", "Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung in Österreich (FWF)” and “Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)”, "Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung" (Kontinentalränder), etc.
Member “Tectonics Direction and Review Committee” of American Geophysical Union and European Geophysical Society

Research

Tectonics of the continental lithosphere with a focus on field investigations

My research focuses on the evolution of orogenic systems to understand continental deformation.

My group and I use methods of structural geology, geo/thermochronology, analogue material modeling on lithosphere scale, material sciences (e.g. lattice preferred orientation), petrology, tectonic geomorphology, and remote sensing. Regional field projects, which integrate these methods, are a cornerstone of research:

• Exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure rocks in eastern China
• Mesozoic to Cenozoic history of the Tibetan Plateau
• Lateral extrusion tectonics and core-complex formation in the Alps, the Hellenides, and Turkey
• Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonics of the Pamirs (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan)
• Cenozoic tectonics of Mynamar (Burma)
• Early evolution of the Caribbean and megashears in Central America
• Arc deformation and pseudotachylites in southern California

Grants and Awards

Current research projects

INDEPTH IV. Wie wächst das Pamir–Tibet Plateau? Geologisch-geophysikalische Untersuchungen in NE–Tibet.

DFG Ra 442/27 (L. Ratschbacher, R. Kind, J. Mechie, R. Gloaguen, R. Meissner, St. Sobolev). This project involves (from Freiberg) one post-doc (Blanka Sperner) and one PhD (Bastian Wauschkuhn)

Multiple high- and ultrahigh-pressure orogenies in the Qin Mountains: boundary conditions permitting their formation and exhumation.

DFG Ra442/25 (L. Ratschbacher, J. Pfänder, L. Franz, M. Tichomirowa).This project involves one post-doc (Maria Wiesinger, funded by a Schrödinger grant from Austria) and one PhD (Carsten Weise); it is co-funded from the Swiss Nationalfond with one PhD (Thomas Bader) awarded to Leander Franz at the Universität Basel, Switzerland.

Tibetan Plateau Formation: tracing material flow around the East-Himalayan syntaxis.

DFG Ra 442/29 in the framework of SPP TiP (O’Brien and L. Ratschbacher coordinators; 9 other co-Pis). The project involves PhD studnt Benita-Lisette Sonntag

Collaborative Research (Bündelantrag) ‘Tien Shan–Pamir Geodynamic Program (TIPAGE)’.

DFG-Bundle 443 (L. Ratschbacher, coordinator; 5 sub-proposals involving 19 PIs; cooperations with Univ. Jena, GFZ Potsdam. The project involves PhD students Daniel Rutte, Maggi Fuchs, Jahanzeb Khan, Alexandra Kässner, Michael Hohf.

Evolution of the the Tajik Basin of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

TOTAL oil company and DARIUS oil company consortium and Humboldt-Foundation. The project involves Humboldt-Fellow Adam Szulc and PhD student Lukasz Gagala.

Collaborative Research (WTZ-Verbundprojekt) TIPTIMON: Pamir-Tien Shan monitoring program

Collaboration with GFZ-Potsdam, Univ. Potsdam, Univ. Tübingen and Senckenberg Naturforschendes Museum Dresden. 12 subprojects in the frame of the Central Asian Initiative of the BMBF. Recommended for funding but start of the projectpostponed to April 2012.

Past Grants

(Selection)

Apatite fission-track geothermochronology: methodical experiments on samples from ICDP drill holes.

An integrated FT/Raman/EMP/XRD-investigation of the fission-track and radiation-damage records in natural titanites from the Kontinentale Tiefbohrung (KTB).

Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the Schwerpunktprogramm International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) (01.06.06-31.01.2008; extension pending; DFG RA 442/26-1); Applicants: L. Ratschbacher, L. Nasdala, K.-G. Van den Boogaart, A. Renno; main investigator: Raymond Jonckheere.

Crustal assembly of Myanmar: establishing a geo/thermochronologic data base for magmatism, metamorphism, deformation, and exhumation in central and eastern Myanmar.

Ar-Massenspektrometry: Geochronology und Thermochronology (Laser-microprobe Argon-Geochronology and Argon K-feldspar multidomain-thermochronology) and Ablation-Laser

L. Ratschbacher; Mass-spectrometers (2), extraction lines, resistance furnace, Co2-laser; 2005, UV-Laser, 2007. Funded application in the framework of HBFG.

Selfrag-Lab Mineral Liberation facility

L. Ratschbacher, 2011

Teaching

See the Tectonophysics Homepage, for a complete list of lectures and scripts currently available

Publications

(Selection)

Particle-track geothermochronology: Methodical experiments on samples from ICDP drill holes

WEISE C., BOOGAART VAN DEN G., JONCKHEERE R. AND RATSCHBACHER L., 2009, Annealing kinetics of Kr-tracks in monazite: implications for fission-track modeling, Chemical Geology, 260, 129-137.

STÜBNER, K., JONCKHEERE, R., & RATSCHBACHER, L., 2008. Revelation of nuclear tracks and dislocations: A Monte-Carlo simulation of mineral etching. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 72, 3184-3199.

MIN MYO, ENKELMANN E., JONCKHEERE R., TRAUTMANN C. AND RATSCHBACHER L., 2007. Measurements of confined-fission tracks in ion-irradiated geological samples with low track densities, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 259, 943-950

JONCKHEERE, R., ENKELMANN, E., MIN, M., TRAUTMANN, C., AND RATSCHBACHER L., 2007. Confined fission tracks in ion-irradiated and step-etched prismatic sections of Durango apatite. Chemi¬cal Geology, 242, 202-217.

STÜBNER, K., JONKHEERE, R., RATSCHBACHER, L., 2005. Alpha-recoil track densities in mica and radiometric age determination. Radiation Measurements, 40, 503-508.

ENKELMANN, E., JONCKHEERE, R., RATSCHBACHER, L., 2005. Absolute measurement of uranium concentration on thick samples using fission-track detectors. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 229, 489-498.

ENKELMANN, E., JONCKHEERE, R., RATSCHBACHER, L., 2005. The effects of radiation damage accumulation and annealing on fission-track dating of titanite. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 227, 567-576.

JONCKHEERE R., L. RATSCHBACHER, AND WAGNER G.A., 2003. A repositioning technique for counting induced fission-tracks in muscovite external detectors in single-grain dating of minerals with low and inhomogeneous uranium concentrations. Radiation Measurements, 37, 217-219.

Ultra-high pressure tectonics and geological evolution of Eastern China

ENKELMANN, E., A. WEISLOGEL, L. RATSCHBACHER, A. RENNO, E. EIDE AND J. WOODEN, 2007. How was the Triassic Songpan–Ganzi flysch basin filled? A provenance study, Tectonics. Tectonics, 26, TC4007, doi:10.1029/2006TC002078.

HACKER, B. R., S. R. WALLIS, L. RATSCHBACHER, M. GROVE, AND G. GEHRELS, 2006. High-temperature geochronology constraints on the tectonic history and architecture of the ultrahigh-pressure Dabie-Sulu Orogen, Tectonics, 25, TC5006, doi:10.1029/2005TC001937.

RATSCHBACHER, L., L. FRANZ, E. ENKELMANN, R. JONCKHEERE, A. PÖRSCHKE, B.R. HACKER, S. DONG, AND Y. ZHANG, 2006, Sino-Korean–Yangtze suture, Huwan detachment, and Paleozoic–Tertiary exhumation of (ultra)high-pressure rocks along Tongbai–Xinxian–Dabie. Geol. Soc. America, Special Paper, 403, doi 10.1130/2006.2403803)

HACKER, B.R., RATSCHBACHER, L., AND J. LIOU., 2004, Subduction, collision and exhumation in the ultrahigh-pressure Qinling–Dabie orogen. In: Malpas, J., Fletcher, C. J. N., All, J. R. & Aitchison, J. C. (eds). Aspects of the Tectonic Evolution of China. Geological Society of London Special Publications, 226, 157-175.

RATSCHBACHER, L., HACKER, B.R., A. CALVERT, WEBB, L.E., GRIMMER, J.C., MCWILLIAMS, M., IRELAND, T., DONG, S. AND HU, J., 2003. Tectonics of the Qinling Belt (Central China): Tectonostratigraphy, geochronology, and deformation history. Tectonophysics, 366, 1-53.

GRIMMER, J.C., L. RATSCHBACHER, M. MCWILLIAMS, L. FRANZ, I. GAITZSCH, M. TICHOMIROWA, B.R. HACKER, AND Y. ZHANG, 2003. When did the ultrahigh-pressure rocks reach the surface? A 207Pb/206Pb zircon, 40Ar/39Ar white mica, Si-in-phengite single-grain study of Dabie Shan synorogenic foreland sediments. Chemical Geology, 197, 87-110.

GRIMMER J.C., JONCKHEERE, R., ENKELMANN, E., RATSCHBACHER, L., HACKER, B.R., BLYTHE, A., WAGNER, G.A., LIU, S. & DONG, S., 2002. Cretaceous–Tertiary history of the southern Tan-Lu fault zone: Apatite fission-track and structural constraints from the Dabie Shan. Tectonophysics, 359, 225-253.

WENK, H.-R., CONT, L., XIE, Y., LUTTEROTTI, L., RATSCHBACHER, L. & RICHARDSON, J., 2001. Rietfeld texture analysis of Dabie Shan eclogite from TOF neutron diffraction spectra. Journal of Applied Crystallography, 34/4, 442-453.

WEBB, L.E., L. RATSCHBACHER, B.R. HACKER, AND S. DONG, 2001. Mesozoic tectonics in the Hong’an and Tongbai Shan of the Qinling-Dabie collisional orogen, China: implications for the exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure rocks, in: Paleozoic and Mesozoic tectonic evolution of central Asia -from continental assembly to intracontinental deformation, edited by M.S. Hendrix, and G.A. Davis, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 194, 231-245.

SCHMID R., RYBERG T., RATSCHBACHER L., SCHULZE A., FRANZ L., OBERHÄNSLI R., L & DONG S. 2001: Structure of the Dabie Shan ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic continental crust from local reflection seismology and tomography. Tectonophysics, 333, 347-359.

RATSCHBACHER, L., HACKER, B.R., WEBB, L.E., MCWILLIAMS, M., IRELAND, DONG, S., T., CALVERT, A., CHATEIGNER, D. AND H.-R. WENK, 2000. Exhumation of the ultrahigh-pressure continental crust in east-central China: Cretaceous and Cenozoic unroofing and the Tan-Lu fault. Journal Geophysical Research, B6, 105, 13303-13338.

HACKER, B.R., RATSCHBACHER, L., WEBB, L.E., MCWILLIAMS, M., IRELAND, T., CALVERT, A., DONG, S., WENK, H.-R. AND D. CHATEIGNER, 2000. Exhumation of the ultrahigh-pressure continental crust in east-central China: Late Triassic - Early Jurassic extension. Journal Geophysical Research, B6, 105, 13339-13364.

SCHMID, J.C., RATSCHBACHER, L., HACKER, B.R., GAITZSCH, I. & DONG, S., 1999. How did the foreland react? Exhumation of the Dabie Shan ultrahigh-pressure continental crust and the Yangtze foreland fold-and-thrust belt (eastern China). Terra Nova, 11/6, 266-272.

WEBB, L.E., HACKER, B.R., RATSCHBACHER, L., MCWILLIAMS, M. & S. DONG., 1999. Thermochronologic constraints on deformation and cooling history of high- and ultrahigh-pressure rocks in the Qinling-Dabie orogen. Tectonics, 18/4, 621-638.

HACKER, B.R., RATSCHBACHER, L., WEBB, L. IRELAND, T., WALKER, D. AND DONG, S., 1998: U/Pb zircon ages constrain the architecture of the ultrahigh-pressure Qinling-Dabie Orogen, China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 161, 215-230, 1998.

GRASEMANN, B., RATSCHBACHER, L. & HACKER, B.R., 1998: Exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure rocks: thermal boundary conditions and cooling history. In: Hacker, B.R. and J.G. Liou (editors), When continents collide: geodynamics and geochemistry of ultra-high pressure rocks, 117-139, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

HACKER, B.R., X. WANG, E.A. EIDE & L. RATSCHBACHER, 1996. Qinling-Dabie ultrahigh-pressure collisional orogen: A critical review of existing data and suggestions for future research. In: The Tectonic Evolution of Asia, Rubey volume, edited by A. Yin and T.M. Harrison, Cambridge Univ. Press, 345-370.

DONG, S., RATSCHBACHER, L., HACKER, B.R. & WEBB, L.: Exhumation of the Dabie ultrahigh-pressure rocks. Geowissenschaften, 14 (7/8), 42-43.

HACKER, B.R., RATSCHBACHER, L., WEBB, L. & SHUWEN, D., 1995. What brought them up? Exhuming the Dabie Shan ultrahigh-pressure rocks. Geology, 23, 743-746.

Mountain building, mountain destruction and plateau evolution in Central Asia

A: Tibet

RATSCHBACHER, L., KRUMREI, I., BLUMENWITZ, M., STAIGER, M., GLOAGUEN, R., MILLER, B.V., SAMSON S.D., EDWARDS, M.A. & APPEL, E., 2011. Rifting and strike-slip shear in central Tibet and the geometry, age and kinematics of upper crustal extension in Tibet. From: Gloaguen, R. & Ratschbacher, L., eds., Growth and Collapse of the Tibetan Plateau, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 353, 127-163; supplementary data at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk./SUP18446.

GLOAGUEN, R. AND L. RATSCHBACHER, 2011. Growth and Collapse of the Tibetan Plateau: introduction. From: Gloaguen, R. & Ratschbacher, L., eds., Growth and Collapse of the Tibetan Plateau, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 353, 1-8.

ENKELMANN, E., L. RATSCHBACHER, R. GLOAGUEN, R. NESTLER, M. FLEISCHER, R. JONCKHEERE, B. R. HACKER, YUEQIAO ZHANG, 2006. Cenozoic exhumation and deformation of northeastern Tibet and the Qinling: Is Tibetan lower crustal flow diverging around the Sichuan basin? Geol. Soc. America, Bulletin, 118, 5/6, 651-671.

EDWARDS, M.A. AND RATSCHBACHER, L., 2005, Seismic and aseismic weakening effects in transtension: field and microstructural observations on the mechanics and architecture of large fault zone in southeastern Tibet. In: Bruhn, D. and Burlini, L. (eds). High strain zones in nature and experiment. Geological Society of London Special Publications, 245, 109-141.

MECHIE, J., S.V. SOBOLEV, L. RATSCHBACHER, A.Y., BABEYKO, G. BOCK, A.G. JONES, K.D. NELSON, K.D. SOLON, L.D. BROWN, W. ZHAO, 2004. Precise temperature estimation in the Tibetan crust from seismic detection of the alpha-beta quartz transition. Geology, 32, 601-604.

BLISNIUK, P. M., B.R. HACKER, J. GLODNY, L. RATSCHBACHER, S. BI, Z. WU, M.O. MCWILLIAMS & A. CALVERT, 2001. Crustal thinning in central Tibet since at least 13.5 Myr. Nature, 412:6847, 628-632.

HACKER, B.R., GNOS, E., RATSCHBACHER, L., GROVE, M., MCWILLIAMS, M.O., SOBOLEV, S.V., WAN, J., AND WU, Z., 2000. Hot and dry deep crustal xenoliths from Tibet. Science, v. 287, p. 2463-2466.

MAKOVSKY, Y., KLEMPERER, S., RATSCHBACHER, L. & ALSDORF, D., 1999: Mid-crustal reflector on INDEPTH wide-angle profiles: an ophiolitic slab beneath the India-Asia suture in southern Tibet? Tectonics, 18, 793-808.

ZHAO, W., MECHIE, J., GUO, J., WENZEL, F., MEISSNER, R., RATSCHBACHER, L., STEENTOFT, H., HUSEN, S., BRAUNER, H.-J., HAN, F., JIANG, D., FRISCH, W., HAUFF, S.-F., Seismic mapping of crustal structures beneath the Indus-Yarlung suture, Tibet. Terra Nova, 9, 42-46.

MAKOVSKY, Y., KLEMPERER, S., RATSCHBACHER, L., L.D. BROWN, M. LI, W. ZHAO, AND F. MENG, 1996. INDEPTH wide-angle reflection observation of P-wave-to-S-wave conversion from crustal bright-spots in Tibet, Science, 274, 1690-1691.

RATSCHBACHER, L., 1996: Kinematics of Tibet. Zeitschrift deutsche Geologische Gesellschaft, 147, 427-434.

EINSELE, G., RATSCHBACHER, L. & WETZEL, A.. 1996. The Himalaya-Bengal Fan denudation-accumulation system in the past 20 Ma. Journal of Geology, 104, 163-184.

RATSCHBACHER, L., FRISCH, W. CHENG, C.C. & PAN, G., 1996. Cenozoic deformation, rotation, and stress in Eastern Tibet and Western Sichuan. In: The Tectonic Evolution of Asia, Rubey volume, edited by A. Yin and T.M. Harrison, Cambridge Univ. Press, 227-249.

MECHIE, J., WENZEL, F., MEISSNER, R., STEENTOFT, H., HUSEN, S., BRAUNER, H.-J., HAN, F., ZHAO, W., GUO, J., JIANG, D., FRISCH, W., HAUFF, S.-F., RATSCHBACHER, L., A crustal section across the Indus-Yarlung suture, Tibet, derived from wide-angle seismic measurements. Geowissenschaften, 14 (7/8), 317-319.

RATSCHBACHER, L., FRISCH, W., LIU, G. & CHENG, C.C., 1994: Distributed deformation in Southern and Western Tibet as result of the India-Asia collision. J. Geophys. Res., 99, B10, 19917-19945

FRISCH, W., RATSCHBACHER, L., STRECKER, M. ET AL., 1994: Tertiary and Quaternary structures in the eastern Pamir. Journal of Nepal Geological Society, 10, 48-50.

EINSELE, G., LIU, B., DÜRR, S., FRISCH, W., LIU, G., LUTERBACHER, H.P., RATSCHBACHER, L., RICKEN, W., WENDT, J., WETZEL, A., YU, G. & ZHENG, H., 1994: The Xigaze forearc basin: evolution and facies architecture (Cretaceous, Tibet). Sedimentary Geology, 89, 1-32.

RATSCHBACHER, L. & APPEL, E., 1993: Comment on "Paleomagnetic study of the Eocene Quxu pluton of the Gangdese belt: crustal deformation along the Indus-Zangbo suture zone in southern Tibet". Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 107, 369-37.

RATSCHBACHER, L., FRISCH, W., CHEN, C. & PAN, G. 1992: Deformation and motion along the southern margin of the Lhasa block (Tibet) prior to and during the India-Asia collision. Journal of Geodynamics, 16/1-2, 21-54.

B: Pamirs

REITER, K., KUKOWSI, N. AND RATSCHBACHER, L., 2011. The interaction of two indenters in analogue experiments and implications for curved fold-and-thrust belts. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 302, 132-146.

HACKER, B.R., P. LUFFI, V. LUTKOV, V. MINAEV, L. RATSCHBACHER, M. DUCEA, M. MCWILLIAMS, J. METCALF, High-pressure processing of a subducted continent beneath the Pamirs, J. of Petrology, 46: 1661-1687..

SCHWAB, M., L. RATSCHBACHER, W. SIEBEL, M. MCWILLIAMS, V. LUTKOV, V. MINAEV, F. CHEN, K. STANEK, B. NELSON, W. FRISCH,. J. WOODEN, 2004, Assemblage of the Pamirs: Age and origin of magmatic belts from the southern Tien Shan to the southern Pamirs and their relation to Tibet. Tectonics, 23, TC4002, doi:10.1029/2003TC001583.

DUCEA, M., V.S. LUTKOV, V.E. MINAEV, M., B.R. HACKER, L. RATSCHBACHER, P. LUFFI, M. SCHWAB, G.E. GEHRELS, M.O. MCWILLIAMS, J. VERVOORT, J. METCALF, 2003. Building the Pamirs: the view from the underside. Geology, 31 (10), 849-852.

RATSCHBACHER, L. AND M. SCHWAB., 1999. Cenozoic intracontinental deformation in the eastern Pamirs - an overview. Bayreuther Bodenkundliche Berichte, 65, 73-78.

STRECKER, M.R., FRISCH, W., HAMBURGER, M.W., RATSCHBACHER, L., SEMILETKIN, S., NEIL STURCHIO & ZAMORUYEV, A., 1995: Quaternary deformation in the Eastern Pamirs, Tadzhikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Tectonics, 14/5, 1061-1079.

FRISCH, W., RATSCHBACHER, L., STRECKER, M. ET AL., 1994: Tertiary and Quaternary structures in the eastern Pamir. Journal of Nepal Geological Society, 10, 48-50.

Lateral Extrusion tectonics in the Alps and Carpathians and the formation of the Alpine-Carpathian orocline

A: Alps

(Selection)

FROST, E., DOLAN, J., RATSCHBACHER, L., HACKER, B.R. AND SEWARD, G., 2011. Direct observation of fault-zone structure at the brittle-ductile transition along the SEMP fault system, Austria Alps. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth, 116, B02411, doi:10.1029/2010JB007719, 2011.

FROST, E., DOLAN, J., SAMMIS, CH., HACKER, B.R., COLE, J., AND L. RATSCHBACHER, 2009. Progressive strain localization in a major strike-slip fault exhumed from mid seismogenic depths: Structural observations from the Salzach-Ennstal-Mariazell-Puchberg fault system, Austria. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth, 114, B04406, doi:10.1029/2008JB005763.

COLE, J., HACKER, B.R., RATSCHBACHER, L., DOLAN, J., SEWARD, G., FROST, E., AND FRANK, W., 2007. Fault-zone deformation and strain partitioning at the brittle–ductile transition: Example from the SEMP fault, Austrian Alps, Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth, 112, B12304, doi:10.1029/2007JB004975.

RATSCHBACHER, L., CH. DINGELDEY, CH. MILLER, B. R. HACKER, M. MCWILLIAMS, 2004, Formation, subduction, and exhumation of Penninic oceanic crust in the Eastern Alps: time constraints from 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. Tectonophysics, 394, 155-170.

Linzer, H.-G., Moser, F., Nemes, F., Ratschbacher, L. & Sperner, B., 1997: Build-up and dismembering of the eastern Northern Calcareous Alps. Tectonophysics, 272: 97-124.
Linzer, H.-G., Ratschbacher, L. & Frisch, W., 1995: Transpressional collision structures in the upper crust: the fold-thrust belt of the Northern Calcareous Alps. Tectonophysics, 242, 41-61.
Ratschbacher, L. & W. Frisch, 1993: Palinspastic reconstruction of the pre-Triassic basement units in the Alps: the Eastern Alps. In: J.F. v. Raumer & F. Neubauer (eds.): Pre-Mesozoic geology in the Alps, Springer, Heidelberg, pp. 41-51.
Ratschbacher, L., Merle, O., Davy, Ph. & P. Cobbold, 1991: Lateral extrusion in the Eastern Alps, part I: boundary conditions and experiments scaled for gravity. Tectonics, 10, 245-256.
Ratschbacher, L., Frisch, W., Linzer, H.-G. & O. Merle, 1991: Lateral extrusion in the Eastern Alps, part II: structural analysis. Tectonics, 10, 257-271.  
Ratschbacher, L., Behrmann, J.H. & A. Pahr 1990: Penninic windows at the eastern end of the Alps and their relation to the intra-Carpathian basins. Tectonophysics, 172, 91-105. Ratschbacher, L., Frisch, W., Neubauer, F., Schmid, S. M. & J. Neugebauer 1989: Extension in compressional orogenic belts: the Eastern Alps. Geology, 17, 404-407. Ratschbacher, L. & F. Neubauer 1989: West-directed decollement of Austroal­pine cover nappes in the eastern Alps: geometrical and rheological consider­ations. In: Coward, M.P., Dietrich, D. and Park, R.G. (eds.), Alpine Tectonics, Geological Society Special Publication, 45, 243-262.
Ring, U., Ratschbacher, L., Frisch, W., Biehler, D. & M. Kralik 1989: Kinematics of the Alpine plate-margin: structural styles, strain and motion along the Penninic-Austroalpine boundary in the Swiss-Austrian Alps. Journ. Geol. Soc. London, 146, 835-849.
Behrmann, J. & L. Ratschbacher 1989: Archimedes revisited: a structural test of eclogite emplacement models in the Austrian Alps. Terra nova, 1, 242-252.
Ring, U., Ratschbacher, L. & W. Frisch 1988: Plate-boundary kinematics in the Alps: motion in the Arosa suture zone. Geology, 16, 696-698.
Ratschbacher, L. & G. Oertel 1987: Superposed deformation in the Eastern Alps: strain analysis and micro­fabrics. J. Struct. Geol. 9, 263-276.
Ratschbacher, L. 1986: Kinematics of Austro Alpine cover nappes: changing translation path due to transpression. Tectonophysics, 125, 335-356.

B: Carpathians

C: Turkey and Hellenides

BOZTUG, D., JONCKHEERE, R.C., HEIZLER, M., RATSCHBACHER, L., HARLAVAN, Y., TICHOMIROVA, M., 2008. Timing of post-obduction granitoids from intrusion through cooling to exhumation in central Anatolia, Turkey, Tectonophysics, doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2008.05.035

BOZTUG, D., TEMIZ, H., JONCKHEERE, R. AND L. RATSCHBACHER, 2008. Punctuated exhumation and foreland basin formation and infilling in (Circum)-Central Anatolia (Turkey) associated with the Neo-Tethyan closure. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences, 17, 673-684

Sfeikos, A., Böhringer, Ch., Frisch, W., Kilias, A. & Ratschbacher, L. 1991: Kinematics of Pelagonian nappes in the Kranea area, North Thessaly, Greece. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece, XXV, 101-115.
Kilias, A., Frisch, W., Ratschbacher, L. & Sfeikos, A. 1991: Structural evolution and metamor­phism of blueschists, Ambelakia nappe, Eastern Thessaly, Greece. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece, XXV, 81-99.

North American-Caribbean plate boundary in Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras

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RATSCHBACHER, L., L. FRANZ, MYO MIN, R. BACHMANN, U. MARTENS, K. STANEK, K. STÜBNER, B.K. NELSON, U. HERRMANN, B. WEBER, M. LÓPEZ-MARTÍNEZ, R. JONCKHEERE, B. SPERNER, M. TICHOMIROWA, M.O. MCWILLIAMS, M. GORDON, M. MESCHEDE & P. BOCK, The North American-Caribbean plate boundary in Mexico–Guatemala–Honduras. From: James, K.H., Lorente, M.A. & Pindell, J.L. (eds) The Origin and Evolution of the Caribbean Plate. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 328, 219-293.

Weber, B., Meschede, M., Ratschbacher, L. & Frisch, W., 1997: Structure and kinematic history of the Acatlan complex in the Nuevos Horizontes - San Bernardo region, Puebla. Geofisica Internacional, 36: 63-76.
Meschede, M., Frisch, W., Herrmann, U.R. & Ratschbacher, L.: Stress transmission across an active plate boundary: an example from southern Mexico. Tectonophysics, 266, 81-100.
Herrmann, U., Nelson, B.K. & Ratschbacher, L., 1994: The origin of a terrane: U-Pb systematics and tectonics of the Xolapa complex (southern Mexico). Tectonics, 13, 455-474.
Riller, U., Ratschbacher, L. & Frisch, W. 1992: Left-lateral transtension along the Tierra Colorada defor­mation zone, northern margin of the Xolapa magmatic arc of southern Mexico. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 5 (3/4), 237-249.
Ratschbacher, L., Riller, U., Meschede, M., Herrmann, U. & W. Frisch 1991: Second look at suspect terranes in southern Mexico. Geology, 19, 1233-1236.
 

Southern California

Wenk, H.-R., Johnson, L.R. and Ratschbacher L., 2000: Pseudotachylites in the Eastern Peninsular Ranges of California. Tectonophysics, 321, 253-277.

Structural techniques and features

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Last updated June 2011