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tAo is an open-source software designed to model the interplay between lithosphere flexure and surface transport (erosion/sedimentation), particularly during the formation of orogens and foreland sedimentary basins (see details). This 2D (cross-section) numerical model calculates 1D lithospheric flexure with different rheologies, in combination with fault kinematics, other isostatic loads, and erosion/deposition. Erosion models include both constant-rate and climate-based approaches. The programs are developed in C for Linux platforms, graphic output is produced using GMT scripts, and standard PCs match the CPU and memory requirements. The software is available under a GPL license.
Check the Youtube demo playlist.
Other videos with tAo results: High Plateau formation. The pseudo-3D (planform) version of tAo is called TISC.
You can download the program from a repository. Take a look at some user documentation or read details in this article about tAo. More recent applications of this program can be found in these publications: 2002 (Guadalquivir Basin), 2004 (Ebro-Catalan Coastal Range), 2005 (Piedmont Basin), 2007 (High Plateaus).
This animation (from Garcia-Castellanos et al., 2002) shows the evolution of an example model run that calculates the foreland subsidence produced by thrust stacking (its kinematics are an input) and the flexural stress distribution in the underlying lithosphere. The relief generated is eroded and the developing basin is filled (blow up in the central panel), with non instantaneous approaches to surface mass transport. Subsidence is calculated by means of a lithospheric flexural model that accounts for the stratification of rheology in the lithosphere and predicts stress distributions that are consistent with the strength and each depth (lower panel, blue for extension; red for compression) .
Competition between a constant uplift and fluvial erosion leading to a topographic steady state.
tAo model run (Saura et al., Tectonics, 2015)
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