: We report a direct comparison of scaled analogue experiments to test the reproducibility of model results among ten different experimental modelling laboratories. We present results for two experiments: a brittle thrust wedge experiment and a brittleviscous extension experiment. The experimental set-up, the model construction technique, the viscous material and the base and wall properties were prescribed. However, each laboratory used its own frictional analogue material and experimental apparatus. Comparison of results for the shortening experiment highlights large differences in model evolution that may have resulted from (1) differences in boundary conditions (indenter or basal-pull models), (2) differences in model widths, (3) location of observation (for example, sidewall versus centre of model), (4) material properties, (5) base and sidewall frictional properties, and (6) differences in set-up technique of individual experimenters. Six laboratories carried out the shortening experiment with a mobile wall. The overall evolution of their models is broadly similar, with the development of a thrust wedge characterized by forward thrust propagation and by back thrusting. However, significant variations are observed in spacing between thrusts, their dip angles, number of forward thrusts and back thrusts, and surface slopes. The structural evolution of the brittle-viscous extension experiments is similar to a high degree. Faulting initiates in the brittle layers above the viscous layer in

[1] The active tectonics at the front of the southern Apennines and in the Adriatic foreland is characterized by E-W striking, right-lateral seismogenic faults, interpreted as reactivated inherited discontinuities. The best studied among these is the Molise-Gondola shear zone. The interaction of these shear zones with the Apennines chain is not yet clear. To address this open question, we developed a set of scaled analogue experiments, aimed at analyzing (1) how dextral strikeslip motion along a preexisting zone of weakness within the foreland propagates toward the surface and affects the orogenic wedge; (2) the propagation of deformation as a function of displacement; and (3) any insights on the active tectonics of southern Italy. Our results stress the primary role played by these inherited structures when reactivated and confirm that regional E-W dextral shear zones are a plausible way of explaining the seismotectonic setting of the external areas of the southern Apennines. Citation:

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Mainstream techniques for the construction of 3D geological models frequently rely on high-density subsurface datasets, such as 3D seismic surveys or dense 2D seismic grids. In settings where the available geological and/or geophysical data are relatively sparse, the construction of a consistent 3D structural framework is seldom straightforward and is strongly dependent on the optimization of the use of surface data. To deal with this challenge, workflows for constructing 3D models from sparse surface data have been proposed by multiple authors. This paper presents three automated techniques which optimize the use of data and enhance the time-efficiency of 3D model construction: 3D geological contact analysis, 3D dip-domain construction, and 3D isopach measurement and construction.

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