The role of strain dependent rheology on formation of divergent plate boundaries

Surface of the Earth is divided into distinct plates that move relative to each other. However, formation and evolution of new plate boundaries is still challenging to numerically produce and predict. In particular, regional lithospheric models as well as large scale convection models lack realistic strike slip plate boundaries that would arise self-consistently in such models. Here, we investigate the role of different rheologies on the inception and dynamic evolution of the new divergent plate boundaries and their offset by strike-slip faulting. We compare visco-plastic rheology and strain dependent rheology and their capacity to localise deformation into narrow plate limits. We use high-resolution 3D thermo-mechanical numerical models in  cartesian geometry to infer the conditions under which realistic divergent plate boundaries develop.