Anomalous Seismicity and Accelerating Moment Release Preceding the 2001 and 2002 Earthquakes in Northern Baja California, Mexico

— An algorithm recently developed by RUNDLE et al. (2002) to find regions of anomalous seismic activity associated with large earthquakes identified the location of an M _w = 5.6 earthquake near Calexico, Mexico. In this paper we analyze the regional seismicity before this event, and a nearby M _w = 5.7 event, using time-to-failure algorithms developed by BOWMAN et al. (1998) and BOWMAN and KING (2001a,b). The former finds the radius of a circular region surrounding the epicenter that optimizes the time-to-failure acceleration of seismic release. The latter optimizes acceleration based on the expected stress accumulation pattern for a dislocation source. Both methods found a period of accelerating seismicity in an optimal region, the size of which agrees with previously proposed scaling relations. This positive result suggests that the Rundle algorithm may provide a useful technique to identify regions of accelerating seismicity, which can then be analyzed using signal optimization time-to-failure techniques.     

Correlation of the Rockland ash bed,a 400,000-year-old stratigraphic marker in northern California and western Nevada,and implications for middle Pleistocene paleogeography of central California

Outcrops of an ash bed at several localities in northern California and western Nevada belong to a single air-fall ash layer, the informally named Rockland ash bed, dated at about 400,000 yr B.P. The informal Rockland pumice tuff breccia, a thick, coarse, compound tephra deposit southwest of Lassen Peak in northeastern California, is the near-source equivalent of the Rockland ash bed. Relations between initial thickness of the Rockland ash bed and distances to eruptive source suggest that the eruption was at least as great as that of the Mazama ash from Crater Lake, Oregon. Identification of the Rockland tephra allows temporal correlation of associated middle Pleistocene strata of diverse facies in separate depositional basins. Specifically, marine, littoral, estuarine, and fluvial strata of the Hookton and type Merced formations correlate with fluvial strata of the Santa Clara Formation and unnamed alluvium of Willits Valley and the Hollister area, in northwestern and west-central California, and with lacustrine beds of Mohawk Valley, fluvial deposits of the Red Bluff Formation of the eastern Sacramento Valley, and fluvial and glaciofluvial deposits of Fales Hot Spring, Carson City, and Washoe Valley areas in northeastern California and western Nevada. Stratigraphic relations of the Rockland ash bed and older tephra layers in the Great Valley and near San Francisco suggest that the southern Great Valley emerged above sea level about 2 my ago, that its southerly outlet to the ocean was closed sometime after about 2 my ago, and that drainage from the Great Valley to the ocean was established near the present, northerly outlet in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay about 0.6 my ago.     

Chemical and stable isotopic models for boundary creek warm springs, southwestern Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Thermal springs of the Boundary Creek hydrothermal system in the southwestern part of Yellowstone Park outside the caldera boundary vary in chemical and isotopic composition, and temperature. The diversity may be accounted for by a combination of processes including boiling of a deep thermal water, mixing of the deep thermal water with cool meteoric water and/or with condensed steam or steam-heated meteoric water, and chemical reactions with surrounding rocks. Dissolved-silica, Na⁺, K⁺ and Ca²⁺ contents of the thermal springs could result from a thermal fluid with a temperature of 200 ± 20°C. Chloride-enthalpy and silica-enthalpy mixing models suggest mixing of 230°C, 220 mg/l Cl⁻ thermal water with cool, low-Cl⁻ components. A 350 to 390°C component with Cl⁻ ≥ 300 mg/l is possibly present in thermal springs inside the caldera but is not required to fit observed spring chemical and isotopic compositions. Irreversible mass transfer models in which a low-temperature water reacts with volcanic glass as it percolates downward and warms, can account for observed pH and dissolved-silica, K⁺, Na⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ concentrations, but produces insufficient Cl⁻ or F⁻ for measured concentrations in the warm springs. The ratio of a_Na/a_H, and Cl⁻ are best accounted for in mixing models. The water-rock interaction model fits compositions of acid-sulfate waters observed at Summit Lake and of low-Cl⁻ waters involved in mixing.The cold waters collected from southwestern Yellowstone Park have δD values ranging from −118 to −145 per mil and δ¹⁸O values of −15.9 to −19.4 per mil. Two samples from nearby Island Park have δD values of −112 and −114 per mil and δ¹⁸O values of −15.1 and −15.3 per mil. All samples of thermal water plot significantly to the right of the meteoric water line. The low Cl⁻ and variable δD values of the thermal waters indicate isotopic compositions are derived by extensive dilution with cold meteoric water and by steam separation on ascent to the surface. Many of the hot springs with higher δD values may contain in addition a significant amount of high-D, low-Cl⁻, acid-sulfate or steam-heated meteoric water. Mixing models, Cl⁻ content and isotopic compositions of thermal springs suggest that 30% or less of a deep thermal component is present. For example, the highest-temperature springs from Three Rivers, Silver Scarf and Upper Boundary Creek thermal areas contain up to 70% cool meteoric water and 30% hot water components, springs at Summit Lake and Middle Boundary Creek spring 57 are acid-sulfate or steam-heated meteoric water; springs 27 and 48 from Middle Boundary Creek and 49 from Mountain Ash contain in excess of 50% acid-sulfate water; and Three Rivers spring 46 and Phillips could result from mixing hot water with 55% cool meteoric water followed by mixing of acid-sulfate water. Extensive dilution by cool meteoric water increases the uncertainties in quantity and nature of the deep meteoric, thermal component.     

The declining but non-rejuvenating base level—The Lisan lake,the Dead Sea area,Israel

Laboratory experiments investigating the effects of a lowering base level do not simulate natural eustatic lowering along concave river profiles. The field data on this issue are also quite limited. In evaluating the control exercised by lowering base level on a drainage network, distinction must be made between its influence and those of other hydromorphological processes operating within the basin. Field data on morphological relations, based on photogrammetric mapping and longitudinal profiling, have been gathered in the Dead Sea area, Israel, where a rapid fall in base level has occurred during the Holocene. The study area is an entrenched fan delta with a sequence of 14 unpaired fan terraces which die out at intersection points within an alluvial fan system. The results suggest that the intersection points did not function as base levels. The receding base level played only a passive role, allowing entrenchment without transmitting a head-cutting feedback basinwards. The arid environment caused a delay in transmission of information through the system. The results support the model of short, episodic, and discontinuous erosional events, inherent in the evolution of drainage basins. It is suggested that base level effects in temperate and humid regions are not transferrable to arid zones.     

Reversed responses within a segmented detached breakwater, the Tuscany coast Italy—a case study

A multiple detached breakwater system was designed to protect an extended length of shoreline in front of the presidential villa located in the Gombo region, Tuscany, Italy. The purpose of this empirical field study was to examine the impact of the surface-piercing segmented breakwater on the subaqueous morphology and to follow the effect of the breakwaters on the beach.Shoreline mapping was performed on rectified, stereo-plotted air photos and was also based on topographic field surveying. Bathymetric mapping was based on interpolation of profile lines extending to 10 m water depth.Building the breakwaters in a downstream order caused the trapping of the longshore-driven sediments mainly at the southernmost breakwaters that faced the longshore sediment supply. The longshore down-current direction controlled the hierarchy of the beach response. Two relatively coherent behavioral domains were found to exist: (1) the “permanent tombolo stage” of segments 1–3 and (2) the “no sinuosity” response of the beach opposite the northern segment no. 5. The segment no.4, in-between, did not exhibit a coherent behaviour, indicating a drastic reversal in the sedimentary regime.The three southernmost tombolos facing the longshore current became the main sediment trap, causing a lee-side erosional effect to emerge within the protection scheme of the segmented detached breakwaters. The oblique incident waves enter through the gaps and maintain in the inshore the depleted longshore drift, causing the shoreline configuration in the lee of the northern breakwaters to develop into a prograding log-spiral bay.     

The diurnal,annual and sunspot-cycle variations of ESFm at Huancayo compared with similar variations of spread-F occurrence at other longitudes and latitudes

Using the tabulations of spread-F data from ionosonde recordings the diurnal, annual and sunspot-cycle variations of this spread-F occurrence have been investigated for the equatorial station, Huancayo. Both R_z max and R_z min periods have been considered. The analyses suggest that some explanation of these variations can be made by involving two regimes, which have been called Regime A and Regime B. The Regime A is present throughout the night but this distribution is more obvious after midnight. This is because in the post-sunset period Regime B, which is associated with significant height rises, is dominant. The Regime A is the same as for similar distributions in mid-latitudes and is inversely related to sunspot activity. It maximizes in December solstice months. The Regime B is directly related to sunspot activity and maximizes in equinoctial months. Changes associated with the upper atmosphere neutral particle density have been found to be important, particularly for Regime A where an inverse relationship exists. The Regime A R_z min annual distributions reported here for Huancayo have been compared with similar distributions at other longitudes and latitudes.