Estimates of present-day erosion based on sediment transport in rivers: a case study in Taiwan

We discuss the present-day sediment transport by rivers, and hence the erosion rate in upstream basins, based on the example of Taiwan Rivers where large datasets are available. After data correction, the values of the suspended sediment load in the lower Kaoping River are nearly three times smaller than those from the literature. On the other hand, we add the bed load evaluated from numerical modelling, despite limitations from data and models. Whereas the contribution of the chemical denudation rate in Taiwan is minor, the bed load is significant and must be evaluated. We point out that biases in data collection may favour high values of suspended load data, and that large series of datasets are needed to reduce uncertainties and smooth the time variability effect. To cite this article: F.-C. Li et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Evolution of paleostress fields and brittle deformation of the Tornquist Zone in Scania (Sweden) during Permo-Mesozoic and Cenozoic times

The NW-SE oriented Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone (STZ) has been thoroughly studied during the last 25 years, especially by means of well data and seismic profiles. We present the results of a first brittle tectonic analysis based on about 850 dykes, veins and minor fault-slip data measured in the field in Scania, including paleostress reconstruction. We discuss the relationships between normal and strike-slip faulting in Scania since the Permian extension to the Late Cretaceous–Tertiary structural inversions. Our paleostress determinations reveal six successive or coeval main stress states in the evolution of Scania since the Permian. Two stress states correspond to normal faulting with NE-SW and NW-SE extensions, one stress state is mainly of reverse type with NE-SW compression, and three stress states are strike-slip in type with NNW-SSE, WNW-ESE and NNE-SSW directions of compression.The NE-SW extension partly corresponds to the Late Carboniferous–Permian important extensional period, dated by dykes and fault mineralisations. However extension existed along a similar direction during the Mesozoic. It has been locally observed until within the Danian. A perpendicular NW-SE extension reveals the occurrence of stress permutations. The NNW-SSE strike-slip episode is also expected to belong to the Late Carboniferous–Permian episode and is interpreted in terms of right-lateral wrench faulting along STZ-oriented faults. The inversion process has been characterised by reverse and strike-slip faulting related to the NE-SW compressional stress state.This study highlights the importance of extensional tectonics in northwest Europe since the end of the Palaeozoic until the end of the Cretaceous. The importance and role of wrench faulting in the tectonic evolution of the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone are discussed.     

Estimation of subsidence using GPS measurements,and related hazard: the Pingtung Plain,southwestern Taiwan

Four years of GPS measurements were done since 1996 in southwestern Taiwan in order to investigate crustal deformation and land subsidence. The network of 48 stations revealed the velocity field in the Pingtung Plain. Horizontal velocities range from 31 to 54 mm?yr^?1 towards azimuths 247° to 273°. They show clear anti-clockwise deviation in the coastal area, consistent with tectonic transtension related to lateral escape at the transition collision–subduction. The deformation resembles a particle flow towards a free boundary, and is not a rigid rotation. Vertical velocities range from +13 to $?25\text{mm}{\text{yr}}^{\mathrm{?1}}$. Twenty stations show fast subsidence in the coastal area, with rates averaging $?16\text{mm}/\text{yr}$. The comparison with Holocene subsidence suggests that about 75% of the present-day subsidence result from decreasing groundwater level induced by over-pumping, adding significant short-term component to the natural risk resulting from long-term tectonic subsidence. To cite this article: C.-S. Hou et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

The Liuchiu Hsu island offshore SW Taiwan: tectonic versus diapiric anticline development and comparisons with onshore structures

A structural and microtectonic analysis performed in the Liuchiu Hsu island demonstrates that its Plio-Pleistocene tectonic evolution was dominated by alternating NW–SE shortening and local radial extension caused by mud diapirism. Previous models based on seismic data considering both the formation of the Liuchiu Hsu island and the fold development in SW Taiwan as mainly driven by mud diapirism, fail to account for both the asymmetry of the west vergent thrust-related anticlines onshore and the elongated character of the ridges formed by diapir alignments offshore, which rather argue in favour of a tectonic origin. To cite this article: O. Lacombe et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

A major geodynamic change revealed by Quaternary stress patterns in the southern Apennines (Italy)

In southern Italy, analysis of fault slip data sets, in particular from Quaternary formations, provides evidence for a recent change of the stress field. During the Early Pleistocene, the horizontal maximum stress axes were ENE-WSW trending. The deformation was ENE-WSW compression near the front of the chain, and NNW-SSE extension close to the back-arc basin. Some time after the Early Pleistocene, the direction of the largest horizontal stress axes changed to northwest-southeast. Only extensional deformation (σ₂, NW-SE trending; σ₃, NE-SW trending) is observed for this phase and focal mechanisms indicate that it is still active. This NE-SW extension invaded areas previously affected by compression or NNW-SSE extension and coincides with major uplift of Pleistocene marine sediments in the chain and the foredeep up to 700 m above sea level. This change in the stress regime corresponds to the end of accretion processes that had prevailed since the Middle-Late Miocene. As a consequence of this discovery of a recent regional stress and deformational style change, the present-day normal and strike-slip faulting earthquake focal mechanisms in the Southern Apennines should not be considered representative of Tyrrhenian Sea opening and Apennines accretion.     

Recent quaternary tectonics in the hellenic arc: Examples of geological observations on land

Upper Pleistocene and Holocene tectonic movements in the Aegean region are analyzed by geological means (deformation of shorelines, faults in Quaternary deposits, historical seismicity). Examples from Crete, Karpathos, Milos, Chios and Samos are presented. While subduction, indicated by geophysical data, occurs beneath the Hellenic Arc, extensional tectonics (i.e., normal faulting) takes place within and behind the arc, resulting in a slight expansion of the Aegean region towards the Eastern Mediterranean.     

Extension and rifting: the Zeit region,Gulf of Suez

A field analysis of faults and fractures in the Ras Gharib-Ras Gemsa region of the Gulf of Suez shows that the main Late Cenozoic extension occurred perpendicular to the rift axis. Three main types of dip-slip normal faults successively developed as the tilt of blocks bounded by antithetic normal faults increased. Determinations of the amount of extension from structural data are compatible with estimates made using subsidence data through a simplified model of lithospheric stretching. The uplift of rift shoulders is related in chronology and volume to the subsidence of the rift. The geometry of fault patterns and directions of extension suggests that the Late Cenozoic total movement corresponds to a counterclockwise rotation of 4–5° of Sinai relative to Africa, with a pole close to Cairo.     

Trench triple junction off Central Japan—preliminary results of French-Japanese 1984 Kaiko cruise, Leg 2

Leg 2 of the French-Japanese 1984 Kaiko cruise has surveyed the trench triple junction off central Japan, where the Japan, Izu-Bonin and Sagami Trenches intersect. The Izu-Bonin Trench is deeper than the Japan Trench and filled by a thick turbiditic series. Its anomalous depth is explained by the westward retreat of the edge of the northwestward moving Philippine Sea plate. On the contrary to what happens in the Japan Trench, horst and graben structures of the Pacific plate obliquely enters the Izu-Bonin Trench, suggesting that the actual boundary between these two trenches is located to the north of the triple junction. The inner wall of the Izu-Bonin Trench is characterized in the triple junction area by a series of slope basins whose occurrence is related to the dynamics of this area. The northernmost basin is overthrust by the edge of the fore-arc area of the Northeast Japan plate. The plate boundary is hardly discernible further east, which makes it impossible to locate precisely the triple junction itself. These features suggest that large intra-plate deformation occurs there due to the interaction of the plates involved in the triple junction and the weak mechanical strength of the wedge-shaped margin of the overriding plates.     

Immature and mature transform zones near a hot spot: The South Iceland Seismic Zone and the Tjörnes Fracture Zone (Iceland)

We describe and compare the two transform zones that connect the Icelandic rift segments and the mid-Atlantic Ridge close to the Icelandic hot spot, in terms of geometry of faulting and stress fields. The E–W trending South Iceland Seismic Zone is a diffuse shear zone with a Riedel fault pattern including N0°–N20°E trending right-lateral and N60°–N70°E trending left-lateral faults. The dominant stress field in this zone is characterised by NW–SE extension, in general agreement with left-lateral transform motion. The Tjörnes Fracture Zone includes three major lineaments at different stages of development. The most developed, the Húsavík–Flatey Fault, presents a relatively simple geometry with a major fault that trends ESE–WNW. The stress pattern is however complex, with two dominant directions of extension, E–W and NE–SW on average. Both these extensions are compatible with the right-lateral transform motion and reveal different behaviours in terms of coupling. Transform motion has unambiguous fault expression along a mature zone, a situation close to that of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. In contrast, transform motion along the immature South Iceland Seismic Zone is expressed through a more complicate structural pattern. At the early stage of the transform process, relatively simple stress patterns prevail, with a single dominant stress field, whereas, when the transform zone is mature, moderate and low coupling situations may alternate, as a function of volcanic–tectonic crises and induce changes in stress orientation.