Structure and evolution of the backstop in the eastern Nankai Trough area (Japan): Implications for the soon-to-come Tokai earthquake

Abstract We present data showing that the intra-oceanic shortening now occurring south of the eastern Nankai Trough that has produced the Zenisu Ridge has also been responsible for the formation of a previous ridge now buried below the continental margin. This ridge, that we refer to as Paleo-Zenisu, is presently adjacent to the backstop and its location coincides with the outer limit of the seismogenic decollement. The subduction of the paleo-Zenisu ridge below the wedge has led to its complete reorganization and has given its identity to the Great Tokai earthquake rupture zone. The formation of paleo-Zenisu and its consequent subduction has induced the tilting of the backstop toward the northwest since ca 2 Ma. This model suggests that the backstop and possibly the wedge are dextrally sheared because they are extruded southwestward in relation to the collision of the Izu-Bonin Ridge with Japan. We use the finite motion from Zenisu to paleo-Zenisu to derive both the subduction vectors along the Nankai Trough and the shortening vectors within Zenisu-Izu. The amount of shortening absorbed within Zenisu-Izu increases toward the northeast. The corresponding subduction vectors of the Zenisu platelet below the wedge decrease accordingly to the northeast from 50 to less than 20 mm/year and the Zenisu body rotates clockwise with a pole near 36° North, 139° East. This might explain the apparent longer repetition time of great earthquakes in the Tokai area. On the other hand, the 25-35 mm/year obtained for the rate of shortening along the Zenisu thrust indicates a high seismic potential there.     

Cloud-radiation feedbacks in a general circulation model and their dependence on cloud modelling assumptions

The general circulation model (GCM) used in this study includes a prognostic cloud scheme and a rather detailed radiation scheme. In a preceding paper, we showed that this model was more sensitive to a global perturbation of the sea surface temperatures than most other models with similar physical parametrization. The experiments presented here show how this feature might depend on some of the cloud modelling assumptions. We have changed the temperature at which the water clouds are allowed to become ice clouds and analyzed separately the feedbacks associated with the variations of cloud cover and cloud radiative properties. We show that the feedback effect associated with cloud radiative properties is positive in one case and negative in the other. This can be explained by the elementary cloud radiative forcing and has implications concerning the use of the GCMs for climate sensitivity studies.     

Practical method for drawing a VGP path

A statistical method is proposed for the smoothing of polar wander paths and for giving their confidence limits by the mean of successive ellipses. The method is fully parametrical and is based on the relations between the inertia matrix and the parameters of the Fisher distribution, from which a bivariate form is deduced. An elementary tensorial calculation gives the parameters of the confidence ellipse around a vectorial weighted mean, for any unimodal set of vectors. This model can also be used for other statistical tests, wherever the rotational symmetry hypothesis is not consistent (i.e. the fold test).     

Bay of Biscay and Pyrenees

The different hypotheses proposed for the creation of the Bay of Biscay are reviewed. New geological and geophysical data collected in the last two years in the Bay and in the Pyrenean domain give new insight into the tectogenesis of the Pyrenees. Geological data of the Pyrenean area provide tight constraints on the hypothesis of formation of the Bay. The most probable hypothesis is an opening by rotation of the Iberian Peninsula around a pole of rotation situated near Paris, which resulted in strike-slip motion along the North Pyrenean fault during the Upper Mesozoic. A progressive westward migration of the pole initiated in the late Cretaceous blocked the motion along the fault and led to the main Eocene tectogenetic Pyrenean phase.     

Magnetic anomaly pattern in the western mediterranean

A survey of the southern part of the Balearic Basin was flown in 1971 at a height of 600 m. The results of a survey of the northern part, flown at a height of 3000 m, which was previously published, have been downward continued to a height of 600 m. The resulting composite map shows well defined low amplitude (100 gammas) magnetic lineations of the Vine et Matthews' type offset by fracture zones. The lineated zones are bounded by large quasi-circular anomalies on the edge of possibly “continental” non magnetic zones. The results define a complex kinematic pattern of the opening of the Balearic Basin, in terms of plate tectonics.     

A flare in the mira X oph

Before the observation of the 1974 U Ori eruption, it was considered that the Mira stars had only some regular OH variations. With this eruption, we realized that sometimes flares can occur in this type of star. In the course of an OH Mira star monitoring programme with the Nançay radio telescope, we have discovered a new eruptive type of OH maser emission in several sources. Especially, in early 1992, we observed a quickly rising 1665 Mhz emission in the Mira X Oph. The main characteristics of this flare were: large flux variations independent of the light curve; large degree of circular polarization; radial velocity emission close to the stellar velocity.     

Synchronous Transformations of Mineral and Organic Constituents of Sedimentary Rocks in Geological Structure with an Initial Extension and Subsequent Compression Tectonic Regime

Sedimentary rocks of the section in the Red River fold zone of northern Viet Nam are considered. It is shown that secondary mineral parageneses formed in two stages. The first stage (35–17 Ma ago) corresponded to the period of structure extension and sediment subsidence to a depth of about 6 km. This period and subsequent 10 Ma were marked by the formation of a usual dia- and catagenetic zoning of metasedimentary rocks. The second stage (5–7 Ma ago) corresponded to processes of compression that were responsible for the deformation of rocks into gentle folds and 1.5 to 2.2 times contraction of the section thickness in different places. The sequential–mineralogical zoning was disturbed at this stage. Smectites and mixed-layer minerals were replaced by chlorites and hydromicas. Organic material also responded to compression simultaneously with inorganic components. The bituminous component was released from humic matter and rocks became enriched in hydrocarbons.     

High-Resolution Keck Adaptive Optics Imaging of Violent Volcanic Activity on Io

Io, the innermost Galilean satellite of Jupiter, is a fascinating world. Data taken by Voyager and Galileo instruments have established that it is by far the most volcanic body in the Solar System and suggest that the nature of this volcanism could radically differ from volcanism on Earth. We report on near-IR observations taken in February 2001 from the Earth-based 10-m W. M. Keck II telescope using its adaptive optics system. After application of an appropriate deconvolution technique (MISTRAL), the resolution, ∼100 km on Io's disk, compares well with the best Galileo/NIMS resolution for global imaging and allows us for the first time to investigate the very nature of individual eruptions. On 19 February, we detected two volcanoes, Amirani and Tvashtar, with temperatures differing from the Galileo observations. On 20 February, we noticed a slight brightening near the Surt volcano. Two days later it had turned into an extremely bright volcanic outburst. The hot spot temperatures (>1400 K) are consistent with a basaltic eruption and, being lower limits, do not exclude an ultramafic eruption. These outburst data have been fitted with a silicate-cooling model, which indicates that this is a highly vigorous eruption with a highly dynamic emplacement mechanism, akin to fire-fountaining. Its integrated thermal output was close to the total estimated output of Io, making this the largest ionian thermal outburst yet witnessed.     

红河盆地的化学风化作用:主要和微量元素地球化学记录

河流沉积物的元素含量有助于反映其流域的自然风化过程。红河是世界上重要的河流之一,但其沉积物的地球化学研究却几乎没有。本文通过开展红河盆地干流和主要支流40个样品的主要和微量元素地球化学分析,发现红河流域硅酸盐岩的化学风化作用为中等强度,与长江及亚马逊河的风化强度相近,而高于黄河,低于珠江;且化学风化作用受该区域的气候和构造作用控制。