Rate of strike-slip motion on the Amanos Fault (Karasu Valley, southern Turkey) constrained by K–Ar dating and geochemical analysis of Quaternary basalts

The left-lateral Amanos Fault follows a 200-km-long and up to 2-km-high escarpment that bounds the eastern margin of the Amanos mountain range and the western margin of the Karasu Valley in southern Turkey, just east of the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea. Regional kinematic models have reached diverse conclusions as to the role of this fault in accommodating relative motion between either the African and Arabian, Turkish and African, or Turkish and Arabian plates. Local studies have tried to estimate its slip rate by K–Ar dating Quaternary basalts that erupted within the Amanos Mountains, flowed across it into the Karasu Valley, and have since become offset. However, these studies have yielded a wide range of results, ranging from 0.3 to 15 mm a⁻¹, which do not allow the overall role and significance of this fault in accommodating crustal deformation to be determined. We have used the Cassignol K–Ar method to date nine Quaternary basalt samples from the vicinity of the southern part of the Amanos Fault. These basalts exhibit a diverse chemistry, which we interpret as a consequence varying degrees of partial melting of their source combined with variable crustal contamination. This dating allows us to constrain the Quaternary slip rate on the Amanos fault to 1.0 to 1.6 mm a⁻¹. The dramatic discrepancies between past estimates of this slip rate are partly due to technical difficulties in K–Ar dating of young basalts by isotope dilution. In addition, previous studies at the key locality of Hacılar have unwittingly dated different, chemically distinct, flow units of different ages that are juxtaposed. This low slip rate indicates that, at present, the Amanos Fault takes up a small proportion of the relative motion between the African and Arabian plates, which is transferred southward to the Dead Sea Fault Zone. It also provides strong evidence against the long-standing view that its slip continues offshore to the southwest along a hypothetical left-lateral fault zone located south of Cyprus.     

New unspiked K–Ar ages of volcanic rocks of the central and western sector of the Aeolian Islands: reconstruction of the volcanic stages

A geochronological study of the Filicudi, Salina, Lipari and Vulcano Islands (Aeolian Archipelago) using the unspiked potassium–argon technique provides new age data which, combined with stratigraphic correlation, better constrain the temporal evolution of volcanism. The unspiked K–Ar age of the oldest exposed lavas on Filicudi, 219±5 ka, is significantly younger than the previous estimation of 1.02 Ma. In the general context of Aeolian volcanism, this new date suggests that the volcanism of the western sector of the Aeolian Archipelago is younger than previously thought. Geochronological data point out on the rapid transition from calc–alkaline to potassic volcanism. The distribution of the K–Ar ages within the Salina–Lipari–Vulcano group shows that the volcanism started on Lipari and propagated over time northward on Salina and southward on Vulcano. Geochronological and geophysical data suggest that the onset of volcanism in the central sector of the Aeolian Arc may be due to a mantle upwelling structure located below Lipari. A change in the style of the eruptions occurred in the Salina–Lipari–Vulcano system at about 100 ka from the present. Low-energy magmatic eruptions occurred between 188 and about 100 ka. From about 100 ka to the present, higher-energy eruptions and low-energy events due to magma–water interaction also occurred. This change in the style of activity, together with the appearance of evolved products (i.e. rhyolites) during the last 50 ka, is consistent with the formation of magmatic reservoirs located at shallower depth with respect to those of the 188–100-ka period. The new geochronological data and available petrological models reveal that a change in the deep source of the primary magmas occurred in a relatively short time interval.     

Predicting seiche hazard for coastal harbours along the northern and western coasts of France

Natural Hazards - Long-period waves propagating inside harbours can lead to the generation of seiche that can affect and significantly disrupt port operations. This study is based on the analysis...     

The Alleret maar (Massif Central, France): A new lacustrine sequence of the early Middle Pleistocene in western Europe

The Alleret maar (Massif Central, France) provides a long lacustrine sequence (40.6 m) attributed to the early Middle Pleistocene. Sediment, pollen and diatoms analysis of its upper part (AL2 core, 14.6 m) indicates two temperate phases marked by high lake levels, forest development and vegetation expansion. They are separated by a cold period during which lake level drops, coarse sediment input increases and steppic and xerophilous plants develop. Pollen data suggests that this sequence belongs to the upper part of the Cromerian complex. These results are in agreement with the 557 ± 3 ka (±12 ka, including all errors) ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age obtained from an interbedded tephra layer emitted by the Mont-Dore/Sancy strato-volcano and establish that this sequence probably covers the MIS 15 substages.     

Geomagnetic paleosecular variation at Hawaii around 3 Ma from a sequence of 107 lava flows at Kaena Point (Oahu)

We have sampled a sequence of 107 lava flows in the Waianae series on Oahu, Hawaii, in two separate stretches. The first (51 flows) at Kaena Point extends from sea level to an altitude of 190 m, and the second (56 flows) follows the Satellite Tracking Station road from 218 m to 360 m above sea level. Thermal and af demagnetization yield very similar results, and reveal only normal polarities. K/Ar dating at five different horizons combined with the paleomagnetic results indicate that the sequence was emplaced entirely in the normal polarity interval between the Upper Mammoth and the Lower Kaena polarity transitions (3.22–3.11 Ma). Some of the flows are serially correlated. Filtering does not, however, drastically affect the final results. Inclinations are shallower than those expected from a centered dipole field. Although large (13°), the inclination anomaly is consistent with results from other sites at the same latitude. The scatter of the VGPs about the geographic pole is consistent with available data from other regions at similar latitudes. The scatter of the directions is also consistent with the predictions of recent statistical models of paleosecular variation. Therefore, these results do not support the hypothesis of a Pacific dipole window.     

A note of caution when interpreting parameters of the distribution of excesses

In climatology and hydrology, univariate Extreme Value Theory has become a powerful tool to model the distribution of extreme events. The Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD) is routinely applied to model excesses in space or time by letting the two GPD parameters depend on appropriate covariates. Two possible pitfalls of this strategy are the modeling and the interpretation of the scale and shape GPD parameters estimates which are often and incorrectly viewed as independent variables. In this note we first recall a statistical technique that makes the GPD estimates less correlated within a Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation approach. In a second step we propose novel reparametrizations for two method-of-moments particularly popular in hydrology: the Probability Weighted Moment (PWM) method and its generalized version (GPWM). Finally these three inference methods (ML, PWM and GPWM) are compared and discussed with respect to the issue of correlations.     

Epiclastic deposits and ‘horseshoe-shaped’ calderas in Tahiti (Society Islands) and Ua Huka (Marquesas Archipelago), French Polynesia

Occurrences of debris avalanche deposits newly identified in Tahiti (Society Islands) and Ua Huka (Marquesas Archipelago) are described and interpreted here. In both islands, the breccias are located within horseshoe-shaped residual calderas. In Tahiti, the epiclastic formations, up to 500 m thick, lie on the floor of the central depression and in the valley of the northwards running Papenoo River. In Ua Huka, the breccias crop out within a depression limited by a semicircular crest in four bays along the southern coast. Their thickness is ca. 100 m. A few clasts collected in the Tahitian breccias and some rocks forming their substratum have been dated (K–Ar datings) and analysed (major and trace elements, Sr–Nd isotopes) for this study. Using these data, we show that the debris avalanche(s) occurred in Tahiti Nui at the end of the growth of the shield volcano (between 570 000 and 390 000 years ago), maybe in consequence of the emplacement of the plutonic body which occupies the central part of the caldera. In Ua Huka, the collapse took place nearly 3 Ma ago, between the construction of the shield volcano and that of the inner one. The southwards orientation of the caldera, like that of the neighbouring island Nuku Hiva, might reflect a preferential direction of weakness in the substratum of the central Marquesas.