Bottom Simulating Reflector and Gas Seepage in Okinawa Trough： Evidence of Gas Hydrate in an Active Back-Arc Basin

To look for gas hydrate, 22 multi-channel and 3 single-channel seismic lines on the East China Sea (ECS) shelf slope and at the bottom of the Okinawa Trough were examined. It was found that there was indeed bottom simulating reflector (BSR) occurrence, but it is very rare. Besides several BSRs, a gas seepage was also found. As shown by the data, both the BSR and gas seepage are all related with local geological structures, such as mud diapir, anticline, and fault-controlled graben-like structure. However, similar structural "anomalies" are quite common in the tectonically very active Okinawa Trough region, but very few of them have developed BSR or gas seepage. The article points out that the main reason is probably the low concentration of organic carbon of the sediment in this area. It was speculated that the rare occurrence of gas hydrates in this region is governed by structure-controlled fluid flow. Numerous faults and fractures form a network of high-permeability channels in the sediment and highly fractured igneous basement to allow fluid circulation and ventilation. Fluid flow in this tectonic environment is driven primarily by thermal buoyancy and takes place on a wide range of spatial scales. The fluid flow may play two roles to facilitate hydrate formation:to help gather enough methane into a small area and to modulate the thermal regime.     

The Nootka Fault Zone — a new plate boundary off western Canada

Summary. Relative motion across a boundary between the main Juan de Fuca plate and its northern extension, the Explorer plate, had earlier been suggested from sea-floor magnetic anomaly analysis and from earthquakes recorded on the western Canada land seismic network. The location of the boundary, called the Nootka fault zone, and the motion across it have been examined through seismic reflection profiles, accurate location of earthquakes with an array of ocean bottom seismometers and through analysis of magnetic, gravity and bathymetric data. The fault zone extends from a ridge-fault—fault triple point at the northern end of the Juan de Fuca ridge to a fault—trench—trench triple junction at the margin off north-central Vancouver Island. The active portion of the fault zone is about 20 km wide, and has produced extensive disturbance in the 0.5 to 1 km of overlying sediments. Magnetic anomaly analysis suggests present left-lateral strike slip motion of about 3 cm/yr, with convergence at the margin being more rapid to the south than to the north of the fault zone. Because of rapidly changing spreading parameters on the Explorer and Juan de Fuca ridges over the past 5 Myr the Nootka fault zone has had a very complex history.     

An Overview of the 28 October 2012 M<Subscript>w</Subscript> 7.7 Earthquake in Haida Gwaii,Canada: A Tsunamigenic Thrust Event Along a Predominantly Strike-Slip Margin

The boundary between the Pacific and North America plates along Canada’s west coast is one of the most seismically active regions of Canada, and is where Canada’s two largest instrumentally recorded earthquakes have occurred. Although this is a predominantly strike-slip transform fault boundary, there is a component of oblique convergence between the Pacific and North America plates off Haida Gwaii. The 2012 M_w 7.7 Haida Gwaii earthquake was a thrust event that generated a tsunami with significant run up of over 7 m in several inlets on the west coast of Moresby Island (several over 6 m, with a maximum of 13 m). Damage from this earthquake and tsunami was minor due to the lack of population and vulnerable structures on this coast.     

The transition from amphibolite-facies mylonite to chloritic breccia and role of the mylonite in formation of Eocene epizonal plutons,Bitterroot dome,Montana

The Bitterroot mylonite is a ductile-deformed amphibolitefacies mylonite (A-mylonite), abruptly capped by ductile- to brittle-deformed greenschist-facies mylonite (G-mylonite). The movement picture of the A-mylonite from its lineation and S-C-surfaces is strongly focused; the average orientation for the G-mylonite is similar but much more diffuse.Regional metamorphism, and intrusion of quartz diorite orthogneiss, granodiorite, and granite of the Idaho-Bitterroot batholith between 105 and less than 60 m.y. ago was followed by regional extension, formation of the A-mylonite, and rapid drop in temperature from about 700 °C to about 280 °C, at a time inferred to be about 57 to 53 m.y. ago. Pressure-relief melting of water-undersaturated rocks at deeper crustal levels, in response to the rapid decrease in pressure, may have produced the nearly dry magmas emplaced as very shallow plutons or erupted as the Challis rhyolitic volcanics 52 or 53 m.y. ago.The greenschist-facies mylonite/chloritic breccia formed during further cooling to about 100 °C, during listric normal faulting on the eastern flank of the Bitterroot dome about 40 m.y. ago.

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Zusammenfassung Der Bitterroot-Mylonit ist ein duktil deformierter amphibolitfazieller Mylonit (A-Mylonit), der von einem duktil bis spröd deformierten grünschieferfaziellen Mylonit (G-Mylonit) scharf getrennt wird. Das Bewegungsbild des A-Mylonites ist anhand seiner Lineationen und seiner S-C-Gefüge stark ausgerichtet; die Durchschnittsorientierung für die G-Mylonite ist ähnlich, streut aber breiter. Der Regionalmetamorphose, den Intrusionen von Quarzdiorit, Orthogneis, Granodiorit und dem Granitbatholithen von Idaho-Bitterroot zwischen 105 und mindestens 60 Ma folgte eine regionale Dehnungsphase, dann die Bildung der A-Mylonite, danach ein rascher Temperaturabfall von ungefähr 700 °C auf ca. 280 °C, wahrscheinlich im Zeitraum vor 57 bis 53 Ma. Druckabhängiges Schmelzen wasseruntersättigter Gesteine in tieferen Krustenniveaus könnte als Reaktion auf den rapiden Druckabfall zur Bildung der nahezu trockenen Magmen geführt haben, die dann vor ca. 52 oder 53 Ma als sehr flachliegende Plutone intrudierten oder wie der Challis-Rhyolith eruptiert wurden.Der grünschieferfazielle Mylonit und die Chloritbrekzien bildeten sich während der weiteren Abkühlung bis auf ca. 100 °C mit der Entwicklung von listrisch geformten Abschiebungen auf der Ostflanke des Bitterroot-Domes vor ca. 40 Ma.

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Résumé L'ensemble mylonitique de Bitterroot comporte une mylonite engendrée par déformation ductile dans le facies des amphibolites (mylonite A), en contact brusque avec une mylonite, ductile à cassante, appartenant au facies des schistes verts (mylonite G). L'image cinématique de la mylonite A est définie de manière très précise par sa linéation et la disposition des plans s et c; l'image de la mylonite G est semblabe, mais plus diffuse.Le métamorphisme régional et l'intrusion de méta-diorite quarzique, de granodiorite et de granite formant le batholite de l'Idaho-Bitterroot, entre 105 Ma et moins de 60 Ma, ont été suivis d'une extension régionale accompagnée de la formation de la mylonite A et d'une chute rapide de la température depuis 700 °C jusqu' à ±280 °C, probablement entre 57 et 53 Ma. La fusion de roches sous-saturées en eau, provoquée dans des niveaux crustaux plus profonds par la baisse rapide de la pression peut être à l'origine des magmas presque secs responsables de la mise en place de plutons peu profonds et d'éruptions comme celle des volcanites rhyolitiques de Challis il y a 52 ou 53 Ma.La mylonite de facies schistes verts et la brèche chloritique se sont formées au cours du refroidissement ultérieur, jusqu'à ±100 °C, à l'occasion de la production de failles normales listriques sur le flanc est du dôme de Bitterroot, il y a environ 40 Ma.

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Biocurtain Design Using Reactive Transport Models

Bioremediation is an attractive alternative to traditional remediation methods for a variety of ground water contaminants. However, widespread implementation of bioremediation is currently limited by the complexity of the dynamic chemical and biological processes that need to be understood and incorporated into the design approach. Reactive transport models provide a powerful tool to simulate these complex interactions and, thus, can be used to improve and guide the design of bioremediation systems. We present a remediation design approach for intermittently stimulated biodegradation using multicomponent reactive transport models, parameterized using a series of nondimensional Damkohler numbers. Designs were based on either (1) a target aqueous phase concentration at the exit of the treatment system, or (2) the total contaminant mass fraction removed from a region of interest. The equation set used to develop this design approach is specific to the case of intermittent electron donor addition to drive cometabolic transformations. We illustrate the design procedure for a biocurtain that removes carbon tetrachloride. Our results for this case indicate that intermittent injection is significantly more efficient than strategies based on continuous pumping. Example design parameters include the length of the biologically active zone (i.e., biocurtain), the effective rate of degradation in this zone, and the interval between electron donor injection cycles. The presented dimensionless parametric approach can be used to design bench-scale column studies and should be helpful for scale-up to field-scale remediation systems.     

Feminist Geopolitics Revisited: Body Counts in Iraq*

Feminist geography and political geography still represent two solitudes within the discipline. While increased traffic between these different parts of the discipline points to a degree of intellectual engagement, there remains a paucity of feminist thought in political geography. This article examines recent scholarship on feminist political geography, with a view to applying its insights to the struggles to protest and end political violence. The concept of feminist geopolitics is employed and recast, both as a bridging concept between feminist and political geography and as an analytical approach that has political valence in the context of the war in Iraq. Feminist geopolitics is revisited in this article, but remains a critical analytic in relation to body counts and other casualties in war zones.