K-Ar dating of extensional fault gouge from the Yi-Shu segment of the Tan-Lu fault zone

Two grabens were developed in the Yi-Shu segment of the Tan-Lu fault zone (TLFZ) during its exten-sional activities, and are now confined by four major NNE-trending normal faults and filled with Creta-ceous sediments. These faults were developed due to their reactivities, containing gouge and cutting the graben sediments. Detailed fieldwork demonstrates that the faults experienced sinistral transten-sional moment related to regional NE-SW extension during the reactivity. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of ...     

Mechanisms for ground-surface fracturing and incipient slope failure associated with the 2001 eruption of Mt. Etna, Italy: analysis of ephemeral field data

During the July–August 2001 eruption of Mt. Etna development of extensional fractures/faults and grabens accompanied magma intrusion and subsequent volcanic activity. During the first days of the eruption, we performed an analysis of attitude, displacement and propagation of fractures and faults exposed on the ground surface in two sites, Torre del Filosofo and Valle del Leone, located along the same fracture system in the region surrounding the Valle del Bove depression on the eastern flank of Mt. Etna. Fractures and faults formed as the consequence of a shallow intruding dyke system that fed the several volcanic centres developed along the fracture system. The investigated sites differ in slope attitude and in geometrical relationships between fractures and slopes. In particular, the fracture system propagated parallel to the gentle slope (<7° dip) in the Torre del Filosofo area, and perpendicular to the steep slope (25° dip) in the Valle del Leone area. In the Torre del Filosofo area, slight graben subsidence and horizontal extension of the ground surface by about 3 m were recorded. In the Valle del Leone area, extensional faulting forming a larger and deeper graben with horizontal extension of the ground surface by about 10 m was recorded. For the Valle del Leone area, we assessed a downhill dip of 14° for the graben master fault at the structural level beneath the graben where the fault dip shallows. These results suggest that dyke intrusion at Mount Etna, and particularly in the region surrounding the Valle del Bove depression, may be at the origin of slope failure and subsequent slumps where boundary conditions, i.e. geometry of dyke, slope dip and initial shear stress, amongst others, favour incipient failures.     

Géologie de l’Afar Septentrional

Tectonics — Between 15° and 13° N, Afar northern apex’ tectonics are determined essentially by sets of fractures with a NNW trend. This faulting is made of open tension fissures and normal faults, that form a graben with a narrow central trench. This trench is clearly visible over approx. 30 km NNW from lake Giulietti. It is then hidden below volcanic piles of the Erta Ale Range that mark the central trench. Further north the graben is concealed below very thick (several thousand m) evaporite deposits of the Salt Plain; but the central trench is still marked there by a line of varied accidents such as salt domes (including the potash dome of Dalol), phreatic explosion craters, and CO₂ charged springs. North of the Salt Plain, the NNW trend is marked by the Mara’a-Alid Range. As a set-off, no lineaments have been observed in the field that could back the hypothesis of a N-S active zone (Wonji Fault Belt) being the most important feature of Afar Depression; this is definitively not the case, at least north of latitude 13°. Neither transverse transcurrent nor transform faults have been found. The assertion the huge scarp bordering Afar to the West being only an erosional feature superimposed over a large downwarp of the Ethiopian Plateau stratas is contradicted by several facts (actual normal faults, magnetic data, volcanoes close to the scarp, etc.). The conclusion of this first approach is that Northern Afar is a graben structure «en échelon» with the main Red Sea Rift, taking the place of the latter exactly at the latitude where it dies out. According to us, northern Afar is definitively a Red Sea structure and not, as previously proposed, a funnel shaped widening of the Main Ethiopian (Est African) Rilt. Volcanology — The volcanism of the Erta Ale Range is typically fissural in its southermost third; northwards shield volcanoes appear in the central part of the range; eventually, strato volcanoes, with trachytic and rhyolitic lavas, are heaped over the fissure basalts in the northern third of the chain. All the 7 volcanoes of the Range are active (either eruptive or fumarolic activity). The volcanoes over the 13th parallel are, from East to West, Barawli-Franca, a complexe acid center; Afdera, a dormant strato volcano; Alayta a big half fissure, half shield volcano; and Pierre Pruvost complex, with basaltic lava fields, a caldera strato volcano with related ignimbritic sheets, and a big cluster of active rhyolitic domes with rhyolitic lava flows. Peirology and magmatology — Samples analysed to date show five types of rocks outcropping in the surveyed area: 1) basalts; 2) andesine basalts; 3) dark trachytes; 4) oversatured trachytes; 5) soda rhyolites and pantellerites. In the Erta Ale range, acid rocks appear in the northern half and their quantity, relative to basic ones, increases northwards though remaining always quite subordinate. These acid rocks are always emitted by the central crater itself or through a nearby point. In the complex volcanoes of the 13th parallel lineament, trachytes and rhyolites are more generally concentrated on one side of the related basic strato-volcano. Current studies allow to detect the existence of an evolutive series of alkaline character: 1) initial fissure activity emits olivine alkali basalts; 2) a second stage is characterized by abundant andesine basalts; 3) a third stage generates either dark, femic trachytes, and (or) soda rhyolites. The inter-relationships between the basalt-dark trachytes series on the one hand and the oversatured trachytes — soda rhyolites series on the other hand, is one of the main problems of the northern Alar magmatology.     

The permeability of the Elkhorn fault zone,South Park,Colorado

The purposes of this study are to use both field and modeling approaches to characterize the permeability of a fault and to assess the role of the fault on regional ground water flow. The study subject is the Elkhorn fault, a low-angle reverse fault that brings Precambrian crystalline rocks over the sediments of Colorado's South Park Basin. The fault is hypothesized to act as a low-permeability barrier to flow, restricting interaction between the crystalline aquifer and the basin sediments. To test this hypothesis and to better predict the permeability structure of the fault, we synthesized geologic data to create a geologic model of the fault, conducted aquifer tests to estimate the hydrogeologic properties of the fault zone, and used ground water modeling to test the influence of a range of hydraulic properties for the fault zone on ground water flow in the region. Our study suggests that the fault is a low-permeability feature. Estimated heads are best matched to observations by modeling the fault as a 10-foot-thick interval of low-permeability fault gouge. Steady-state flow models show that much of the flow in the study area is topographically driven near land surface. Flow rates decrease with depth in the aquifers. In the footwall, ground water moves updip in the Michigan-San Isabel syncline to discharge in the South Park Basin. In the hanging wall, ground water moves east to a regional ground water divide. Sensitivity analyses indicate that hydraulic heads are most sensitive to changes in hydraulic conductivity and recharge.     

Rift structure, evolution, and earthquakes in the Gulf of Corinth, from reflection seismic images

Continental extension is forming the Gulf of Corinth across the strike of earlier Alpine evolution. Here, we present the first deep reflection sections with pre-stack depth-migration processing across the deep basin of the Corinth active rift, which image structures unpredicted by current models. Resolving the infill as a pile of layers that are broken by faults allows one to follow their subsidence and deformation history. Variation among the profiles suggests that southern normal faults control the rift in a time progression from the east towards its western tip. On the central, Derveni-Itea transect, a 3-km widening of the basin accrued since the initiation of this control that is marked by an unconformity between the two main sedimentary units. This is estimated to have occurred 0.5-0.6 Myr ago, assuming the glacio-eustatic sea-level changes have controlled the stratigraphy of sediments deposited as a succession of layers on the subsiding hangingwall, as they did on the southern footwall in forming the famous flight of marine terraces of Corinth. A roll-over anticline and crestal collapse graben are diagnostic of the control by a normal fault of dip varying with depth. The deeper low-angle part of this bi-planar fault is indeed imaged as a reflector in the basement. The occurrence of the collapse with a breakaway at the steep southern basin-bounding fault of the hangingwall slab can be estimated 0.12-0.2 Myr ago, with a marked increase in extension rate that brought it to its present fastest value over 10 mm/yr. The low-angle part of the active fault might also have controlled earlier evolution upslope and in the basin. When compared with inferences from earthquake studies, this low-angle active fault may not appear to be seismogenic but may participate to the seismic cycle, possibly in a conditionally stable regime. Active faults seen as sea-bottom scarps merely accommodate deformation of its subsiding hangingwall. The footwall of the low-angle faults, which current seismicity shows to be in extension, appears then as being pulled out from beneath the rift, in a motion towards the rolling-back slab that causes the Hellenic subduction retreat.     

Rifting and basin inversion in the eastern margin of the Japan Sea

Abstract Extensional basin formation and subsequent basin inversion in the southern area of the eastern margin of the Japan Sea were studied on the basis of the interpretation of seismic profiles (total length approximately 15 000 km) and the fossil analyses of 77 sea-bottom samples. Rift (Early to Early Middle Miocene), post-rift (Middle to Late Miocene), pre-inversion (Late Miocene to Pliocene) and inversion stages (Pliocene to Quaternary) were differentiated by the extension and contraction of the crust. Many small-scale rifts were formed in the Sado Ridge and the Mogami Trough during the rift stage, simultaneous with back-are spreading of the Japan Sea. Most of the rifts were east- or southeast-facing, rotational half-grabens bounded by west-dipping normal faults at their eastern boundaries. The syn-rift sequence can be divided into lower and upper units by an erosional surface. The sequences are presumed to be composed mainly of fining-upward sediments. The trend of most rifts is north-northeast with the remainder being of east-northeast-bias. The north-northeast trending rifts are distributed widely in the Sado Ridge and Mogami Trough and do not show an en échelon arrangement, suggesting that they were formed mainly by pure extension nearly perpendicular to the arc. The east-northeast trending rifts are presumed to have been developed by a north-northwest extension in the late rift stage, which may have accompanied a right-lateral movement in the eastern margin of the Japan Sea. During the post-rift stage, the rifts and adjacent horsts subsided and became covered by the post-rift sequence, characterized by parallel and continuous reflections. This suggested no significant tectonic movements in this period. In the pre-inversion stage many of the rifts subsided again, presumably because of down-warping due to weak compressional stress. The normal faults reactivated as reverse faults during the inversion stage due to an increase in compressional stress. Many of the rifts have been uplifted and transformed into east-vergent asymmetric anticlines. The basin inversion is greatest in the Sado Ridges and in the Dewa Bank Chain, while it is least developed in the Mogami Trough and in the western slope of the Sado Ridge, in which some normal faults have not been reactivated. The increase and decrease of the inversion corresponds to the peak and trough of undulation at an interval of about 50 km trending parallel to the arc.     

Silicic lava dome growth in the 1934–1935 Showa Iwo-jima eruption, Kikai caldera, south of Kyushu, Japan

The 1934–1935 Showa Iwo-jima eruption started with a silicic lava extrusion onto the floor of the submarine Kikai caldera and ceased with the emergence of a lava dome. The central part of the emergent dome consists of lower microcrystalline rhyolite, grading upward into finely vesicular lava, overlain by coarsely vesicular lava with pumice breccia at the top. The lava surface is folded, and folds become tighter toward the marginal part of the dome. The dome margin is characterized by two zones: a fracture zone and a breccia zone. The fracture zone is composed of alternating layers of massive lava and welded oxidized breccia. The breccia zone is the outermost part of the dome, and consists of glassy breccia interpreted to be hyaloclastite. The lava dome contains lava with two slightly different chemical compositions; the marginal part being more dacitic and the central part more rhyolitic. The fold geometry and chemical compositions indicate that the marginal dacite had a slightly higher temperature, lower viscosity, and lower yield stress than the central rhyolite. The high-temperature dacite lava began to effuse in the earlier stage from the central crater. The front of the dome came in contact with seawater and formed hyaloclastite. During the later stage, low-temperature rhyolite lava effused subaerially. As lava was injected into the growing dome, the fracture zone was produced by successive fracturing, ramping, and brecciation of the moving dome front. In the marginal part, hyaloclastite was ramped above the sea surface by progressive increments of the new lava. The central part was folded, forming pumice breccia and wrinkles. Subaerial emplacement of lava was the dominant process during the growth of the Showa Iwo-jima dome.Editorial Responsibility J. McPhie     

Trace metals distribution pattern in floodplain sediments of a lowland river in relation to contemporary valley bottom morphodynamics

The distribution of trace metals in alluvial sediments depends on their natural background concentrations, and on the dynamics of contemporary depositional and erosional (mainly flood‐induced) processes. Geological and geochemical investigations were carried out in the valley of Vistula River near Magnuszew (central Poland). Sediment samples were collected from a depth of 35 cm and comprise sediments of all defined geomorphological features. Identification and geological interpretation of the morphodynamic sediment features was supported by aerial photographs and high‐resolution satellite images. These studies revealed that the distribution of trace metals is closely linked to the morphogenesis of the alluvial floodplain. The highest concentrations of Cu, Co, Zn, V, Cr and Ni were observed in crevasse‐splays deposits. By contrast, Sr, Pb and As were concentrated in deposits which fill oxbow lakes (partly infilled with organic deposits). The lowest concentrations of trace metals were detected in flood sediments deposited within erosional troughs. The geomorphological and sedimentological history of the fluvial features explains the pattern of heavy metal distribution on the current floodplain surface. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural evolution of the Pleistocene Cimini trachytic volcanic complex (Central Italy)

Structural, geomorphological, geophysical and volcanological data have been processed for the implementation of a dedicated GIS through which the structural evolution of the Pleistocene trachytic Cimini volcano (central Italy) has been reconstructed. The evolution of the Cimini complex includes three main close-in time phases: (1) intrusion of a shallow laccolith, rising along NW and NE trending faults and stagnating at the contact between the Mesozoic-Cenozoic and the Pliocene-Pleistocene sedimentary units constituting the bedrock of the volcano; (2) emplacement of lava domes along radial and tangential fractures formed by the swelling induced by the laccolith growth; (3) ignimbrite eruptions and final effusion of olivine-latitic lavas. Domes are both of Pelean and low lava dome type and their morphology was controlled by the location on the inclined surface of the swelled area. Some domes show to have uplifted upper Pliocene thermally metamorphosed clay sediments, suggesting a cryptodome-like growth. Comparison of the top of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic units with the top of the upper Pliocene-Pleistocene sedimentary complex, suggests that the laccolith emplaced in a graben of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary complex filled by the Pliocene–Pleistocene sediments uplifted by the shallow intrusion. Stress patterns acting on the Cimini area have been deduced analysing the drainage network and the morphotectonic lineaments. Rose diagrams show a large dispersion of the lineaments reflecting the local presence of radial and tangential fractures. The most frequent extensional NW and NE trending lineaments have regional significance and controlled the magma uprise leading to the laccolith emplacement.     

On fault evidence for a large earthquake in the late fifteenth century,Eastern Kunlun fault,China

The EW-trending Kunlun Fault System (KFS) is one of the major left-lateral strike-slip faults on the Tibetan Plateau. It forms the northern boundary of the Bayan Har block. Heretofore, no evidence has been provided for the most recent event (MRE) of the ~70-km-long eastern section of the KFS. The studied area is located in the north of the Zoige Basin (northwest Sichuan province) and was recognized by field mapping. Several trenches were excavated and revealed evidence of repeated events in late Holocene. The fault zone is characterized by a distinct 30–60-cm-thick clay fault gouge layer juxtaposing the hanging wall bedrock over unconsolidated late Holocene footwall colluvium and alluvium. The fault zone, hanging wall, and footwall were conformably overlain by undeformed post-MRE deposits. Samples of charred organic material were obtained from the top of the faulted sediments and the base of the unfaulted sediments. Modeling of the age of samples, earthquake yielded a calibrated 2σ radiocarbon age of A.D. 1489 ± 82. Combined with the historical earthquake record, the MRE is dated at A.D. 1488. Based on the over ~50 km-long surface rupture, the magnitude of this event is nearly M _w ~7.0. Our data suggests that a ~200-km-long seismic gap could be further divided into the Luocha and Maqu sections. For the last ~1000 years, the Maqu section has been inactive, and hence, it is likely that the end of its seismic cycle is approaching, and that there is a potentially significant seismic hazard in eastern Tibet.     

大陆深俯冲带的地壳速度结构——东大别造山带深地震宽角反射/折射研究

在安徽大别山(东大别)进行的深地震宽角反射/折射探测获得6条二维地壳速度结构剖面. 结果显示，东大别造山带地壳为一高速穹隆构造，在其核部中、下地壳变质岩出露于地表，波速高达5.0km/s；在其翼部，上、中地壳发育速度约6.1km/s的壳内低速层(体). 莫霍面的起伏变化较大，中心部位深达41km左右，周边地区则抬升到32～34km. 在晓天—磨子潭断裂一线下方莫霍面垂向错断，断距约4km. 东大别造山带具有大陆深俯冲-碰撞造山带地壳结构的典型式样. 莫霍面错断与扬子陆块深俯冲有关，错断处表征扬子与华北陆块碰撞缝合的深部位置. 高速穹隆构造可能是两陆块碰撞挤压的产物，穹隆翼部上、中地壳发育的低速滑脱带(面)可能在碰撞期之后的地壳伸展、超高压变质岩从中地壳抬升出露于地表过程中起到重要作用.     

Incipient spreading center in the Gulf of Elat,northern Red Sea

The Gulf of Elat, located at the northern Red Sea, is a rift that forms the southern section of the Dead Sea rift system. A recent high-resolution seismic reflection survey showed that lenticular grabens and axial anticlines are the predominant structures at the rift floor. Structural relationships suggest that after the lenticular graben was formed at the rift floor, it was filled with sediments. Axial uplift along the rift caused the widening of the graben and the development of axial anticlines, and at a later stage a new graben started to develop between the flank of the anticline and the boundary fault of the rift. The data indicate that the tectonic regime affecting the southern Dead Sea rift is one of uplift and extension, acting simultaneously. It is presumed that upwelling of magma in the upper mantle, extending northwards from the Red Sea, is the cause for these uplift and extensional phenomena, and that the Gulf of Elat is an incipient spreading center.     

A detailed gravity study of the Chattolanee Baltimore Gneiss Dome,Maryland, U.S.A.

A detailed gravity survey over the Chattolanee Baltimore Gneiss Dome in the Maryland Piedmont suggests that the dome is an arched recumbent fold. The Baltimore Gneiss, which cores the dome, has a negative density contrast with the surrounding Cambro-Ordovician marbles and schists and is coincident with a large minimum in the simple Bouguer gravity. Three north-south profiles, which cut across the east-west-trending surface exposure of the dome were modeled two-dimensionally. The models suggest that the Baltimore Gneiss is thickest and tightly folded in an inverted V shape to the east and thinner and broadly arched to the west. It is also possible to fit the gravity data with a mushroom-shaped body at the easternmost profile, which could suggest a diapiric origin for the dome, but this interpretation is not favored based on geological arguments. The Baltimore Mafic Complex, located to the south of the Chattolanee Dome, can be modeled as an approximately 1 km thick slab with a subhorizontal base, suggesting that it is a thrust sheet. By analogy with the Phoenix Baltimore Gneiss Dome, mapped by Crowley [2], the Cambro-Ordovician sediments surrounding the Chattolanee Dome may also be involved in the recumbent folding which would suggest that the dome was formed during the Ordovician Taconic orogeny.     

Morphotectonics of the Lake Albert Rift Valley and its significance for continental margins

The Lake Albert region is described as an example of a rift valley. It is far more complex than the typical graben used by rift valley modellers. The northern section is a complex half graben with en echelon faults and warps on the west. The central section is a graben, but with uplift axes remote from the faults. The southern section is complicated by the partly faulted but mainly upwarped tilt block of the Ruwenzori massif. Many features of the landscape—drainage patterns, erosion surfaces, regolith—pre-date the rift valley tectonics, and provide insight into the dating and evolution of tectonic features. As rift valleys are precursors of seafloor spreading, the rift geomorphology shows which features may pre-date the formation of new continental edges. Many modern passive margins have morphotectonic features that date back to the rift valley stage of crustal evolution.     

断裂两盘岩性差异对汶川地震的影响

岩性差异导致层间变形差异是常见的构造变形现象.龙门山断裂带中段北川—映秀断裂虹口至清平段,断裂上盘为坚硬的前震旦系褶皱基底,下盘则为软弱的前陆盆地沉积物,两者之间具有较大的岩性差异.本文利用基于R-minimum的有限元算法对在一个地震复发间隔内的断层活动进行非线性摩擦接触模拟.计算结果显示,上下盘泊松比的差异则对断层破裂时间及快体变形影响不大,但不同的泊松比条件下断层的破裂过程略有不同,而上下盘杨氏模量的差异能够延迟断层的破裂时间,延长破裂过程,扩大地震复发间隔,且扩大了下盘深度10 km以上和10 km以下地层变形的差异.双断坡构造能够通过深部的应力分解来削弱断层下盘深度10 km以上的变形,但是在上下盘岩性一致的情况下,双断坡构造推迟了主断层的滑动时间,延长了破裂过程,而在强硬上盘和软弱下盘共存的条件下,发育于软弱下盘的次级破裂并不能对主断层的破裂时间和破裂过程造成较大影响.北川—映秀断裂上盘强硬的彭灌杂岩和下盘软弱的含碳沉积地层对汶川地震双断坡式破裂的生成具有重要的促进作用.     

The origin of the Nicaraguan depression

A conspicuous graben extends for 800 kilometers through El Salvador and western Nicaragua to the Caribbean Sea in northeastern Costa Rica. Like the smaller but structurally similar Semangko and Toba Depressions of northern Sumatra, the trough is clearly related to voluminous volcanic eruptions during Late Tertiary time. In the region around Lakes Managua and Nicaragua, where the depression is best defined and reaches its greatest dimension, a thick series of Tertiary sediments and volcanic rocks provides a means of interpreting the Cenozoic history of the region. Following a long period of intermittent volcanic activity and sedimentation, extensive sheets of andesitic and dacitic ignimbrites were erupted during Late Miocene time from fissure sources which appear to have been located near the now-subsided central portion of the graben. Near the coast, ignimbrites flowed across a flat lagunal shore overwhelming and burying the tropical vegetation and finally coming to rest in shallow water. Unusual textures and chaotic mixtures of pumice with sediments and silicified wood characterize the bases of many of the water-laid ignimbrites. Subsidence of the graben does not appear to have occurred concurrently with the ignimbrite eruptions but followed them closely near the end of the Miocene or the beginning of Pliocene time. Subsequent activity has been confined to relatively smaller eruptions from central vents near the boundary faults of the graben.     

汶川地震强震动地面倾斜研究

根据三分量强震动传感器水平摆和竖向摆对倾斜的动力响应差异,利用谱比法计算出汶川MS8.0地震中近断层强震动的断层法线方向和平行方向的同震地面倾斜. 结果表明, 本次地震中强震动观测台处地面倾斜一般小于1deg;,影响频段主要在0.1 Hz以下,发生较大倾斜的台站主要在距地表破裂迹线30 km以内,在100 km之外或水平向加速度幅值均方根在200 cm/s2以下时很少发生0.01deg;以上的同震地面倾斜．总体上看,上盘区域的倾斜值普遍小于下盘区域,法线方向倾斜值一般大于平行线方向倾斜值．位于前山断裂与中央断裂之间区域的绵竹清平台谱比较低但平缓且频带较宽,可能反应了该区域的运动特殊性,而汶川卧龙台则显示了上盘边缘区域地面倾斜较大．逆冲段与走滑段台站倾斜对比显示,地面倾斜可能受局部场地条件影响较大．      

The blanketing effect of sediments in basins formed by extension: a numerical model. Application to the Gulf of Lion and Viking graben

A numerical finite difference model is employed to reconstruct the time/temperature history of sediments in basins formed by extension, in which crustal thinning by stretching as well as the effects associated with sedimentation and compaction are taken into account. Two extreme cases of basins were investigated to identify the scale of this mechanism: the Gulf of Lion illustrates a case of a young basin, in which the average sedimentation rate is high (620 m/Ma), and the Viking graben in the North Sea offers a case of a basin formed in the Triassic, but where average sedimentation rate is much less (37 m/Ma). In the former, the sediments absorb 30% of the surface heat flow, while in the latter the effect is only 10%.     

The influence of tectonic subsidence on volcaniclastic sedimentation: The Cretaceous upper Daeri Member,Wido Island,Korea

The Daeri Member, a Cretaceous volcanic–sedimentary succession, can be divided into lower, middle, and upper parts based on vertical changes in its lithologic characters. The lower Daeri Member is composed of siliciclastic deposits formed in a semi‐arid floodplain environment, which is overlain by the middle Daeri Member consisting mainly of andesite lava flow. After the emplacement of the andesite, activities of intrabasinal normal faults created accommodation on hanging wall blocks together with the development of intrabasinal topographic relief. The upper Daeri Member occurs only in hanging wall blocks and is composed of rhyolitic volcaniclastic sediments formed during an explosive volcanic eruption. Following the eruption, owing to semi‐arid climatic conditions and the destruction of vegetation, the eruptive materials were easily remobilized and deposited by episodic sediment gravity flows, resulting in deposition of the resedimented volcaniclastic deposits with sheet‐like geometry. Away from the intrabasinal normal faults, the resedimented volcaniclastic deposits show a decrease in grain size together with changes in inferred depositional processes from debris flows to hyperconcentrated flows and supercritical sheetfloods. This suggests that the resedimented volcaniclastic deposits were stacked on alluvial fan environments induced by intrabasinal topographic relief associated with normal fault activities. In addition, episodic movement of the faults gave rise to periodic fluctuation of the accommodation and an increase in gradient of the alluvial fan surface, resulting in the development of coarsening‐upward trends in the resedimented volcaniclastic deposits. The development of the alluvial fan and the coarsening‐upward trends indicate that dynamic tectonic subsidence and concomitant changes in the intrabasinal physiographic relief influenced the depositional processes and sizes of the transported volcaniclastic sediments of the upper Daeri Member. Thus, it is necessary to carefully observe tectonic signatures in volcaniclastic successions, particularly the syneruptive lithofacies, in order to reconstruct the tectonic and volcanic histories of receiving basins.     

Asymmetric rifting of the northern Mariana Trough

The evolution of rifting in the northern Mariana Trough was studied, based on single-channel seismic reflection profiles and heat flow. The rift showed structural asymmetry. The northernmost part of the Mariana Trough at 24°N, just south of Minami-Iwojima Island, is now in an incipient rifting stage and shows a half-graben structure. The arc crust just behind the volcanic front is cut by a few major east-dipping normal faults. The major faults extend southward behind the Hiyoshi seamounts around 23°30'N. The rift develops to a full-graben stage at ∼ 23°N, where the width of the trough increases to 80 km. The trough is comprised of several faulted and tilted blocks of island-arc crust. Maximum subsidence occurs along a row of small grabens on the eastern margin of the trough. These grabens are separated by arc volcanoes, and their depths increase southward from 2500 m at 23°20'N to 4500 m at 22°N. The strike of each graben is north-northwest–south-southeast, which is close to the trend of the remnant West Mariana Ridge, but oblique to the active Mariana arc. Crustal extension becomes concentrated along the eastern margin of the trough as rifting progresses. The transition from rifting to sea floor spreading may occur at ∼ 22°N, where the width of the trough is ∼ 120 km. The possible spreading center lies along the southern extension of the grabens on the eastern margin. The period of back-arc rifting before spreading begins is estimated to be less than 3 million years. Heat flow is asymmetric in the rift. High heat flow was observed only in or close to the row of grabens along the eastern margin of the trough. The asymmetric pure shear extension model fits the observed heat flow distribution better than the simple shear extension model.