Statistical analysis of geodetic measurements for the investigation of crustal movements

Geodetic networks are designed to obtain data that can be used to monitor crustal movements. The relative position on the earth's surface is determined from these networks by means of coordinates. The coordinates of stations and its variance—covariance matrix are based on the computational model. In spatial networks at least three points, the base points, should be chosen to define the coordinate system “fixed” to the earth. In monitoring crustal movements these base points are considered to be stationary over the time span of the motion involved. A procedure for testing the stability of the base points, together with other stable points, is described.The coordinate differences between two time epochs, t₀ and t₁ are considered to investigate crustal movements. A statistical test is introduced to determine whether crustal movements have actually occurred.The reliability, i.e., the influence, of nondetected errors in the observations or computations, should be considered. Two types of decisions can be made which may lead to incorrect conclusions. These conclusions are as follows:

1. (1) That no movement has taken place, although a nondetected error leads to the opposite conclusion.

2. (2) That a movement has occurred, although a nondetected error in the observations leads to the opposite conclusion.

The chance of arriving at these conclusions can be computed. Boundary values for assumed crustal motion in specified latitudinal and longitudinal directions give a better insight into the desired specifications for geodetic networks.The testing procedure and the above-mentioned method of computing boundary values can be used for all types of networks e.g., those obtained by conventional triangulation or by a satellite-borne ranging system.     

The paleomagnetism of eastern Nazca plate seamounts

Paleomagnetism of eastern Nazca plate seamounts defines Nazca and Farallon absolute plate motion during Cenozoic times. Magnetic and bathymetric surveys are presented for two eastern Nazca plate seamounts in the Chile Basin and they are used to calculate paleomagnetic poles with uniform and nonuniform magnetic modeling. The paleopole for Piquero-2 seamount is coincident with the earth's pole, suggesting a young seamount. The paleopole for Piquero-1 seamount indicates that the Nazca plate moved 23° northward during 0–50 ma. This is 13° more latitudinal motion than predicted by a Pacific hotspot reference frame and 20 ° more motion than predicted by DSDP sediment and basalt paleomagnetism.     

地球自转与地质体系论

本文对比分析了各大地构造学说的特点,认为在地球的各种运动形式中,最重要的是地球的自转。地球在其运动中由于向心力和离心力联合力场作用的结果而形成各个圈层,地球表面形态和各圈层的物质在其旋转过程中发生不同形式的运动,而出现各种地质构造现象及相关的自然现象,诸如大气的流动、海水的进退、岩石的形变、地幔物质运动、各层圈物质交换与变化等等。在地球发展演化过程中,地壳的结构和构造也发生了一系列的变化,板块、构造体系、地槽、地洼、断块、大地波浪等大地构造形迹都是由于地球自转中地壳运动的结果。各种地质现象相互联系的总体,称之谓地质体系。     

Geophysical Study of the Valle Fértil Lineament Between 28°45′S and 31°30′S: Boundary Between the Cuyania and Pampia Terranes

A gravimetric and magnetometric study was carried out in the north-eastern portion of the Cuyania terrane and adjacent Pampia terrane. Gravimetric models permitted to interpret the occurrence of dense materials at the suture zone between the latter terranes. Magnetometric models led to propose the existence of different susceptibilities on either side of the suture. The Curie temperature point depth, representing the lower boundary of the magnetised crust, was found to be located at 25 km, consistent with the lower limit of the brittle crust delineated by seismic data; this unusually thick portion of the crust is thought to release stress producing significant seismicity.

Moho depths determined from seismic studies near western Sierras Pampeanas are significantly greater than those obtained from gravimetric crustal models.

Considering mass and gravity changes originated by the flat-slab Nazca plate along Cuyania and western Pampia terranes, it is possible to reconcile Moho thickness obtained either by seismic or by gravity data. Thus, topography and crustal thickness are controlled not only by erosion and shortening but by upper mantle heterogeneities produced by: (a) the oceanic subducted Nazca plate with “normal slope” also including asthenospheric materials between both continental and oceanic lithospheres; (b) flat-slab subducted Nazca plate (as shown in this work) without significant asthenospheric materials between both lithospheres. These changes influence the relationship between topographic altitudes and crustal thickness in different ways, differing from the simple Airy system relationship and modifying the crustal scale shortening calculation. These changes are significantly enlarged in the study area. Future changes in Nazca Plate slope will produce changes in the isostatic balance.     

Hotspots in the Southern Oceans — an absolute frame of reference for motion of the Gondwana continents

The geometry and geochronology of aseismic ridges and oceanic islands in the southern oceans provide a good test of the proposition that hotspots remain fixed over long periods of time; that is, motion of an order of magnitude less than the relative motion between plate pairs. In most cases it is concluded that inter-hotspot movement cannot be discerned for the period 100 m.y. to Present and that widely distributed hotspots in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans provide a frame of reference for plate motions following the disintegration of Gondwanaland, which is independent of paleomagnetism. This frame of reference is “absolute” in that it gives the motion of the lithosphere with respect to the mantle (= hotspots). The absolute motion model indicates that Africa and Antarctica are now moving only very slowly, that there has been significant relative movement between East and West Antarctica since the Cretaceous, and prescribes the relative motion between the Somali and African plates.     

Geodesy and geodynamics

Man's interest in the dynamics of the earth's crust goes back several centuries. Ekman recently pointed out the theory of post-glacial uplift in Fennoscandia. In the 15th century, towns along the Baltic-Sea experienced receding of the sea. In this century, Bowie had started a program for repeating surveys in seismically active regions. Wegeners' hypothesis of Continental Drift aroused the interest of scientists. In January 1985, Walter Sullivan traced the evolution from Wegener's continental drift through plate tectonics to the latest suggestion of the formation of continents from “terranes”. Spatial techniques. Laser Ranging, VLBI, GPS have given geodesists the ability to monitor continental drift, intracontinental deformations and other phenomena.

Along faults, such as the San Andreas Fault, the conventional geodetic approach to deformation has been to use a linear concept, except for episodic events such as earthquakes and so on.

Wayne Thatcher's model on the declining strain rate is justified if sufficient geodetic data, well distributed, are available. Strain components can be computed from distortion patterns which might develop when an earlier survey is adjusted to be made consistent with a later survey. There exists a correlation of the movement of the instantaneous pole of rotation with the energy release of all earthquakes.     

Polar motion of a triaxial earth and dynamic plate tectonics

A theoretical and quantitative analysis of the earth's polar motion, the Chandler wobble and the polar wandering was made under a triaxial, quasi-rigid and rotationally imbalanced earth model and the assumption that the polar excitation was due to the episodic energy perturbation in the earth's upper layers. The Chandler wobble was found to have two frequency components and was quasi-permanent; whereas the polar wandering linked dynamically with the secular tectonic movements in the earth's upper layers. The attempt of the earth to damp its products of inertia for rotation stability maintained the polar motion, while the polar wandering would produce a system of Coriolis torques that provided driving mechanisms to the continental drift, sea-floor spreading and related phenomena, as well as inducing viscous flows in the interior. The secondary deformation due to the earth's non-rigidity was not analyzed in the paper, but the probable connections between the dynamics of polar wandering and the thermal convection in the interior were briefly discussed. The analysis presents the attempt for an integral interpretation of the earth's dynamic evolution or an interpretation of the polar motion, plate tectonics, and the earth's generation and dissipation of excess energy under a unified dynamic theory.     

Structure of the earth''s crust on the territory of the U.S.S.R.

The compilation of statistical data for 269 seismic crustal sections (total length: 81,000 km) which are available in the U.S.S.R. has shown that the preliminary conclusions drawn on relations between the elevation of the surface relief and Bouguer anomalies on one hand and crustal thickness (depth to the M-discontinuity) on the other hand are not fulfilled for the continental part of the U.S.S.R. The level of isostatic compensation has been found to be much deeper than the base of the earth's crust due to density inhomogeneities of the crust and upper mantle down to a depth of 150 km.

The results of seismic investigations have revealed a great diversity of relations between shallow geological and deep crustal structures:

Changes in the relief of the M-discontinuity have been found within the ancient platforms which are conformable with the Precambrian structures and which can exceed 20 km. In the North Caspian syneclise, extended areas devoid of the “granitic” layer have been discovered for the first time in continents. The crust was found to be thicker in the syneclises and anteclises of the Turanian EpiHercynian plate. In the West Siberian platforms these relations are reversed to a great extent.

Substantial differences in crustal structure and thickness were found in the crust of the Palaeo zoides and Mesozoides. Regions of substantial neotectonic activity in the Tien-Shan Palaeozoides do not greatly differ in crustal thickness if compared to the Kazakhstan Palaeozoides which were little active in Cenozoic time. The same is true for the South Siberian Palaeozoides.

The Alpides of the southern areas in the U.S.S.R. display a sharply differing surface relief and a strongly varying crustal structure. Mountains with roots (Greater Caucasus, Crimea) and without roots (Kopet-Dagh, Lesser Caucasus) were found there.

The Cenozoides of the Far East are characterized by a rugged topography of the M-discontinuity, a thinner crust and a less-pronounced “granitic” layer. A relatively small thickness of the crust was discovered in the Baikal rift zone.

The effective thickness of the magnetized domains of the crust as well as other calculations show that the temperature at the depth of the M-discontinuity (i.e., at depths of 40–50 km) is not higher than 300–400° C for most parts of the U.S.S.R.     

Internal structure of the Dead Sea leaky transform (rift) in relation to plate kinematics

The structures along the Dead Sea transform (rift) are related to the motions of the Sinai and Arabia plates which border it, and to the irregularities of their boundaries. The total slip was 105 km left-lateral, but the present structures were formed mainly during the last 40 km of slip, which probably occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene. Along the southern half of the transform the strike-slip motion takes place on en-echelon faults. This produces rhomb-shaped grabens or pull-aparts, which are sometimes composite, and in which there is local crustal separation. Thus, much of the transform is “leaky”. These structures occur in a morpho-tectonic “rift-valley” delimited by normal faults, which express a small component of transverse extension. Along a few segments the shape of the transform is such that lateral motion produces local transverse compression. The geometric relations of the structures along the transform define an Eulerian pole of relative plate motions at 32.8° N 22.6° E ± 0.5°. The older motion was somewhat different and is described by a pole located about 5° west of the above. Then the component of transverse extension and crustal separation was much smaller than now, while local transverse compression was more important. The northern half of the Dead Sea transform has an irregular shape, and the bordering plates did not remain rigid as lateral motion continued. Here transverse compression is often important.     

Double-sided onshore–offshore seismic imaging of a plate boundary: “super-gathers” across South Island, New Zealand

Onshore–offshore seismic refraction profiling allows for the determination of crustal and mantle structures in the transition between continental and oceanic environments. Islands and narrow landmasses have the unique geometry of allowing for double-sided onshore–offshore experiments that favor the construction of composite “super-gathers” using the acquisition of onshore–offshore and ocean-bottom seismometer receiver gathers, land explosion shot gathers, and near-vertical incidence multichannel seismic (MCS) profiling. A number of sites at plate boundaries are amenable to the application of double-sided onshore–offshore imaging, including the Indo-Australian/Pacific transform boundary on South Island, New Zealand. By comparing the ratio of island width to mantle refraction (Pn) “maximum” crossover distance, using nondimensional distances, we provide an indicator of raypath “coverage” for crustal illumination. Islands or narrow land masses whose widths are less than twice their maximum crossover distance are candidates for double-sided onshore–offshore experiments. The SIGHT (South Island GeopHysical invesTigation) experiment in New Zealand is located where the width of South Island is sufficiently narrow with respect to its crustal thickness that a double-sided onshore–offshore experiment allows for complete crustal imaging of the associated plate boundary.     

Secular crustal deformation and interplate coupling of the Japanese Islands as deduced from continuous GPS array, 1996–2001

Data from the nation-wide GPS continuous tracking network that has been operated by the Geographical Survey Institute of Japan since April 1996 were used to study crustal deformation in the Japanese Islands. We first extracted site coordinate from daily SINEX files for the period from April 1, 1996 to February 24, 2001. Since raw time series of station coordinates include coseismic and postseismic displacements as well as seasonal variation, we model each time series as a combination of linear and trigonometric functions and jumps for episodic events. Estimated velocities were converted into a kinematic reference frame [Heki, K., 1996. Horizontal and vertical crustal movements from three-dimensional very long baseline interferometry kinematic reference frame: implication for reversal timescale revision. J. Geophys. Res., 101: 3187–3198.] to discuss the crustal deformation relative to the stable interior of the Eurasian plate. A Least-Squares Prediction technique has been used to segregate the signal and noise in horizontal as well as vertical velocities. Estimated horizontal signals (horizontal displacement rates) were then differentiated in space to calculate principal components of strain. Dilatations, maximum shear strains, and principal axes of strain clearly portray tectonic environments of the Japanese Islands. On the other hand, the interseismic vertical deformation field of the Japanese islands is derived for the same GPS data interval. The GPS vertical velocities are combined with 31 year tide gage records to estimate absolute vertical velocity. The results of vertical deformation show that (1) the existence of clear uplift of about 6 mm/yr in Shikoku and Kii Peninsula, whereas pattern of subsidence is observed in the coast of Kyushu district. This might reflect strong coupling between the Philippine Sea plate and overriding plate at the Nankai Trough and weak coupling off Kyushu, (2) no clear vertical deformation pattern exists along the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan. This might be due to the long distance between the plate boundary (Japan trench) and overriding plate where GPS sites are located, (3) significant uplift is observed in the southwestern part of Hokkaido and in northeastern Tohoku along the Japan Sea coast. This is possibly due to the viscoelastic rebound of the 1983 Japan Sea (M_w 7.7) and the 1993 Hokkaido–Nansei–Oki (M_w 7.8) earthquakes and/or associated with distributed compression of incipient subduction there. We then estimate the elastic deformation of the Japanese Islands caused by interseismic loading of the Pacific and Philippine Sea subduction plates. The elastic models account for most of the observed horizontal velocity field if the subduction movement of the Philippine Sea Plate is 100% locked and if that of the Pacific Plate is 70% locked. However, the best fit for vertical velocity ranges from 80% to 100% coupling factor in southwestern Japan and only 50% in northeastern Japan. Since horizontal data does not permit the separation of rigid plate motion and interplate coupling because horizontal velocities include both contributions, we used the vertical velocities to discriminate between them. So, we can say there is strong interplate coupling (80%–100%) over the Nankaido subduction zone, whereas it is about 50% only over the Kurile–Japan trench.     

The worldwide active middle/late eocene geodynamic episode with peaks at ±45 and ±37 m.y. B.P., and implications and problems of orogeny and sea-floor spreading

Two remarkable geodynamic events in earth history at ± 45 and ± 37 m.y. ago, corresponding to the early and late Pyrenean orogenic phases of Middle and Late Eocene age are described in this paper. Based on numerous data, each of these events is manifested by a set of many various worldwide geologic activities, such as orogenic shortening, granodioritic plutonism, regional metamorphism, change in rate or direction of sea-floor spreading, and global marine regression. These activities shed light on the kinematic relation between plate motions and orogeny because they are widespread and coeval.According to the plate tectonic theory, mountain building is attributed mainly to three types of convergent plate motions: collision, subduction, and obduction. However, an extensive orogenic process does not occur randomly and locally, and does not proceed diachronously by steady plate motion or subduction. The data presented here indicate short duration and synchronism of

1. (a) worldwide orogenic deformations at specific times and

2. (b) abrupt changes of plate motion during the orogeny.

In this paper it is shown that there were two geodynamic peaks (±45 and ±37 m.y. ago) which involved more than 80 separate processes of displacement. Such a major reorganization in the plate tectonic pattern reflects a turning point in the geotectonic history.The generally steady, in several oceans variable sea-floor spreading on the one side and the episodic orogenic compressions correspond neither temporally nor kinematically. The two types of movement represent dissimilar kinematic actions. Ocean-floor spreading and orogeny are two different mechanisms that alternate in earth history. It is not the long-term sea-floor movement but a short-term readjustment in the plate tectonic pattern that is related to orogeny. The normal, continuous sea-floor spreading becomes disarranged; its motion is mainly slowed or stopped at times of orogeny which is discontinuous, pulsatory and of short duration. The driving forces of the two processes are different, as is apparent from the contrasting rates of motion.The essential prerequisite for crustal shortening during alpinotype viscoplastic deformation seems to be a worldwide penetrative remobilization of continental marginal zones. Due to the loss of rigidity, the bordering plates then converged. The associated migmatization and granitization point to a thermal origin of this crustal mobilization. Episodic remobilization and folding of continental margins are the expression of such an endodynamic pulsation, released by processes in the earth's interior.     

Two stage continental collision and plate driving forces

It is proposed that major continental collision normally causes two orogenies. The first is characterized by ophiolite obduction, and the second by widespread deformation, often accompanied by metamorphism and granite intrusion. The two orogenies are separated by a relatively quiescent orogenic pause of 40–60 Ma. The two stages of continental collision are illustrated by examples from the Paleozoic Newfoundland Appalachians, and the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Tethyan collision belts of the Zagros and Himalayas.

The stages of continental collision are explained in terms of the forces driving plate motions, which are dominated by the downward pull of subducting oceanic lithosphere and, to a lesser extent, by the outward push of spreading oceanic ridges.

The Taconic stage marks attempted subduction of continental crust. The buoyancy of continental crust offsets the negative buoyancy of subducting oceanic lithosphere and other driving forces so that plate motion is halted. Orogeny involves vertical buoyancy forces and is concentrated along the narrow belt of plate overlap at the subduction zone.

In a major collision the Taconic stage destroys a substantial proportion of the earth's subducting capacity. It is an event of such magnitude that it has global consequences, reducing sea-floor spreading and the rate of convection. This results in retention of heat within the earth and a consequent increase in the forces driving the plates. The orogenic pause represents the time taken for these forces to become strong enough to overcome the obstruction of buoyant continental crust and renew subduction at the collision zone.

The Acadian stage of collision occurs when renewed subduction is achieved by detachment of continental crust from its underlying lithosphere. As the subcrustal lithosphere is subducted, the crust moves horizontally. The result is crustal shortening with widespread deformation and generation of anatectic granitic magma, as well as subduction related volcanism.

The effects of continental collision on the rate of sea-floor spreading can be related to eustatic changes in sea level, glaciations, and mass extinctions. There may also be connections, through changes in the rate of mantle convection, to the earth's magnetic polarity bias and rotation rate.     

Is northern Honshu a microplate?

Seismic slip vectors along the Japan Trench, the eastern margin of the Japan Sea and the Sagami Trough are compared with global relative plate motions (RM2, Minster and Jordan, 1978) to test a new hypothesis that northern Honshu, Japan, is part of the North American plate. This hypothesis also claims that the eastern margin of the Japan Sea is a nascent convergent plate boundary (Kobayashi, 1983; Nakamura, 1983).Seismic slip vectors along the Japan Trench are more parallel to the direction of the Pacific-North American relative motion than that of the Pacific-Eurasian relative motion. However, the difference in calculated relative motions is too small avoid to the possibility that a systematic bias in seismic slip vectors due to anomalous velocity structure beneath island arcs causes this apparent coincidence. Seismic slip vectors and rates of shortening along the eastern margin of the Japan Sea for the past 400 years are also consistent with the relative motion between the North American and Eurasian plates calculated there. Seismic slip vectors and horizontal crustal strain patterns revealed by geodetic surveys in south Kanto, beneath which the Philippine Sea plate is subducting, indicate two major directions; one is the relative motion between the North American and Philippine Sea plates, and the other that between the Eurasian and Philippine Sea plates.One possible interpretation of this is that the eastern margin of the Japan Sea may be in an embryonic stage of plate convergence and the jump of the North American-Eurasian plate boundary from Sakhalin-central Hokkaido to the eastern margin of the Japan Sea has not yet been accomplished. In this case northern Honshu is a microplate which does not have a driving force itself and its motion is affected by the surrounding major plates, behaving as part of either the Eurasian or North American plate. Another possibility is that the seismic slip vectors and crustal deformations in south Kanto do not correctly represent the relative motion between plates but represent the stresses due to non-rigid behaviors of part of northern Honshu.     

A new velocity field from the analysis of the Egyptian Permanent GPS Network (EPGN)

For studying recent crustal movements and their relation to earthquake occurrence in large scales, the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Helwan, Cairo, Egypt started in 2006 the establishment of the Egyptian Permanent GPS Network (EPGN). Beginning with 4 stations in 2007, 15 stations were operational at the end of 2011. In addition, a station in Alexandria of the French “Centre d'Études Alexandrines” (CEALX) was added as station to the EPGN. Nowadays, 16 stations are operational and an extension to 20 in the near future is expected. The collected EPGN data of the last 6 years are used in this work to throw light upon the present state of recent crustal movement of the whole of Egypt. Bernese software V. 5.0 was used for processing the collected data according to the IGS standards. In addition, selected IGS, AFREF, and EPN sites are processed for reference frame definition. In this first comprehensive analysis of the permanent network, a complete and consistent evaluation resulted in the first estimates of present day horizontal velocities and coordinate time series.     

Instantaneous velocity of mid-ocean ridges

Intuition suggests that all points on the same mid-ocean ridge should rotate around the relative pole of the two-plate system at the same instantaneous angular velocity. Contrary to intuition, the instantaneous angular velocity of a ridge varies from one point to another along the ridge, given the general case in which two plates move around different plate-specific poles of rotation. The variation in the instantaneous angular velocity of a ridge is a function of the motion characteristics of the plates and the position of the ridge relative to the poles of plate motion. The length or orientation of individual ridge segments is predicted to vary over time, leading to local changes in the shape of the ridge. The gradient in instantaneous angular velocity for the fast-spreading East Pacific Ridge, between the Cocos and Pacific plates, is an order of magnitude greater than the gradient along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, between the North American and African plates. This great contrast in ridge instantaneous velocity gradients may be reflected in the contrasting ridge geometries of the East Pacific and Mid-Atlantic Ridges.     

Continental uplift, compensation and shunting during trench-spreading center collision

A model for continental uplift at a convergent margin (Damon, 1979) is further developed. The model assumes the necessity of isostatic compensation of the subducted lithospheric plate. It predicts a continental declivity that reaches its maximum uplift and extent at the time of trench-spreading center collision. As a result of the passage of the subducted plate eastward the region of maximum uplift increases and migrates eastward behind the eastward migrating declivity. The “gang plank” from the Front Range to the Mississippi River is the most obvious modern expression of the continental declivity whereas the Great Basin is an expression of the area of maximum uplift lowered somewhat by extension and crustal thinning. Compensation takes place by transfer of asthenosphere to the base of continental lithosphere. At the time of trench-spreading center collision a pressure gradient shunts the asthenospheric current from the quenched spreading center to the channel between the continental lithosphere and the subducted plate. Sinking of the subducted plate causes upwelling of asthenosphere feeding the laminar flow between the two plates. The model is in accord with the physiography of North America and the geologic record.     

GPS城市沉降监测网数据处理方法研究

GPS技术在大地测量、维护大地坐标系和进行全球板块运动或区域地壳形变监测中已得到非常广泛的应用,但在城市地面沉降监测方面,仍存在基准选取、系统参数对高程形变影响等问题。比较了平差过程中的不同基准模型,分析了各自的适用性,讨论了系统参数对平差结果的影响,得出附加系统参数和附有约束条件的网平差计算模型,最后对西安地区布设的GPS地面沉降和地裂缝监测网进行计算,比较了不同的平差方案,得出系统参数和不同基准模型对地面沉降数据处理的影响和适用性。     

Absolute velocity of North America during the Mesozoic from paleomagnetic data

We use paleomagnetic data to map Mesozoic absolute motion of North America, using paleomagnetic Euler poles (PEP). First, we address two important questions: (1) How much clockwise rotation has been experienced by crustal blocks within and adjacent to the Colorado Plateau? (2) Why is there disagreement between the apparent polar wander (APW) path constructed using poles from southwestern North America and the alternative path based on poles from eastern North America? Regarding (1), a 10.5° clockwise rotation of the Colorado Plateau about a pole located near 35°N, 102°W seems to fit the evidence best. Regarding (2), it appears that some rock units from the Appalachian region retain a hard overprint acquired during the mid-Cretaceous, when the geomagnetic field had constant normal polarity and APW was negligible.We found three well-defined small-circle APW tracks: 245–200 Ma (PEP at 39.2°N, 245.2°E, R=81.1°, root mean square error (RMS)=1.82°), 200–160 Ma (38.5°N, 270.1°E, R=80.4°, RMS=1.06°), 160 to 125 Ma (45.1°N, 48.5°E, R=60.7°, RMS=1.84°). Intersections of these tracks (the “cusps” of Gordon et al. [Tectonics 3 (1984) 499]) are located at 59.6°N, 69.5°E (the 200 Ma or “J1” cusp) and 48.9°N, 144.0°E (the 160 Ma or “J2” cusp). At these times, the absolute velocity of North America appears to have changed abruptly.North America absolute motion also changed abruptly at the beginning and end of the Cretaceous APW stillstand, currently dated at about 125 and 88 Ma (J. Geophys. Res. 97 (1992b) 19651). During this interval, the APW path degenerates into a single point, implying rotation about an Euler pole coincident with the spin axis.Using our PEP and cusp locations, we calculate the absolute motion of seven points on the North American continent. Our intention is to provide a chronological framework for the analysis of Mesozoic tectonics. Clearly, if APW is caused by plate motion, abrupt changes in absolute motion should correlate with major tectonic events. This follows because large accelerations reflect important changes in the balance of forces acting on the plate, the most important of which are edge effects (subduction, terrane accretion, etc.). Some tectonic interpretations: (1) The J1 cusp may be associated with the inception of rifting of North America away from land masses to the east; the J2 cusp seems to mark the beginning of rapid spreading in the North Atlantic. (2) The J2 cusp signals the beginning of a period of rapid northwestward absolute motion of western North America; motion of tectonostratigraphic terranes in the westernmost Cordillera seems likely to have been directed toward the south during this interval. (3) The interval 88 to 80 Ma saw a rapid decrease in the paleolatitude of North America; unless this represents a period of true polar wander, terrane motion during this time should have been relatively northward.     

Archean sea-floor hydrothermal systems: The third dimension

Mafic to felsic predominantly marine volcanic members on the west flank of the major volcanic vent of the relatively unmetamorphosed and undeformed Archean upper Blake River Group of the Noranda area were sampled at approximately 100 m centres in a 100 km² area for whole-rock analysis as part of an integrated exploration program during 1977–1980. Automatic processing of the resulting approximately 2000 analyses yielded not only the expected improved definition of primary rock types but also synvolcanic alteration patterns of varying intensity. Essentially two-dimensional sea floor “weathering” on paleo-bedding surfaces and the more fully three-dimensional, hydrothermal, volcanogenic, footwall alteration systems were discovered. The data, when integrated with existing drill and mining information provide a unique insight into the hidden shape of the sub-sea-floor plumbing of the recently discovered active hydrothermal, biologic systems observed in two dimensions at crustal spreading centres on today's ocean floor.Polarized compositional gradients observed within the footwall alteration patterns are interpreted to be potent exploration guides to proximal, polymetallic, sulphide facies exhalite deposits and their associated “stringer” zones.