Deep mid-water bacterial mats from anoxic basins of the Eastern Mediterranean

Peculiar pellicles have been recorded in the extant anoxic hypersaline basins of the Bannock area and the Western Strabo Trench (Eastern Mediterranean). Discrete layers of pellicles were found in 29 cores. They are oriented parallel to bedding planes or are folded within the sandy base of turbidites and within slumped sediments. In addition, similar pellicles occur at the surface of or interlocked within gypsum crystals recovered from the Bannock area.

The pellicles are 0.5–3 mm thick and dark greenish-grey in colour. They foliate into very small (<1 mm) undulating and anastomosing microlaminae entrapping abundant biogenic and inorganic particles. The amorphous organic matter of the pellicles is most probably produced by bacterial masses linked to mineralization processes of the organic debris. Anaerobic sulphate-reducing bacteria (Desulphovibrio) are abundant and the presence of methane bacteria is likely.

Detailed analyses with the light microscope and scanning electron microscope yielded differences and similarities concerning ultrastructure, content, abundance and morphotypes of the bacterial pellicles from the Bannock area and the Western Strabo Trench. A consistently well-developed ultrastructure comprising thin microlaminae characterizes the Bannock pellicles, whereas the ultrastructure of the Tyro and Poseidon pellicles is usually not organized. Siliceous microfossils are abundant in samples from both sites, but centrate diatoms prevail in the Bannock pellicles whereas pennate diatoms are overwhelmingly dominant in the Tyro and Poseidon pellicles. Calcareous micro- and nannofossils, together with pyrite framboids, are more abundant in samples from the Bannock area. Bacteria are extremely abundant in samples from the Bannock area and three different morphological types have been distinguished. Only one type of bacteria was commonly observed in pellicles from the Western Strabo Trench basins.

Pellicles form at the normal seawater/brine interface, as substantiated by transmittance profiles and bacteriological investigations. Therefore, the term “deep mid-water bacterial mats” is proposed herein for these peculiar layers.

After bacterial mats grow at the interface, they are included within the sediments by following one of two different paths: (a) when pelagic sedimentation prevails, pellicles sink to the basin floor due to the increasing load of biogenic and inorganic detritus, and (b) under a tectonically active regime, turbidity currents and slumps can disrupt the interface and destroy the floating mats. In the latter case, fragments of pellicles are transported to the bottom within the gravity flows.     

Geological Characteristics and Distribution of Submarine Physiographic Features in the Taiwan Region

The sea floor topography around Taiwan is characterized by the asymmetry of its shallow and flat shelves to the west and markedly deep troughs and basins to the south and east. Tectonics and sedimentation are major controls in forming the submarine physiographic features around Taiwan. Three Pliocene-Quaternary shelves are distributed north and west of Taiwan: East China Sea Shelf (passive margin shelf), the Taiwan Strait Shelf (foreland shelf), and Kaoping Shelf (island shelf) from north to south parallel to the strike of Taiwan orogen. Off northeastern Taiwan major morpho/tectonic features associated with plate subduction include E-W trending Ryukyu Trench, Yaeyama accretionary wedge, forearc basins, the Ryukyu Arcs, and the backarc basin of southern Okinawa Trough. Off eastern Taiwan lies the deep Huatung Basin on the Philippine Sea plate with a relatively flat floor, although several large submarine canyons are eroding and crossing the basin floor. Off southeastern Taiwan, the forearc region of the Luzon Arc has been deformed into five alternating N-S trending ridges and troughs during initial arc-continent collision. Among them, the submarine Hengchun Ridge is the seaward continuation of the Hengchun peninsula in southern Taiwan. Off southwestern Taiwan, the broad Kaoping Slope is the major submarine topographic feature with several noticeable submarine canyons. The Penghu Canyon separates this slope from the South China Sea Slope to the west and merges southwards into the Manila Trench in the northern South China Sea. Although most of sea floors of the Taiwan Strait are shallower than 60 m in water depth, there are three noticeable bathymetric lows and two highs in the Taiwan Strait. There exists a close relationship between hydrography and topography in the Taiwan Strait. The circulation of currents in the Taiwan Strait is strongly influenced by seasonal monsoon and semidiurnal tides. The Penghu Channel-Yunchang Ridge can be considered a modern tidal depositional system. The Taiwan Strait shelf has two phases of development. The early phase of the rift margin has developed during Paleoocene-Miocene and it has evolved to the foreland basin in Pliocene-Quaternary time. The present shelf morphology results mainly from combined effects of foreland subsidence and modern sedimentation overprinting that of the Late Pleistocene glaciation about 15,000 years ago.     

Geological Characteristics and Distribution of Submarine Physiographic Features in the Taiwan Region

The sea floor topography around Taiwan is characterized by the asymmetry of its shallow and flat shelves to the west and markedly deep troughs and basins to the south and east. Tectonics and sedimentation are major controls in forming the submarine physiographic features around Taiwan. Three Pliocene-Quaternary shelves are distributed north and west of Taiwan: East China Sea Shelf (passive margin shelf), the Taiwan Strait Shelf (foreland shelf), and Kaoping Shelf (island shelf) from north to south parallel to the strike of Taiwan orogen. Off northeastern Taiwan major morpho/tectonic features associated with plate subduction include E-W trending Ryukyu Trench, Yaeyama accretionary wedge, forearc basins, the Ryukyu Arcs, and the backarc basin of southern Okinawa Trough. Off eastern Taiwan lies the deep Huatung Basin on the Philippine Sea plate with a relatively flat floor, although several large submarine canyons are eroding and crossing the basin floor. Off southeastern Taiwan, the forearc region of the Luzon Arc has been deformed into five alternating N-S trending ridges and troughs during initial arc-continent collision. Among them, the submarine Hengchun Ridge is the seaward continuation of the Hengchun peninsula in southern Taiwan. Off southwestern Taiwan, the broad Kaoping Slope is the major submarine topographic feature with several noticeable submarine canyons. The Penghu Canyon separates this slope from the South China Sea Slope to the west and merges southwards into the Manila Trench in the northern South China Sea. Although most of sea floors of the Taiwan Strait are shallower than 60?m in water depth, there are three noticeable bathymetric lows and two highs in the Taiwan Strait. There exists a close relationship between hydrography and topography in the Taiwan Strait. The circulation of currents in the Taiwan Strait is strongly influenced by seasonal monsoon and semidiurnal tides. The Penghu Channel-Yunchang Ridge can be considered a modern tidal depositional system. The Taiwan Strait shelf has two phases of development. The early phase of the rift margin has developed during Paleoocene-Miocene and it has evolved to the foreland basin in Pliocene-Quaternary time. The present shelf morphology results mainly from combined effects of foreland subsidence and modern sedimentation overprinting that of the Late Pleistocene glaciation about 15,000 years ago.     

Some remarks on the study of subsidence of sedimentary basins Application to the Gulf of Lions margin (Western Mediterranean)

The study of basin subsidence is a helpful geological tool for understanding the tectonic and thermal evolution of sedimentary basins. Subsidence is clearly one major aspect of the geodynamics of ‘rifted’ basins. It is controlled by the inner lithospheric and crustal processes of mechanical, thermal and also tectonic origin. The load of sediments which fill the initial rift depression amplify these vertical movements, according to the laws of isostatic compensation.The purpose of the backstripping method is to separate these two components of subsidence. The subsidence due to both controlling factors (geodynamics and sediments loading), called total subsidence, can be estimated by a precise reconstruction of paleotopography in the basin during past sedimentation. This geohistorical reconstruction is based on observational data, mainly the chronostratigraphy of the sedimentary cover, lithologies and paleoenvironments, all data being constrained by the global geological context in the basin studied.The tectonic subsidence, which corresponds to the driving lithospheric phenomena, is computed according to a model of the response of lithosphere to sediment loading. Two models are considered, the Airy or local isostasy model and flexure models. In flexure models, the main difficulty is to estimate the history of the flexural rigidity of the lithosphere below continental margins and rifted basins. The influence of compensation models on subsidence history will be discussed.The present paper brings out some remarks on the use of backstripping techniques. In particular, the two-dimensional approach is emphasized because it gives better constraints on the geological validity of the paleotopographic reconstruction and the distribution of subsidence in space and time. Discussion is illustrated by the study of the young passive margin of Gulf of Lions, in the northwestern part of the Mediterranean Basin. The rifting was initiated during upper Oligocene and lasted until Aquitanian time. A seismic survey in the Gulf of Lions and on-shore geological studies of the bordering areas (Sardinia, Camargue) have shown that the postrift history mainly consists of a regional subsidence of the whole margin. The hypothesis of a thermal control of the postrift subsidence, as predicted by geodynamical models (McKenzie, 1978), will be discussed. The geohistorical reconstruction deals with two main problems. (1) Determination of paleobathymetry is not accurate enough from observation data. (2) A strong erosional event, known as the Messinian Event, is superimposed to the geodynamic evolution of the margin. Thus, the complete paleotopographic reconstruction will be based on observations and also geological hypotheses, mainly the likely continuity of the geological phenomena during the postrift history of the margin, since they are controlled by the thermal evolution at depth.     

An overview of Mediterranean Ridge collisional accretionary complex as deduced from multichannel seismic data

 The Mediterranean Ridge (eastern Mediterranean) is a large accretionary complex that results from the Africa–Europe–Aegean plates convergence. Multichannel seismic data, combined with previous results showed that the ridge comprises distinct major structural domains facing different forelands: (1) An outer domain is bounded to the south by the ridge toe. Underneath the Ionian and Levantine outer Ridge, Messinian evaporites act as a major decollement level. (2) An axial, or crestal, ridge domain with mud diapiric and mud volcano activity is bounded to the north by backthrust. (3) A less tectonized inner Ridge domain, possibly a series of former forearc basins, abuts the Hellenic Trench. The ridge displays strong along-strike variations. These variations can be interpreted as consequences of an ongoing collision against the Libyan continental promontory.     

Evidence of relief inversion from the rim-syncline of Bannock Basin

The last steps in the geological exploration of Bannock Basin (cruises BAN-88 and BAN-89 of R.V. Bannock) provided direct evidence of an inversion of relief that was long suspected but hitherto never recorded.

Dolostones and dolomitic mudstones of probable Messinian age subcropping beneath the brine in the northern part of Bannock Basin and Zanclean oozes recorded on the sill separating two narrow and elongate satellite basins along the eastern part of the rim-syncline record a relief inversion during their evolution from cylindric folds to collapse structures.

In particular, the core from the eastern intrabasin sill contains two major unconformities: one separates early Zanclean oozes from late Piacenzian pelagic sediments characterized by winnowed layers, inclined bedding and incipient hardgrounds, and the second separates the latter from Middle Pleistocene pelagic sediments. The deepening is certainly post-late Piacenzian (post-M Pl 6 biozone) because sediments of that age record an actively uplifting structure.

Another argument in favour of the relief inversion, and of the youthful age of the deepening, is derived from a core raised from the northern part of the major western basins (large sill separating Maestro from Borea basins) which contains a coarse turbidite of North African origin representing an upflow turbidite similar to others recorded on the outer slopes of the Mediterranean Ridge. This unique finding in the area of Bannock Basin is preserved in the central part of the collapse basin, whereas in other settings an erosional gap is noticed at the equivalent stratigraphic position.     

Evolution of the Grenada and Tobago basins and implications for arc migration

The tectonic mechanisms controlling how volcanic arcs migrate through space and geologic time within dynamic subduction environments is a fundamental tectonic process that remains poorly understood. This paper presents an integrated stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of Late Cretaceous to Recent volcanic arcs and associated basins in the southeastern Caribbean Sea using seismic reflection data, wide-angle seismic refraction data, well data, and onland geologic data. We propose a new tectonic model for the opening of the Grenada and Tobago basins and the 50-250-km eastward jump of arc volcanism from the Late Cretaceous Aves Ridge to the Miocene to Recent Lesser Antilles arc in the southeast Caribbean based on the mapping of three seismic megasequences. The striking similarity of the half-graben structure of the Grenada and Tobago basins that flank the Lesser Antilles arc, their similar smooth basement character, their similar deep-marine seismic facies, and their similar Paleogene sediment thickness mapped on a regional grid of seismic data suggest that the two basins formed as a single, saucer-shaped, oceanic crust Paleogene forearc basin adjacent to the now dormant Aves Ridge. This single forearc basin continued to extend and widen through flexural subsidence during the early to middle Eocene probably because of slow rollback of the subducting Atlantic oceanic slab. Rollback may have been accelerated by oblique collision of the southern Aves Ridge and southern Lesser Antilles arc with the South American continent. Uplift and growth of the southern Lesser Antilles arc divided the Grenada and Tobago basins by early to middle Miocene time. Inversion of normal faults and uplift effects along both edges of the Lesser Antilles arc are most pronounced in its southern zone of arc collision with the South American continent. The late Miocene to Recent depositional histories of the Grenada and Tobago basins are distinct because of isolation of the Grenada basin by growth and uplift of the Neogene Lesser Antilles volcanic ridge.     

Tectonic elements and crust of the eastern Mediterranean Sea

Seismic reflection and gravity data show the eastern Mediterranean Sea to be evolving into several basins as a result of differential vertical movements. The Levantine Basin and deeper Herodotus Basin are separated by a buried ridge (horst? or faulted geanticline?) lying west of Eratosthenes Seamount, which in turn is the more elevated part of a northeast-trending geanticline truncated along its eastern flank by a graben. To the east, gravity trends in the Levantine Basin are parallel to the graben. These features and trends are similar to those seen on land in Egypt and the Levant and imply continuity of structure offshore. Combined with other geological and geophysical information the observations suggest that the eastern Mediterranean crust is the marginal extension of the African continental crust. Although the character of the Florence Rise and Anaximander Mountains, the northward tilting and subsidence of the Antalya and Finike Basins, and the apparent continuation of the Strabo Trench south of the Florence Rise suggest underthrusting of the Turkish plate by Africa, there may be insufficient seismicity. There is no active volcanic arc, and the trench is too poorly developed to confirm active subduction as the sole manifestation of plate convergence. Normal subduction probably ended within the past 5 m.y. with the disappearance of all oceanic crust between Turkey and Africa. Plate convergence continues with only limited underthrusting of Africa along the Cypriot Arc, but with regional deformation along zones of weakness within a wide (300 km?) band stretching from the Herodotus Basin to the east along the northern edge of the African and Arabian plates.     

Distribution and geological control of mud volcanoes and other fluid/free gas seepage features in the Mediterranean Sea and nearby Gulf of Cadiz

Existing knowledge on the distribution of mud volcanoes (MVs) and other significant fluid/free gas-venting features (mud cones, mud pies, mud-brine pools, mud carbonate cones, gas chimneys and, in some cases, pockmark fields) discovered on the seafloor of the Mediterranean Sea and in the nearby Gulf of Cadiz has been compiled using regional geophysical information (including multibeam coverage of most deepwater areas). The resulting dataset comprises both features proven from geological sampling, or in situ observations, and many previously unrecognized MVs inferred from geophysical evidence. The synthesis reveals that MVs clearly have non-random distributions that correspond to two main geodynamic settings: (1) the vast majority occur along the various tectono-sedimentary accretionary wedges of the Africa-Eurasia subduction zone, particularly in the central and eastern Mediterranean basins (external Calabrian Arc, Mediterranean Ridge, Florence Rise) but also along its westernmost boundary in the Gulf of Cadiz; (2) other MVs characterize thick depocentres along parts of the Mesozoic passive continental margins that border Africa from eastern Tunisia to the Levantine coasts, particularly off Egypt and, locally, within some areas of the western Mediterranean back-arc basins. Meaningfully accounting for MV distribution necessitates evidence of overpressured fluids and mud-rich layers. In addition, cross-correlations between MVs and other GIS-based data, such as maps of the Messinian evaporite basins and/or active (or recently active) tectonic trends, stress the importance of assessing geological control in terms of the presence, or not, of thick seals and potential conduits. It is contended that new MV discoveries may be expected in the study region, particularly along the southern Ionian Sea continental margins.     

Morphology of a Pre-collisional, Salt-bearing, Accretionary Complex: The Mediterranean Ridge (Eastern Mediterranean)

The Eastern Mediterranean Sea is a remnant of a deep Mesozoic oceanic basin, now almost totally consumed as a result of long-term plate convergence between Eurasia and Africa. The present-day surface morphology of the Eastern Mediterranean relates both to the early history of formation of the deep basins and the recent geodynamic interactions between interfering microplates. Among the most conspicuous morphologic features of the basin is an arc-shape, elongated and wide, bathymetric swell bisecting the entire basin from the Ionian to Levantine areas, known as the Mediterranean Ridge. During the last decade this tectono-sedimentary accretionary prism, which results from the Hellenic subduction, has been intensively surveyed by swath mapping, multichannel seismic profiling and deep dives. We present here, and briefly discuss, the main morphological characteristics of this feature as derived from swath bathymetric data that considerably help to better assess the lateral and north–south morphostructural variability of the Mediterranean Ridge. This study reveals that the characteristics and morphostructural variability of the Mediterranean Ridge are related to: (1) a specific incipient collision geodynamic setting south of Crete, where the African and Aegean continental margins are nearly in contact, (2) a unique regional kinematics, controlled by frontal convergence south of Crete (central Mediterranean Ridge) and oblique subduction with opposite sense of shear for the western (Ionian) and eastern (Levantine) domains of the Mediterranean Ridge, that explain the lateral variations of deformation and (3) particularities of its sedimentary cover, which includes massive salt layers within the outer Mediterranean Ridge and local salt deposits within the inner domains, that control the north–south morphostructural variability of the sedimentary wedge.     

基于滑动窗口导纳技术反演西太平洋中部岩石圈的有效弹性厚度

西太平洋中部地区是西太平洋板块边缘沟-弧-盆体系构造演化的关键区域,其地质特征与构造演化一直是地学家关注的焦点问题之一。开展岩石圈有效弹性厚度的研究对于认识该区域的形成演化具有重要的科学意义。本文采用滑动窗口导纳技术,并在挠曲模型中考虑了表面荷载和内部荷载同时存在的情况,计算得到该区域的岩石圈有效弹性厚度(Te)。计算结果显示,研究区的Te值整体上为0~50 km,其变化基本上与构造单元相吻合,且与主要的构造边界密切相关。除海底火山具有相对较小的Te值(15~20 km)外,太平洋板块整体上具有较强的岩石圈强度(25~30 km)。马里亚纳海沟和菲律宾海沟的岩石圈强度从外隆起到海沟方向表现为明显的减弱,表明岩石圈由外隆起向海沟发生了弱化。帕里西维拉海盆西部相较于东部具有较弱的岩石圈强度,这可能与海盆的非对称扩张有关。卡罗琳板块的岩石圈整体上表现为相对均一的低Te值特征(<15 km)。欧里皮克海隆、卡罗琳海岭和索罗尔海槽的Te值为3 km,这可能是强烈的火山作用所导致的结果。     

法尔维海盆构造特征及演化

法尔维海盆位于西南太平洋海域豪勋爵海丘东侧、新喀里多尼亚岛西侧,是全球油气勘探的前沿地区。但目前对于该海盆的构造演化研究较为薄弱,限制了该海盆油气资源的进一步勘探开发。本文通过从新西兰塔斯曼海数据库搜集到大量地球物理资料,使用2D Move软件,通过平衡剖面技术进行构造演化模拟,结合区域动力学机制将海盆北部和南部的构造演化分为7个阶段:(1)早白垩世至晚白垩世陆内裂谷阶段;(2)晚白垩世断坳过渡阶段;(3)始新世早期坳陷阶段;(4)始新世晚期一次构造反转阶段;(5)始新世至渐新世热沉降阶段;(6)渐新世至中新世二次构造反转阶段;(7)中新世至今海洋沉降阶段。由于海盆中部未发现有明显的二次构造反转阶段,所以将海盆中部的构造演化划分为5个阶段:(1)早白垩世至晚白垩世陆内裂谷阶段;(2)晚白垩世断坳过渡阶段;(3)始新世早期坳陷阶段;(4)始新世晚期构造反转阶段;(5)中新世至今海洋沉降阶段。此阶段海盆整体下坳,逐渐形成现今样貌。法尔维海盆北部受到区域构造活动影响较大,白垩系地层发育较多的断裂构造;海盆中部晚白垩统地层发生较多的底辟构造;海盆南部从形成至今,受到构造活动影响较小,发育地层完...     

Deformation patterns in the southwestern part of the Mediterranean Ridge (South Matapan Trench,Western Greece)

Seismic reflection data and bathymetry analyses, together with geological information, are combined in the present work to identify seabed structural deformation and crustal structure in the Western Mediterranean Ridge (the backstop and the South Matapan Trench). As a first step, we apply bathymetric data and state of art methods of pattern recognition to automatically detect seabed lineaments, which are possibly related to the presence of tectonic structures (faults). The resulting pattern is tied to seismic reflection data, further assisting in the construction of a stratigraphic and structural model for this part of the Mediterranean Ridge. Structural elements and stratigraphic units in the final model are estimated based on: (a) the detected lineaments on the seabed, (b) the distribution of the interval velocities and the presence of velocity inversions, (c) the continuity and the amplitudes of the seismic reflections, the seismic structure of the units and (d) well and stratigraphic data as well as the main tectonic structures from the nearest onshore areas. Seabed morphology in the study area is probably related with the past and recent tectonics movements that result from African and European plates’ convergence. Backthrusts and reverse faults, flower structures and deep normal faults are among the most important extensional/compressional structures interpreted in the study area.     

A seismic reflection study of the External Calabrian Arc in the northern Ionian Sea (eastern Mediterranean)

The External Calabrian Arc is located off the convex side of the Calabro-Peloritanian Arc in the northern Ionian Sea. A systematic reflection seismic survey indicates that it is made of different structural elements whose characters seem consistent with an active accretionary margin. The main structures are the Crotone-Spartivento slope (comparable to an inner trench slope) and the intermediate depressions (comparable to a trench area). Internal to these elements, the Crotone-Spartivento basin may represent a fore-arc basin. This partly outcrops in Calabria and its structure suggests that the accretionary margin developed at least since middle-upper Miocene.Subduction processes do not affect a true oceanic crust, because of the great thickness of sediments covering the whole eastern Mediterranean. Hence some peculiar features occur in the system. as the cobblestone topography, or are lacking, as a typical and continuous trench zone.In the areas with cobblestone topography we distinguish a Calabrian Ridge sensu stricto from a Calabrian Ridge sensu lato. The former is a N-S trending swell, external to the supposed trench zone, interpreted as a sedimentary outer-arc ridge produced by rather surficial tectonic accumulation of sediments further chaoticized by gravitative mechanisms. The Ridge s.l. is a very wide area with low relief and little or no seismic penetration. Tectonization seems gentler than in the Ridge s.s. and structural axes seem to possess different orientations. These areas are interpreted as due to a widespread surficial chaoticization above presumed decollement layers occurring within the sedimentary column of the Ionian bathyal plain.The pattern of deformations of the Calabrian Ridge seems consistent with the Calabro-Peloritanian Arc actively overriding the eastern Mediterranean, with a resultant direction of movement essentially towards the East.     

Erosion of continental margins in the Western Mediterranean due to sea-level stagnancy during the Messinian Salinity Crisis

High-resolution multi-channel seismic data from continental slopes with minor sediment input off southwest Mallorca Island, the Bay of Oran (Algeria) and the Alboran Ridge reveal evidence that the Messinian erosional surface is terraced at an almost constant depth interval between 320 and 380 m below present-day sea level. It is proposed that these several hundred- to 2,000-m-wide terraces were eroded contemporaneously and essentially at the same depth. Present-day differences in these depths result from subsidence or uplift in the individual realms. The terraces are thought to have evolved during one or multiple periods of sea-level stagnancy in the Western Mediterranean Basin. According to several published scenarios, a single or multiple periods of relative sea-level stillstand occurred during the Messinian desiccation event, generally known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Some authors suggest that the stagnancy started during the refilling phase of the Mediterranean basins. When the rising sea level reached the height of the Sicily Sill, the water spilled over this swell into the eastern basin. The stagnancy persisted until sea level in the eastern basin caught up with the western Mediterranean water level. Other authors assigned periods of sea-level stagnancy to drawdown phases, when inflowing waters from the Atlantic kept the western sea level constant at the depth of the Sicily Sill. Our findings corroborate all those Messinian sea-level reconstructions, forwarding that a single or multiple sea-level stagnancies at the depth of the Sicily Sill lasted long enough to significantly erode the upper slope. Our data also have implications for the ongoing debate of the palaeo-depth of the Sicily Sill. Since the Mallorcan plateau experienced the least vertical movement, the observed terrace depth of 380 m there is inferred to be close to the Messinian depth of this swell.     

Morphological characteristics in the area off eastern Taiwan Island and their tectonic implications

On the basis of bathymetric data and other geological and geophysical data obtained during the first survey conducted by Chinese Mainland in the area off eastern Taiwan Island from May to June in 2000, the morphological features of the region, the tectonic control to the seafloor topography and their tectonic implication are studied and discussed. The results have revealed that both the slope zone of the Ryukyu arc and the Ryukyu Trench present a typical morphotectonic characteristics controlled by the trench-arc system in the West Pacific Ocean. At the slope of eastern Taiwan Island the isobathic lines parallel to the coastline and distribute densely in nearly N-S direction and the slope gradient of topography is large. Such a unique feature is attributed to the collision of the Luzon arc and Eurasia continent. In the Huatung Basin, turbidity fans and submarine canyons are well developed, the formations of which are mainly related to the steep topography of the slope of the Luzon arc and the abundant s     

Flexural interaction and the dynamics of neogene extensional Basin formation in the Alboran-Betic region

Quantitative tectonic modelling demonstrates an interaction of flexure of the lithosphere underlying the western Betics with crustal thinning in the Alboran Basin and flank uplift in the Internal Zone. In the eastern Betics the flexural response is overprinted by post-thrusting extensional events. Lateral variations in thermal structure and rheology of the lithosphere along strike of the Betics shed light on changes in tectonic configuration and are consistent with evidence for lateral variations in the mode of extension in the Alboran Basin. Flexural modelling and subsidence analysis of Neogene basins in the Internal Zone of the Betics, with spatial development controlled by contrasts in lithosphere rheology, demonstrate that at least two extensional events have affected the orogenic evolution of the Betics. The first event appears to reflect Oligocene-Early Miocene rifting observed throughout the Western Mediterranean. The second phase, which caused the present configuration of the Betics, corresponds to Tortonian-Recent extension centered in the Alboran Basin.     

南海南部海域构造地貌

构造地貌是指由新构造运动直接形成的一种动态的、积极活跃的地貌类型。南海南部海域新构造运动强烈,类型众多,它们是控制海底构造地貌形成和发育的主要内动力因素。根据地质地球物理资料,对该区区域构造沉降、海底扩张、断裂作用、褶皱作用和火山活动等新构造运动类型及其形成的构造地貌进行了分析。区域构造沉降形成规模较大的构造台地、深水阶地和陆坡盆地等;海底扩张形成西南海盆、中央海盆及其内部的众多构造地貌类型;断裂作用形成断层崖、断阶、海底谷、断块山、断陷盆地等;褶皱作用形成山地和挤压构造盆地;火山作用形成海山、海丘。     

Some faulting patterns along the continental slope off Israel and their tectonic significance

A high resolution seismic survey was carried out on the continental slope of Israel, NW of Caesarea. The area was studied in order to map the tectonic elements of the Dor structure, and to extrapolate and suggest a structural model of the tectonics of the continental slope of the SE Mediterranean since the Late Miocene. It was found that the continental slope was affected by two faulting systems—NW trending strike-slip faults and NNE trending normal faults. Faults of both systems are associated with numerous slumps along the slope. However, the NW trending faults belong to a faulting system of similar trend that abounds in the adjacent continent and extends northwestwards across the continental shelf and slope to the continental rise. The NNE trending faults form the shelf-edge faulting system that was associated with the subsidence of the eastern Mediterranean basin since the Pliocene. Thus the continental slope is not only a morphological transition zone but also a tectonic one, showing the influence of both the continental and the oceanic structural regimes in the SE Mediterranean region.     

台湾岛以东海域海底地形特征及其构造控制

基于2000年5~6月在台湾岛以东海域调查获得的多波束全覆盖测深等地质和地球物理资料,对该海域海底地形特征进行了研究,探讨了构造对海底地形的控制作用及其构造地质意义.研究表明,琉球岛弧岛坡区和琉球海沟表现为典型的西太平洋沟-弧-盆体系控制下的构造地形;台湾岛东部岛坡等深线近南北向平行密集排列,地形坡度大,弧陆碰撞造就了该区独特的地形特征;花东盆地海底峡谷发育,其形成主要受基底起伏和走滑断裂的控制;加瓜海脊东西两侧水深和地形特征明显不同,但其基底可能属于花东盆地,加瓜海脊的东侧对应了两个不同性质板块的边界;西菲律宾海盆表现为北西向线状脊-槽相间排列,并遭受北东向转换断层的切割,根据海底地形、转换断层和磁异常条带的方向推测,研究区海底形成于距今60~45Ma的西菲律宾海盆北东-南西向扩张期.