Uplift and subsidence from oblique slip: the Ganos–Marmara bend of the North Anatolian Transform, western Turkey

Bends that locally violate plate-motion-parallel geometry are common structural elements of continental transform faults. We relate the vertical component of crustal motion in the western Marmara Sea region to the NNW-pointing 18° bend on the northern branch of the North Anatolian Fault (NAF-N) between the Ganos segment, which ruptured in 1912, and the central Marmara segment, a seismic gap. Crustal shortening and uplift on the transpressive west side of the bend results in the Ganos Mountain; crustal extension and subsidence on the transtensional east side produce the Tekirdağ Basin. We propose that this vertical component of deformation is controlled by oblique slip on the non-vertical north-dipping Ganos and Tekirdağ segments of the North Anatolian Fault. We compare Holocene with Quaternary structure across the bend using new and recently published data and conclude the following. First, bend-related vertical motion is occurring primarily north of the NAF-N. This suggests that this bend is fixed to the Anatolian side of the fault. Second, current deformation is consistent with an antisymmetric pattern centered at the bend, up on the west and down on the east. Accumulated deformation is shifted to the east along the right-lateral NAF-N, however, leading to locally opposite vertical components of long- and short-term motion. Uplift has started as far west as the landward extension of the Saros trough. Current subsidence is most intense close to the bend and to the Ganos Mountain, while the basin deepens gradually from the bend eastward for 28 km along the fault. The pattern of deformation is time-transgressive if referenced to the material, but is stable if referenced to the bend. The lag between motion and structure implies a 1.1–1.4 Ma age for the basin at current dextral slip rate (2.0–2.5 cm/year). Third, the Tekirdağ is an asymmetric basin progressively tilted down toward the NAF-N, which serves as the border fault. Progressive tilt suggests that the steep northward dip of the fault decreases with depth in a listric geometry at the scale of the upper crust and is consistent with reactivation of Paleogene suture-related thrust faults. Fourth, similar thrust-fault geometry west of the bend can account for the Ganos Mountain anticline/monocline as hanging-wall-block folding and back tilting. Oblique slip on a non-vertical master fault may accommodate transtension and transpression associated with other bends along the NAF and other continental transforms.     

Recent Environmental Change and Atmospheric Contamination on Svalbard as Recorded in Lake Sediments – an Introduction

This paper outlines an interdisciplinary project on recent environmental change and atmospheric contamination on the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard (76°30′N–80°30′N). It describes the rationale and aims of the project and summarises the location, climate, geology, vegetation, and land-use of Svalbard.     

A macroscale analysis of coastal steepening around the coast of England and Wales

Coastal steepening potentially presents an array of management issues in the form of financial implications of sea defence degradation, increased risk posed to the hinterland as wave attenuation is reduced, 'coastal squeeze' and statutory requirements in the light of the Habitats Directive. The extent to which coastal steepening has occurred throughout England and Wales has been investigated through use of a GIS and dataset based on historical Ordnance Survey map information. Data were collected along 1084 selected profile lines, positioned so as to be geomorphologically representative of the coast. Features recorded from each map year included the positions of mean high water (MHW) and mean low water (MLW), the relative movements of which infer changing intertidal gradients. The results presented in this paper are on a subject and scale not previously published. It is revealed that 61% of the coastline studied has experienced a tendency towards steepening. Of the remainder, 33% has flattened, and 6% has experienced no rotational movement. This tendency towards steepening has been the dominant movement on each of the west, south, and east coasts.     

Seasonal and inter-annual relationships between vegetation and climate in central New Mexico, USA

Linear correlations between seasonal and inter-annual measures of meteorological variables and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) are calculated at six nearby yet distinct vegetation communities in semi-arid New Mexico, USA Monsoon season (June–September) precipitation shows considerable positive correlation with NDVI values from the contemporaneous summer, following spring, and following summer. Non-monsoon precipitation (October–May), temperature, and wind display both positive and negative correlations with NDVI values. These meteorological variables influence NDVI variability at different seasons and time lags. Thus vegetation responds to short-term climate variability in complex ways and serves as a source of memory for the climate system.