Constraining P-wave velocity variations in the upper mantle beneath Southeast Asia

We have produced a P-wave model of the upper mantle beneath Southeast (SE) Asia from reprocessed short period International Seismological Centre (ISC) P and pP data, short period P data of the Annual Bulletin of Chinese Earthquakes (ABCE), and long period PP-P data. We used 3D sensitivity kernels to combine the datasets, and mantle structure was parameterized with an irregular grid. In the best-sampled region our data resolve structure on scale lengths less than 150 km. The smearing of crustal anomalies to larger depths is reduced by a crustal correction using an a priori 3D model. Our tomographic inversions reveal high-velocity roots beneath the Archean Ordos Plateau, the Sichuan Basin, and other continental blocks in SE Asia. Beneath the Himalayan Block we detect high seismic velocities, which we associate with subduction of Indian lithospheric mantle. This structure is visible above the 410 km discontinuity and may not connect to the remnant of the Neo-Tethys oceanic slab in the lower mantle. Our images suggest that only the southwestern part of the Tibetan plateau is underlain by Indian lithosphere and, thus, that the upper mantle beneath northeastern Tibet is primarily of Asian origin. Our imaging also reveals a large-scale high-velocity structure in the transition zone beneath the Yangtze Craton, which could have been produced in multiple subduction episodes. The low P-wave velocities beneath the Hainan Island are most prominent in the upper mantle and transition zone; they may represent counter flow from the surrounding subduction zones, and may not be unrelated to processes beneath eastern Tibet.     

Detecting Regional Events via Statistical Analysis of Geodetic Networks

We present an application of hidden Markov models (HMMs) to analysis of geodetic time series in Southern California. Our model-fitting method uses a regularized version of the deterministic annealing expectation-maximization algorithm to ensure that model solutions are both robust and of high quality. Using the fitted models, we segment the daily displacement time series collected by 127 stations of the Southern California Integrated Geodetic Network (SCIGN) over a two-year period. Segmentations of the series are based on statistical changes as identified by the trained HMMs. We look for correlations in state changes across multiple stations that indicate region-wide activity. We find that although in one case a strong seismic event was associated with a spike in station correlations, in all other cases in the study, time period strong correlations were not associated with any seismic event. This indicates that the method was able to identify more subtle signals associated with aseismic events or long-range interactions between smaller events.     

Can Damage Mechanics Explain Temporal Scaling Laws in Brittle Fracture and Seismicity?

Time delays associated with processes leading to a failure or stress relaxation in materials and earthquakes are studied in terms of continuum damage mechanics. Damage mechanics is a quasi-empirical approach that describes inelastic irreversible phenomena in the deformation of solids. When a rock sample is loaded, there is generally a time delay before the rock fails. This period is characterized by the occurrence and coalescence of microcracks which radiate acoustic signals of broad amplitudes. These acoustic emission events have been shown to exhibit power-law scaling as they increase in intensity prior to a rupture. In case of seismogenic processes in the Earth's brittle crust, all earthquakes are followed by an aftershock sequence. A universal feature of aftershocks is that their rate decays in time according to the modified Omori's law, a power-law decay. In this paper a model of continuum damage mechanics in which damage (microcracking) starts to develop when the applied stress exceeds a prescribed yield stress (a material parameter) is introduced to explain both laboratory experiments and systematic temporal variations in seismicity.     

Decadal- to interannual-scale source water variations in the Caribbean Sea recorded by Puerto Rican coral radiocarbon

Water that forms the Florida Current, and eventually the Gulf Stream, coalesces in the Caribbean from both subtropical and equatorial sources. The equatorial sources are made up of, in part, South Atlantic water moving northward and compensating for southward flow at depth related to meridional overturning circulation. Subtropical surface water contains relatively high amounts of radiocarbon (¹⁴C), whereas equatorial waters are influenced by the upwelling of low ¹⁴C water and have relatively low concentrations of ¹⁴C. We use a 250 year record of Δ¹⁴C in a coral from southwestern Puerto Rico along with previously published coral Δ¹⁴C records as tracers of subtropical and equatorial water mixing in the northern Caribbean. Data generated in this study and from other studies indicate that the influence of either of the two water masses can change considerably on interannual to interdecadal time scales. Variability due to ocean dynamics in this region is large relative to variability caused by atmospheric ¹⁴C changes, thus masking the Suess effect at this site. A mixing model produced using coral Δ¹⁴C illustrates the time varying proportion of equatorial versus subtropical waters in the northern Caribbean between 1963 and 1983. The results of the model are consistent with linkages between multidecadal thermal variability in the North Atlantic and meridional overturning circulation. Ekman transport changes related to tradewind variability are proposed as a possible mechanism to explain the observed switches between relatively low and high Δ¹⁴C values in the coral radiocarbon records.     

Influence of earthquakes on the stability of slopes

Earthquakes are a major trigger for instability of natural and man-made slopes. Often the instability of slopes due to an earthquake causes more destruction and kills more people than the actual earthquake itself. A comparison is made between different methodologies to analyze the potential stability of slopes during earthquakes. Theoretically, it seems simple to calculate the stability of a slope during an earthquake. In reality, however, the stability is influenced by so many parameters that are either not known or which influence is so poorly known that a decent estimation of stability cannot be made. Offshore the situation is worse because proper data required for stability calculations are even less available than onshore. On- and offshore, erosion and weathering create continuously slopes that may become unstable during a future earthquake, offshore also sedimentation creates continuously new slopes. Another fundamental problem in stability analysis is the complicated and largely unknown behavior of seismic waves in three-dimensions in natural materials. The lack of accurate data and the unknown behavior of seismic waves in three-dimensions make estimations of slope stability during an earthquake unreliable.     

Solubility of grossular, Ca3Al2Si3O12, in H2O-NaCl solutions at 800 °C and 10 kbar, and the stability of garnet in the system CaSiO3-Al2O3-H2O-NaCl

The solubility and stability of synthetic grossular were determined at 800 °C and 10 kbar in NaCl-H₂O solutions over a large range of salinity. The measurements were made by evaluating the weight losses of grossular, corundum, and wollastonite crystals equilibrated with fluid for up to one week in Pt capsules and a piston-cylinder apparatus. Grossular dissolves congruently over the entire salinity range and displays a large solubility increase of 0.0053 to 0.132 molal Ca₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂ with increasing NaCl mole fraction (X_NaCl) from 0 to 0.4. There is thus a solubility enhancement 25 times the pure H₂O value over the investigated range, indicating strong solute interaction with NaCl. The Ca₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂ mole fraction versus NaCl mole fraction curve has a broad plateau between X_NaCl = 0.2 and 0.4, indicating that the solute products are hydrous; the enhancement effect of NaCl interaction is eventually overtaken by the destabilizing effect of lowering H₂O activity. In this respect, the solubility behavior of grossular in NaCl solutions is similar to that of corundum and wollastonite. There is a substantial field of stability of grossular at 800 °C and 10 kbar in the system CaSiO₃-Al₂O₃-H₂O-NaCl. At high Al₂O₃/CaSiO₃ bulk compositions the grossular + fluid field is limited by the appearance of corundum. Zoisite appears metastably with corundum in initially pure H₂O, but disappears once grossular is nucleated. At X_NaCl = 0.3, however, zoisite is stable with corundum and fluid; this is the only departure from the quaternary system encountered in this study. Corundum solubility is very high in solutions containing both NaCl and CaSiO₃: Al₂O₃ molality increases from 0.0013 in initially pure H₂O to near 0.15 at X_NaCl = 0.4 in CaSiO₃-saturated solutions, a >100-fold enhancement. In contrast, addition of Al₂O₃ to wollastonite-saturated NaCl solutions increases CaSiO₃ molality by only 12%. This suggests that at high pH (quench pH is 11-12), the stability of solute Ca chloride and Na-Al ± Si complexes account for high Al₂O₃ solubility, and that Ca-Al ± Si complexes are minor. The high solubility and basic dissolution reaction of grossular suggest that Al may be a very mobile component in calcareous rocks in the deep crust and upper mantle when migrating saline solutions are present.     

A Comparison of Methods for the Stochastic Simulation of Rock Fractures

Methods reported in the literature for rock fracture simulations include approaches based on stochastic geometry, multiple-point statistics and a combination of geostatistics for fracture density and object-based modelling for fracture geometries. The advantages and disadvantages of each of these approaches are discussed with examples. By way of review, the authors begin with the geostatistical indicator simulation method, based on the truncated–Gaussian algorithm; this is followed by multiple-point statistical simulation and then the stochastic geometry approach, which is based on marked point process simulation. A new approach, based on pluriGaussian structural simulation, is then introduced. The new approach incorporates in the simulation the spatial correlation between different sets of fractures, which in general, is very difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish in the three methods reviewed. Each simulation method is summarised together with detailed simulation procedures for each. A published two-dimensional fracture dataset is used as a means of assessing the performance of each simulation method and of demonstrating the concepts discussed in the text.     

Lu–Hf geochronology and trace element distribution in garnet: Implications for uplift and exhumation of ultra-high pressure granulites in the Sudetes, SW Poland

Combining Lu–Hf garnet geochronology with in situ trace element analyses in garnet allowed us to gain new insight into the metamorphic evolution of UHP–UHT rocks in the Stary Gierałtów region, in the Polish Sudetes. Prograde garnet growth recorded by Rayleigh-type heavy REE (HREE) zoning in the felsic granulites indicates that the obtained 386.6 ± 4.9 Ma Lu–Hf age represents the time of garnet crystallization on a prograde UHP metamorphic path. The surrounding rocks were metamorphosed at the same time as indicated by 381.2 ± 6.7 Ma Sm–Nd garnet age obtained for the mid-crustal metapelites. The second metamorphic episode, which affected most of the lower crust in the Orlica–Śnieżnik Massif (OSM) occurred at ca. 340 Ma as determined by U–Pb zircon and Sm–Nd garnet dating of granulites in this and previous studies is interpreted as a high temperature event, which took place on a retrograde path.

Trace element distribution in garnets from the layered granulites showed significant differences in distribution of medium and HREE in garnets from mafic and felsic protoliths over the course of the metamorphic evolution. This had strong impact on the isotopic dating results and led to “decoupling” of the Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf clocks, which recorded timing of the two different metamorphic episodes separated by as much as 40 Ma. Moreover, the preservation of the HREE growth zonation profile in garnets from the felsic granulites whose minimum metamorphic temperature was established at 900 °C implies that the Lu–Hf system under relatively dry conditions does not undergo significant diffusional re-equilibration even at such extreme temperatures and therefore it sill provides the age of prograde garnet growth. Under hydrous conditions, at least some resetting will take place, as documented by the partially relaxed HREE zonation profile in the amphibolitised mafic granulite, which yielded a 10 Ma younger age. The HREE distribution study appeared to be a particularly valuable and essential tool, which allowed us to distinguish garnet growth from post-growth complexities and hence, provide improved age interpretation. Medium REE, on the other hand, did not show any obvious correlation with the isotopic signature of garnet.

Two distinct metamorphic episodes recorded in the Stary Gierałtów region show that buoyancy-driven uplift of UHP rocks can be arrested at the base of a continental crust if not supported by any additional force. In our case study, the UHP rocks would have never reached the surface if their uplift had not been resumed after a long pause under a different tectonic regime. The multistage, discontinuous uplift revealed by the UHP rocks of the OSM provides a new scenario for the exhumation of continental crust from mantle depths distinct from the fast-track exhumation histories recognized in UHP terranes elsewhere.     

Post-collisional transition from calc-alkaline to alkaline magmatism during transcurrent deformation in the southernmost Dom Feliciano Belt (Braziliano–Pan-African, Uruguay)

In the southernmost Dom Feliciano Belt of Uruguay, highly fractionated calc-alkaline granites, mildly alkaline granites, shoshonitic volcanics, and peralkaline intrusions and volcanics are spatially and temporal associated with the evolution of shear zones. Four representative magmatic unites of this diverse association were petrographic and geochemically investigated: the Solís de Mataojo Complex, a medium to high K2O calc-alkaline granite with signature typical of mature continental arcs and post-collisional settings; the Maldonado granite, highly fractionated calc-alkaline to alkaline, with characteristics that are transitional between both types of series; the Pan de Azúcar Pluton, with characteristics typical of post-collisional alkaline granites and the Las Flores shoshonitic basalts.

Geochemistry and geotectonic setting point out that slab breakoff was most likely the mechanism associated with the generation of high-K calc-alkaline magmas (Solís de Mataojo and Maldonado) shortly after collision. Extension associated to the formation of molassic basins and emplacement of dolerites and basalt flows with shoshonitic affinity (Las Flores) 15and finally a shift to magmas with alkaline signatures (Pan de Azúcar) simultaneous with a second transpressional phase were probably linked with lithospheric thinning through delamination. This evolution took place between 615 and 575 Ma, according to available data. Contrary to previous proposals, which considered this magmatism to represent the root of a continental magmatic arc, a post-collisional environment, transitional from orogenic to anorogenic, during transcurrent deformation is proposed.     

Imaging Offsets in the Moho: Synthetic Tests using Gaussian Beams with Teleseismic Waves

We carry out a sequence of numerical tests to understand conditions under which rapid changes in crustal thickness can be reliably imaged by teleseismic body waves. Using the finite-difference method over a 2-D grid, we compute synthetic seismograms resulting from a planar P-wavefield incident below the grid. We then image the Moho using a migration scheme based on the Gaussian beam representation of the wavefield. The use of Gaussian beams for the downward propagation of the wavefield is particularly advantageous in certain geologically critical cases such as overthrusting of continental lithosphere, resulting in the juxtaposition of high-velocity mantle material over crustal rocks. In contrast to ray-based methods, Gaussian beam migration requires no special treatment to handle such heterogeneities. Our results suggest that with adequate station spacing and signal-to-noise ratios, offsets of the Moho, on the order of 10 km in height, can be reliably imaged beneath thickened crust at depths of about 50 km. Furthermore, even sharp corners and edges are faithfully imaged when precise values of seismic wave speeds are available. Our tests also demonstrate that flexibility in choices of different types of seismic phases is important, because any single phase has trade-offs in issues such as spatial resolution, array aperture, and amplitude of signals.