Coastal conglomerates around the Hadjer el Khamis inselbergs (western Chad,central Africa): new evidence for Lake Mega‐Chad episodes

This paper reports on a study dealing with the rhyolitic inselbergs of Hadjer el Khamis that formed palaeoislands during Lake Mega‐Chad events. Field observations have shown that: (1) conglomeratic patches of immature to mature clasts are preserved at the feet of the Hadjer el Khamis inselbergs; (2) in cross‐section, their pro?le reveals a well de?ned cliff–platform junction at a constant elevation (325 m). The monolithological clasts show all degrees of roundness, from angular cobbles to well rounded pebbles. This wide range of maturity suggests a coastal origin for these cobbles. The system was permanently fed with angular clasts, which were progressively worn by waves. Cobbles that were wave‐worked for the longest time are the best rounded. The cliff–platform junction is the result of erosion by waves, which attacked and undercut the inselberg cliffs during Lake Mega‐Chad events. Asymmetrical erosion pro?les moreover suggest a wind regime dominated by SW to NE oriented winds. These interpretations have two implications. The elevation of the cliff–platform junction is an indication of the highest water level of Lake Mega‐Chad at 320–325 m, which is in agreement with other observations elsewhere in the basin. The SW to NE oriented winds show that monsoon‐related winds were prevalent during Lake Mega‐Chad events, suggesting the Inter‐Tropical Convergence Zone was located higher in latitude than today. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lacustrine wave-dominated clastic shorelines: modern to ancient littoral landforms and deposits from the Lake Turkana Basin (East African Rift System,Kenya)

This paper presents an overview of some of the most significant, recent to ancient, littoral morpho-sedimentary structures and deposits from the Lake Turkana Basin. We highlight the importance of wave-related sedimentary processes in lakes, and more specifically in rift lakes. In the published literature, references to wave-dominated shorelines are mainly in regards to coastal marine environments. However, numerous modern lakes exhibit typical wave-dominated littoral landforms, and related sedimentary deposits are known from several paleolake successions in the geological record. Wave-related processes are often of relatively minor importance in depositional models for lacustrine environments. Classical models emphasize clastics transported by rivers, which are then distributed by fan-deltas and/or deltas into a water body of fluctuating depth, where reworking of clastics is limited in the littoral domain, and episodic in deep waters. Modern processes in Lake Turkana and the exposed paleolake deposits of the Turkana Basin demonstrate that this view is incomplete. Wave-dominated shorelines are evident (1) for modern Lake Turkana based on prominent and active littoral landforms (e.g., beach ridges, sand spits, washover fans, and arcuate-cuspate deltas); (2) for the Holocene (African Humid Period) climate-driven highstand of Megalake Turkana and its subsequent forced regression based on conspicuous raised beach ridges and spits; and (3) for the Pliocene–Pleistocene (Omo Group, Nachukui Formation) from typical nearshore sedimentary facies and stratigraphic architectures associated with paleolake Turkana. These examples from the Turkana Basin coupled with examples from other lacustrine settings, suggest that wave-dominated clastic shorelines represent significant portions of existing and ancient lake-shores. As this view contrasts with classic depositional models for lakes, notably for those found in rift setting, we also present examples of wave-influenced littoral landforms from other lakes of the East African Rift System. Identifying lacustrine paleoshorelines from typical clastic landforms and deposits is the key to the spatial reconstruction of lakes over time, and to determine transgressive–regressive cycles. Waves action is an important agent in lakes for the erosion, transport, and deposition of clastics at the basin-scale, an aspect that needs to be integrated in sedimentary models.     

Geochemical characteristics and Sr‐Nd‐Hf isotope compositions of Late Triassic post‐collisional A‐type granites in Sarudik,SW Sumatra,Indonesia

Late Triassic A‐type granites are identified in this study in Sarudik, SW Sumatra. We present new data on zircon U–Pb geochronology, whole‐rock major and trace elements and Sr‐Nd‐Hf isotope geochemistry, aiming to study their petrogenesis and tectonic implications. LA‐ICP‐MS U–Pb dating of zircon separated from one biotite monzogranite sample yields a concordia age of 222.6 ±1.0 Ma, indicating a Late Triassic magmatic event. The studied granites are classified as weakly peralumious, high‐K calc‐alkaline granites. They exhibit high SiO₂, K₂O + Na₂O, FeO/(FeO + MgO) and Ga/Al ratios and low Al₂O₃, CaO, MgO, P₂O₅ and TiO₂ contents, with enrichment of Rb, Th and U and depletion of Ba, Sr, P and Eu, showing the features of A‐type granites. The granites have zircon ε_Hf(t) values from ?4.6 to ?0.4 and whole‐rock ε_Nd(t) values from ?5.51 to ?4.98, with Mesoproterozoic T_DM2 ages (1278–1544 Ma) for both Hf and Nd isotopes. Geochemical and isotopic data suggest that the source of these A‐type granites is the Mesoproterozoic continental crust, without significant incorporation of mantle‐derived component, and their formation is controlled by subsequent fractional crystallization. The Sarudik A‐type granites are further assigned to A2‐type formed in post‐collisional environment. Combined with previous knowledge on the western SE Asia tectonic evolution, we conclude that the formation of the Late Triassic A‐type granites is related to the post‐collisional extension induced by the crustal thickening, gravitational collapse, and asthenosphere upwelling following the collision between the Sibumasu and the East Malaya Block.     

Transmission + reflection anisotropic wave-equation traveltime and waveform inversion

A transmission + reflection wave-equation traveltime and waveform inversion method is presented that inverts the seismic data for the anisotropic parameters in a vertical transverse isotropic medium. The simultaneous inversion of anisotropic parameters and ε is initially performed using transmission wave-equation traveltime inversion method. Transmission wave-equation traveltime only provides the low-intermediate wavenumbers for the shallow part of the anisotropic model; in contrast, reflection wave-equation traveltime estimates the anisotropic parameters in the deeper section of the model. By incorporating a layer-stripping method with reflection wave-equation traveltime, the ambiguity between the background-velocity model and the depths of reflectors can be greatly mitigated. In the final step, multi-scale full-waveform inversion is performed to recover the high-wavenumber component of the model.  We use a synthetic model to illustrate the local minima problem of full-waveform inversion and how transmission and reflection wave-equation traveltime can mitigate this problem. We demonstrate the efficacy of our new method using field data from the Gulf of Mexico.     

Grain crushing in geoscience materials-Key issues on crushing response,measurement and modeling:Review and preface

Grain crushing is commonly encountered in deep foundation engineering,high rockfill dam engineering,railway engineering,mining engineering,coastal engineering,petroleum engineering,and other geoscience application.Grain crushing is affected by fundamental soil characteristics,such as their mineral strength,grain size and distribution,grain shape,density and specimen size,and also by external factors including stress magnitude and path,loading rate and duration,degree of saturation,temperature and geochemical environment.Crushable material becomes a series of different materials with the change in its grading during grain crushing,resulting in a decrease in strength and dilatancy and an increase in compressibility.Effects of grain crushing on strength,dilatancy,deformation and failure mechanisms have been extensively investigated through laboratory testing,discrete element method(DEM)modelling,Weibull statistics,and constitutive modelling within the framework of the extended crushing-dependent critical state theory or the energy-based theory.Eleven papers summarized in this review article for this special issue addressed the above issues in grain crushing through the advanced testing and modelling.     

Volcanogenic Tsunamis in Lakes: Examples from Nicaragua and General Implications

This paper emphasizes the fact that tsunamis can occur in continental lakes and focuses on tsunami triggering by processes related to volcanic eruptions and instability of volcanic edifices. The two large lakes of Nicaragua, Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua, host a section of the Central American Volcanic Arc including several active volcanoes. One case of a tsunami in Lake Managua triggered by an explosive volcanic eruption is documented in the geologic record. However, a number of events occurred in the past at both lakes which were probably tsunamigenic. These include massive intrusion of pyroclastic flows from Apoyo volcano as well as of flank-collapse avalanches from Mombacho volcano into Lake Nicaragua. Maar-forming phreatomagmatic eruptions, which repeatedly occurred in Lake Managua, are highly explosive phenomena able to create hugh water waves as was observed elsewhere. The shallow water depth of the Nicaraguan lakes is discussed as the major limiting factor of tsunami amplitude and propagation speed. The very low-profile shores facilitate substantial in-land flooding even of relatively small waves. Implications for conceiving a possible warning system are also discussed.     

Impact of initialization procedures on the predictive skill of a coupled ocean–atmosphere model

The sensitivity of the predictive skill of a decadal climate prediction system is investigated with respect to details of the initialization procedure. For this purpose, the coupled ocean–atmosphere UCLA/MITgcm climate model is initialized using the following three different initialization approaches: full state initialization (FSI), anomaly initialization (AI) and FSI employing heat flux and freshwater flux corrections (FC). The ocean initial conditions are provided by the German contribution to Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean state estimate (GECCO project), from which ensembles of decadal hindcasts are initialized every 5 years from 1961 to 2001. The predictive skill for sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface height (SSH) and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is assessed against the GECCO synthesis. In regions with a deep mixed layer the predictive skill for SST anomalies remains significant for up to a decade in the FC experiment. By contrast, FSI shows less persistent skill in the North Atlantic and AI does not show high skill in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere, but appears to be more skillful in the tropics. In the extratropics, the improved skill is related to the ability of the FC initialization method to better represent the mixed layer depth, and the highest skill occurs during wintertime. The correlation skill for the spatially averaged North Atlantic SSH hindcasts remains significant up to a decade only for FC. The North Atlantic MOC initialized hindcasts show high correlation values in the first pentad while correlation remains significant in the following pentad too for FSI and FC. Overall, for the current setup, the FC approach appears to lead to the best results, followed by the FSI and AI procedures.