Contents of Volume 26

Table of Contents

Contents of Volume 26     

Sediment diffusive fluxes of Fe,Mn, and P in a eutrophic lake: Contribution from lateral vs bottom sediments

Water column data and porewater profiles are used to study the chemical evolution with time and with depth of a eutrophic lake. By using different approaches, diffusion fluxes for dissolved iron, manganese and phosphate are calculated and used to describe the processes occurring at the sediment-water interface as well as in the hypolimnion of the lake. These data are used in the elaboration of a qualitative model to describe the chemical behaviour of the sedimentary interface of an anoxic lake with emphasis on the Fe/P/S system. Acorona model is proposed to explain the evolution with time of the diffusion process by estimating the relative contribution of bottom and lateral sediment surfaces to the total fluxes of dissolved elements diffusing from the sediment to the overlying water. As the hypolimnion becomes more anoxic, it has been observed that lateral sediment surfaces (16 to 10 meters in depth) represents a larger supplier of diffusing dissolved components than the bottom sediment portion (bottom to 18 meters).     

A combined numerical and wind-tunnel study of ventilation and air pollution episodes in a rural valley of Switzerland

A study is reported of air pollution episodes in the Broye valley, a rural area of Switzerland located to the north-east of the city of Lausanne, in which a number of industrial sources of SO₂ are located. The study comprises numerical simulations of regional-scale meteorology, local plume behavior, as well as a wind tunnel investigation of the same region in order to ascertain the relative advantages and disadvantages of numerical and physical modeling. In situ data are available for certain episodes which occured during a very cold period in the winter of 1985, allowing intercomparisons to be made between nature and models. Furthermore, a significant effort undertaken by cantonal authorities has led to the setting up of a detailed emission inventory, which includes industry, individual domestic heating and traffic. Such an inventory has proved invaluable in imposing source terms in the models.     

Plate collision and paleostress trajectories in a fold-thrust belt: The foothills of Taiwan

Field analyses of compressional faulting and folding in the Foothills of western Taiwan enable us to reconstruct paleostress trajectories over a large area and to establish the relative chronology of tectonic events. Two main compressional events have contributed to the present structure of the fold-thrust belt. Stratigraphic data show that these events are Plio-Pliocene in age. Older normal faulting indicates NNW-SSE extension across the Chinesse passive continental margin during the Neogene. The two main compressional events of the Taiwan collision correspond to similar fan-shaped distributions of maximum compressive stress trajectories, with a counterclockwise shift of 30°–50° between the two events. Using the relationship between recent stress trajectories and the direction of recent plate motion as a guide, we reconstruct the direction of plate convergence for the older event. We suspect that the relative motion Philippine Sea plate-Eurasia has rotated counterclockwise of at least 35°–45° in Taiwan during collision. This conclusion is in agreement with independent plate tectonic reconstructions. Several problems provide objectives to further tectonic and paleomagnetic studies, including the duration and diachronism of compressional events as well as possible clockwise rotation of northernmost Taiwan.     

Intermediate tectonic pattern and hydrodynamic process deduced from audiomagnetotelluric investigations on the volcanic island of Mayotte (Comores Archipelago)

Audiomagnetotelluric soundings were carried out on the volcanic island of Mayotte (Comores Archipelago). The field method and data are described and discussed. All the sounding cross sections show coherent curves with a high conductive layer between 100 and 200 m. depth. This layer is considered to be a fluctuating water table zone correlated to yearly climatic changes under tropical weathering processes. Dipping and sudden level variations are linked to tectonic volcanic features and are the visualization of a block faulting system of the primitive basaltic shield, a consequence of a distensive phase possibly connected with the collapse of the western flank of the volcano. Piano-key panels are the typical sub-surface style and the guide-line for any water prospection on the volcano and the activity of the island water transfer system.     

Determination of finite strain from passive initially planar markers deflected in ductile rocks undergoing simultaneous superposition of heterogeneous strains

From an empirical model of strain in ductile heterogeneous shear zones simultaneously undergoing a bulk pure shear, we study the influence of the parameters of the deformation on the shape changes of passive initially planar markers and describe a method for determining the finite strain, and even sometimes the instantaneous strain, from these deflected markers.     

A numerical method for determining the state of stress using focal mechanisms of earthquake populations: application to Tibetan teleseisms and microseismicity of Southern Peru

The numerical method described in this paper enables the study in terms of stress of the kinematics of seismic faults provided by focal mechanisms. This method assumes a mean state of stress in the source region and is based on the simple mechanical model used for fault population analysis which supposes slip in the direction of the resolved shear stress acting on the fault plane. The proposed algorithm first defines compressional and tensional zones resulting from superimposition of the compressional and tensional quadrants limited by the nodal planes. This enables one to test the data homogeneity. Furthermore, this restricts the space where the principal stress axes have to be searched. Then, for each principal stress reference whose location is constrained by above confined zones, the R value (chosen equal to (σ₂′ − σ₁′)/(σ₃′ − σ₁′)) is computed which fits the slip vector on each nodal plane. This permits one to select a set of preferred seismic fault planes from a set of auxiliary planes. Finally, a state of stress is computed from the preferred seismic fault plane set using the non-linear simplex method already applied to fault populations. This algorithm is constructed so as to avoid two major difficulties: misleading estimation of the deviatoric stress tensor which may result from excessive emphasis by minimizing the residuals by a least squares method if some of the data are wrong and a lengthy prospection of the stress references over all the space of directions. This calculation does not take into account possible changes of the strike and dip of the nodal planes. However, we use rotations of nodal planes in agreement with the first arrival data to test the compatibility of these data with the computed state of stress. Tibetan teleseisms and southern Peruvian microseisms are analyzed and results are compared with kinematics of superficial recent and active faults measured in field in the same regions. This suggests that major seismic events may give a good evaluation of the regional (mean) state of stress. Focal mechanisms of the small events are also modelled by a mean stress deviator, but this differs significantly from the regional state of stress in southern Peru deduced from Quaternary faulting. This may be due to imprecise location of the small events. However, some movements are strongly different from those predicted by the computed mean stress deviator. This suggests that small fault kinematics surely depend on the regional state of stress but that local effects may control the small deformations.     

Oblique and near collision subduction, Sagami and Suruga Troughs —preliminary results of the French-Japanese 1984 Kaiko cruise, Leg 2

Leg 2 of the French-Japanese 1984 Kaiko cruise has surveyed the Suruga and the Sagami Troughs, which lie on both sides of the northwestward moving and colliding Izu-Bonin Ridge, the northernmost part of the Philippine Sea plate. The transition from the Nankai Trough to the Suruga Trough is characterized by northward decrease in width of the accretionary prism, in good agreement with the increasing obliquity between the through axis and the direction of the convergence, as the strike of the convergent boundary changes from ENE-NNE to south-north. South of the area, the southern margin of the Zenisu Ridge shows contractional deformations. This supports the interpretation made by the team of Leg 1 who studied the western extension of the area we studied, that it is an intra-oceanic thrusting of the ridge over the Shikoku Basin. In the Sagami Trough, where the relative motion is highly oblique to the plate boundary, active subduction is mostly confined in the east-west trending portions of the trough located south of the Boso Peninsula and along the lower Boso Canyon, near the TTT triple junction. In between, the present motion is mainly right-lateral along the northwest trending Boso escarpment. However, an inactive but recent (Pliocene to lower Pleistocene) accretionary prism exists south of the Boso escarpment, which suggests that the relative motion was more northerly than at present before about 1 Ma ago.