Tectono‐sedimentary evolution of the northern Iranian Plateau: insights from middle–late Miocene foreland‐basin deposits

Sedimentary basins in the interior of orogenic plateaus can provide unique insights into the early history of plateau evolution and related geodynamic processes. The northern sectors of the Iranian Plateau of the Arabia–Eurasia collision zone offer the unique possibility to study middle–late Miocene terrestrial clastic and volcaniclastic sediments that allow assessing the nascent stages of collisional plateau formation. In particular, these sedimentary archives allow investigating several debated and poorly understood issues associated with the long‐term evolution of the Iranian Plateau, including the regional spatio‐temporal characteristics of sedimentation and deformation and the mechanisms of plateau growth. We document that middle–late Miocene crustal shortening and thickening processes led to the growth of a basement‐cored range (Takab Range Complex) in the interior of the plateau. This triggered the development of a foreland‐basin (Great Pari Basin) to the east between 16.5 and 10.7 Ma. By 10.7 Ma, a fast progradation of conglomerates over the foreland strata occurred, most likely during a decrease in flexural subsidence triggered by rock uplift along an intraforeland basement‐cored range (Mahneshan Range Complex). This was in turn followed by the final incorporation of the foreland deposits into the orogenic system and ensuing compartmentalization of the formerly contiguous foreland into several intermontane basins. Overall, our data suggest that shortening and thickening processes led to the outward and vertical growth of the northern sectors of the Iranian Plateau starting from the middle Miocene. This implies that mantle‐flow processes may have had a limited contribution toward building the Iranian Plateau in NW Iran.     

Interannual-decadal variability of wintertime mixed layer depths in the North Pacific detected by an ensemble of ocean syntheses

Climate Dynamics - The interannual-decadal variability of the wintertime mixed layer depths (MLDs) over the North Pacific is investigated from an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of an...     

K–Ar geochronology of a Quaternary monogenetic volcano group in Ojika Jima District, Southwest Japan

 An unspiked K–Ar dating method using a mass-fractionation correction procedure was applied to a Quaternary independent group of monogenetic volcanoes, Ojikajima Volcano Group, located in northwestern Kyushu in Southwest Japan, in order to clarify in detail secular variations in eruptive volume, locations of eruptive vents, and magma compositions in a single monogenetic volcano group. The major results were as follows: (a) K–Ar ages of monogenetic volcanoes distribute from 1.08 to 0.30 Ma, with voluminous peaks at approximately 1.0 and 0.6 Ma. (b) The volcanic activity commenced in the central part of the field, expanded to the whole field at approximately 0.6 Ma, and then shrank to the central area. (3) Concentrations of incompatible elements, such as Ba, K, and Nb, increase with decreasing age, whereas P, Y, and Zr concentrations remain constant. These concentrations suggest gradual decrease in the degree of partial melting from an identical mantle source with residual garnet. Received: 15 December 1997 / Accepted: 23 May 1998     

Tidal current fluctuations in the Soya Current

Long-term current measurements were carried out near the Soya Strait in the Okhotsk Sea during a period from February 1980 to September 1982. The data were divided into five segments, each being 150 days long, and the tidal ellipse parameters of major axis, minor axis, orientation, and phase for the four major constituents (M2, S2, K1 and O1 tides) were calculated at each segment. The major axis of the mean tidal ellipse averaged over five segments was 29.9 cm sec^–1 for O1 tide, 28.3 cm sec^–1 for K1 tide, 10.4 cm sec^–1 for M2 tide, and 3.7 cm sec^–1 for S2 tide. The phase and orientation of the tidal ellipse were much stable. But, the root mean square deviations of the major axis reached 20% of the mean values for all four constituents. The tidal currents estimated from the sea level records at Wakkanai and Esashi along the Hokkaido coast in the Okhotsk Sea show that their amplitudes and phases are in good agreement with the observed ones for all four constituents.     

Numerical experiments of internal tides in Suruga Bay

Numerical experiments were performed to explain the observed results of the internal tides in Uchiura Bay. The experiments for the generation of the internal tides in Suruga Bay indicate that the internal tides, generated at the slopes in the bay, are not as large an amplitude as those observed in Uchiura Bay. However, when the semidiurnal internal tides incident through the mouth of Suruga Bay are considered, they are amplified. The amplitude at the head of Uchiura Bay is 6–12 times larger than that at the mouth of Suruga Bay under the summer density structure. Under the fall density structure, the amplitude ratio is approximately 4–6. The amplification of the semidiurnal internal tides in Uchiura Bay is considered to be due to resonance of the longitudinal internal seiche of Uchiura Bay. On the other hand, the calculated diurnal internal tides are not as large as those observed. Therefore, the diurnal internal tides are thought to already have these large amplitudes at the mouth of Suruga Bay. Therefore, from the observations and numerical experiments, it is concluded that the internal tides observed in Uchiura Bay are mostly the internal tides originating from the outer region of Suruga Bay, and the semidiurnal tides are the internal seiche which is resonantly amplified.     

Internal tides in Uchiura Bay

Long-term temperature measurements of the subsurface layer near Uchiura-Bay head were made in summer 1978 and 1979 to further investigate the characteristics of the internal tides in more detail. The temperature measurements indicate that the internal tides were present at all times during the observational period. The semidiurnal internal tides are usually dominant over the diurnal, but at times the diurnal internal tides have comparable amplitudes with the semidiurnal. When the semidiurnal internal tides are predominant, the fundamental period of the longitudinal internal seiche in Uchiura Bay estimated from the observed density structure is close to the semidiurnal period. However, the reason for the occasional amplification of the diurnal internal tides is not clear.     

Observations of internal tides in Uchiura Bay

Remarkable tidal currents associated with temperature fluctuations in the subsurface layer have been observed in Uchiura Bay. In order to study the characteristics of these tidal currents, we carried out current measurements in November 1972 and October 1974. It was confirmed from the first set of observations in 1972 that the tidal currents above and below the seasonal thermocline oscillate out of phase with each other and the tidal currents are associated with internal tides.In the second set of observations in 1974 not only current measurements but also serial BT lowerings were made. The phase of the thermocline displacements lagged behind the tidal currents by 81 for the semidiurnal constituent and by 83 for the diurnal constituent, and it is thus concluded that the internal tides in Uchiura Bay behave as standing waves.     

Strong tidal currents observed near the bottom in the Suruga Trough,central Japan

Current measurements carried out at the depth of 4 m above the sea bottom near the northern edge of the Suruga Trough in the early fall of 1985 indicated the existence of strong semidiurnal tidal currents, which were considered to be associated with internal tides. In order to examine the spatial structure of the bottom intensified tidal flow, more detailed current observations were carried out at three or four depths at two stations along the main axis of the Suruga Trough during about 70 days from August to October 1988. We obtained the following results: (1) the variations of the current velocity caused by the semidiurnal and diurnal internal tides are evident in all of the records, and the orientation of the major axis of each tidal ellipse nearly coincides with that of the main axis of the trough; (2) the semidiurnal internal tide is dominant over the diurnal internal tide at 4 m above the sea bottom at both stations; (3) at the northern station the semidiurnal internal tide is dominant over the diurnal internal tide, whereas they are nearly equal at the southern station except at 4 m above the sea bottom; (4) the biharmonic internal tides with 1/3 day and 1/4 day periods, are found near the sea bottom and the major axis of the tidal ellipse is perpendicular to the orientation of the main axis of the Suruga Trough.     

Altimeter's Capability of Reconstructing Realistic Eddy Fields Using Space-Time Optimum Interpolation

Sea surface height anomaly maps of realistic eddy activity were obtained by applying space-time optimum interpolation to altimeter data. Analysis error and rate of reconstructing eddy signals were investigated by taking account of: 1) dependency on orbit configurations of single and multiple altimeters; 2) dependency on space-time scales of realistic, dominant eddies; and 3) effect of space-time scales of eddy propagation. Large-scale sea surface height anomalies are subtracted from altimeter data by applying an along-track filter to allow easy handling of eddy signals. The space-time scales of the first-guess error in the optimum interpolation are statistically evaluated by fitting a space-time anisotropic Gaussian function to space-time-distributed correlation coefficients of sea surface height using the TOPEX data. The results of the optimum interpolation clarify the followings: 1) ERS has a better capability of reconstructing eddy signals than TOPEX. Comparison of maps from multi-altimeter data shows that TOPEX+ERS has a better capability than Jason−1+TOPEX in lower latitudes and vice versa in higher latitudes, though the differences are small. 2) The small space-time scale yields a low reconstruction rate in marginal seas and alongside the equator. The persistent timescale is large, and westward propagation is dominant in the subtropical and subarctic regions, where the reconstruction rates are high. 3) The optimum interpolation, taking account of eddy propagation, provides higher reconstruction rates than that taking no account of the propagation. The effect of propagation on the optimum interpolation is greater when it is applied to single-altimeter data than to multi-altimeter data. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.