Impact of normal faulting and pre‐rift salt tectonics on the structural style of salt‐influenced rifts: the Late Jurassic Norwegian Central Graben,North Sea

Studies of salt‐influenced rift basins have focused on individual or basin‐scale fault system and/or salt‐related structure. In contrast, the large‐scale rift structure, namely rift segments and rift accommodation zones and the role of pre‐rift tectonics in controlling structural style and syn‐rift basin evolution have received less attention. The Norwegian Central Graben, comprises a complex network of sub‐salt normal faults and pre‐rift salt‐related structures that together influenced the structural style and evolution of the Late Jurassic rift. Beneath the halite‐rich, Permian Zechstein Supergroup, the rift can be divided into two major rift segments, each comprising rift margin and rift axis domains, separated by a rift‐wide accommodation zone – the Steinbit Accommodation Zone. Sub‐salt normal faults in the rift segments are generally larger, in terms of fault throw, length and spacing, than those in the accommodation zone. The pre‐rift structure varies laterally from sheet‐like units, with limited salt tectonics, through domains characterised by isolated salt diapirs, to a network of elongate salt walls with intervening minibasins. Analysis of the interactions between the sub‐salt normal fault network and the pre‐rift salt‐related structures reveals six types of syn‐rift depocentres. Increasing the throw and spacing of sub‐salt normal faults from rift segment to rift accommodation zone generally leads to simpler half‐graben geometries and an increase in the size and thickness of syn‐rift depocentres. In contrast, more complex pre‐rift salt tectonics increases the mechanical heterogeneity of the pre‐rift, leading to increased complexity of structural style. Along the rift margin, syn‐rift depocentres occur as interpods above salt walls and are generally unrelated to the relatively minor sub‐salt normal faults in this structural domain. Along the rift axis, deformation associated with large sub‐salt normal faults created coupled and decoupled supra‐salt faults. Tilting of the hanging wall associated with growth of the large normal faults along the rift axis also promoted a thin‐skinned, gravity‐driven deformation leading to a range of extensional and compressional structures affecting the syn‐rift interval. The Steinbit Accommodation Zone contains rift‐related structural styles that encompass elements seen along both the rift margin and axis. The wide variability in structural style and evolution of syn‐rift depocentres recognised in this study has implications for the geomorphological evolution of rifts, sediment routing systems and stratigraphic evolution in rifts that contain pre‐rift salt units.     

Teleseismic body wave radiation from a seismic source in a layered medium

Summary. A simple method is presented which combines the reciprocity theorem and the flat layer theory to yield teleseismic body wave radiation from seismic sources embedded in the Earth's crust. The source is represented by its equivalent body forces and can be quite general. The effect of Yucca Flat geology on explosion signals is studied in detail. In particular, the m _b— M _s relation is shown to be dependent on detonation medium and source depth. Application to shallow earthquake faults demonstrates the strong influence of free surface and layering on the shape of P- and S-wave teleseismic spectra.     

华南板块早中生代陆内造山过程——以雪峰山-九岭为例

雪峰山-九岭造山带位于华南板块的中心区域,是一条典型的陆内造山带。通过详细的野外地质观察,雪峰山在早中生代经历了3期构造变形:D1为上部指向NW的韧性剪切,D2代表了一期反向褶皱-逆冲构造事件,以及D3期的水平挤压形成的直立的褶皱、劈理和线理。而在九岭,早中生代大规模脆-韧性域构造变形叠加在早古生代韧性变形之上,形成了一系列极性NW逆冲断层和不对称褶皱。雪峰山-九岭陆内造山带形成于早中生代,造山作用可以分为两个阶段,即245~225Ma的挤压变形阶段和225~215Ma的垮塌-岩浆侵位阶段。雪峰山-九岭造山带的构造特点表明,华南板块东南缘古太平洋板块向北西方向的俯冲可能引发了早中生代的陆内造山过程。     

Les formations burdigaliennes de Corse orientale dans leur cadre géodynamique

The earliest marine sediments of eastern Corsica, linked to the birth of the Corsica Basin, are represented by granitic breccia of the Saint-Antoine Formation and pelagic marls of the Alzelle Formation. They are dated as Mid-Burdigalian by nannoplankton and planktonic foraminifera (relative age and grade datings between 18.7 and 18.3 Ma). The Aghione Formation (Latest Burdigalian–Langhian) lies upon the Alzelle Formation. A component of the major East-Corsican faults, the Saint-Antoine Fault, underwent extensional activity during the Burdigalian and until the Late Miocene, when occurred the uplift of the Castagniccia antiform. To cite this article: M.-D. Loÿe-Pilot et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

Predicting Hysteresis of the Water Retention Curve from Basic Properties of Granular Soils

The water retention curve (WRC), which represents the relationship between volumetric water content (θ) and suction (ψ), is required to analyze the hydro-geotechnical response of unsaturated soils. The laboratory (or field) determination of the WRC can however be time consuming and difficult to conduct. A practical alternative, particularly useful at the preliminary stages of a project, is to estimate the WRC using a predictive model based on basic geotechnical properties that are easy to obtain. One common limitation of such predictive models is due to hysteresis effects, which are not taken into account by most of these models. The authors present in this paper an extended version of the Modified Kovács (MK) predictive model that incorporates hysteresis of the WRC along different paths, including the main wetting and drying curves and the wetting and drying scanning curves for granular soils. The model formulation is presented, and predictions are compared to experimental data obtained on different granular soils. The results show a good agreement for the main and scanning curves.     

Formation of the Upper Pleistocene terraces of Lake Van (Turkey)

Sedimentological and geomorphological studies of terraces around Lake Van (1647 m) provided a preliminary framework for lake‐level variations. The elevations of terraces and past lake level were measured with a differential global positioning system. A chronology is developed using ²³⁴U/²³⁰Th dating of travertines, ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar dating of pyroclastites and ¹⁴C dating of organic matter. Facies and stratigraphic correlations identify four transgressions (C1′, C1″, C2′ and C2″), each followed by a regression which ended with low lake levels that caused river incision and terrace formation. Evidence of the oldest transgression (C1′) is found in the uppermost reaches of valleys up to 1755 m, an altitude higher than the present lake threshold (1736 m). This C1′ transgression may be related to pyroclastic flows which dammed an outlet located in the western part of the lake basin and which is dated to before 105 ka. After 100 ka, a second transgression (C1″) reached 1730/1735 m, possibly related to a younger ignimbrite flow, in association with high water inflow (warm and/or wetter conditions). The two younger transgressions reached 1700–1705 m. The first one (C2′) is dated to 26–24.5 cal. ka BP and the second one (C2″) to 21–20 cal. ka BP. Available data suggest that the long‐term lake‐level changes responded mainly to climate oscillations. Additional events such as river captures caused by volcanic falls filling valleys, tectonism, erosion and karstic diversion may have impacted these long‐term lake‐level changes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The anatomy of an active slide: the Gascons rockslide,Québec,Canada

A railroad crosses the coastal Gascons rockslide, in Quebec, Canada. This study improves the understanding of the rockslide’s failure mechanism and post-failure behaviour responsible for the deformation in the railroad. The slide is an asymmetrical wedge failure of 410,000 m³, in rocks made up of centimetre-scale beds of nodular calcilutite alternating with sandstones and limestone. The post-failure stage of the rockslide is characterised by continuous movement of blocks with speeds ranging from 6 to 110 mm/year. The main water table is just below the sliding surface, but precipitation and snowmelt can raise it above the sliding surface in the upper part of the slide. We propose a model for the rockslide, its failure mechanism, geometry and hydrogeology to provide a baseline for interpreting the near-real-time data collected since 2009.     

Modalités de la déglaciation Würmienne dans le Nord-Ouest des Alpes (Nord Dauphiné, Savoie,Bassin lémanique)

Résumé

Entre les moraines frontales du « Complexe des moraines internes» (Würm) bien représentées à l’ouest de Lyon (vallum morainique de Grenay et de Lagnieu) et les massifs alpins des Alpes bernoises et du Valais, aucun are morainïque majeur, pouvant marquer un ou plusieurs stades de stabilité du front glaciaire au COurs du retrait, n’ est bien individualisé. Seule une moraine de fond est reconnue, recouverte localement d’unités sédimentaires en position supra-moraini- °iUe donc contemporaines de la fonte glaciaire. Leur faciès et leur position dans la topographie montrent qu’il s’agit de formations déposées en marge du glacier, principalement dans les lacs juxta-glaciaires, au cours de la fonte progressive sur place, de culots indépendants constitués de glace rendue « morte » par un manque d’alimentation de l’amont. L’étagement de ces formations sur les versants des bassins topographiques permet de proposer 3 stades de l’évolution paléogéographique de la fonte du glacier würmien.