Proper motion measurements of umbral and penumbral structure

Horizontal proper motions of penumbral structure and umbral dots have been measured from a 17-min-long time series of sunspot images by numerical techniques. In the penumbra, inflows are seen to occur predominantly in the inner region, with an average velocity of 290 m s^–1. Penumbral outflows take place mostly in the outer part, where they reach velocities as high as 1.5 km s^–1, with an average velocity of 500 m s^–1. In the umbra, proper motions of 28 bright dots have been measured with an accuracy better than 50 m s^–1. The mean velocity of the umbral dots is 210 m s^–1. Most of the umbral dots display the well-known inward motion away from the peripheral umbra.     

The Cretaceous megabreccias of the Gargano Promontory (Apulia, southern Italy): their stratigraphic and genetic meaning in the evolutionary framework of the Apulia Carbonate Platform

Huge megabreccias occur at the eastern margin of the Cretaceous Apulia Carbonate Platform (Gargano Promontory, southern Italy). Their stratigraphic and genetic meaning are controversial in the debated geological evolution of the Apulia Platform. New stratigraphic analyses have revealed that three distinct megabreccia levels occur within the coarse debrites that were previously interpreted to be the result of repeated collapses of a scalloped platform margin during the late Albian–Cenomanian. Each level has peculiar chronostratigraphic distribution, geometry, composition and genetic features. They are the Posta Manganaro Megabreccias (late early Aptian to late Albian pp. ), Monte S. Angelo Megabreccias (early–middle Cenomanian) and Belvedere di Ruggiano Megabreccias (middle Turonian). These deposits overlie regional, tectonically enhanced unconformities of late early Aptian, late Albian and late Cenomanian age. These megabreccias, which were formed, respectively, during drowning, prograding and exposure events of the Apulia Platform, reflect important turning points in its Cretaceous geodynamic evolution.     

The current tectonic motion of the Northern Andes along the Algeciras Fault System in SW Colombia

Riedel, synthetic and antithetic type faults, principal displacement zones (PDZ), pull-apart basins (such as lazy-S shaped releasing bend, extensive and rhomboidal shaped and releasing sidestep basins) and minor folds located oblique to the main trace of the Algeciras Fault System (AFS) are interpreted from Landsat TM 5 images and geological mapping. These tectonic features are affecting Quaternary deposits and are related to major historical earthquakes and recent registered seismic events, indicating neotectonic activity of the structure.The AFS is classified as a right lateral wrench complex structure, with an important vertical component in which sedimentary cover and basement rocks are involved. In addition, the system represents a simple shear caused by the oblique convergence between the Nazca Plate and the northern Andes. The transpressive boundary in SW Colombia was previously located along the Eastern Frontal Fault System. However, this paper shows that the AFS constitutes the actual boundary of the current transpressive regime along the Northern Andes, which begins at the Gulf of Guayaquil in Ecuador and continues into Colombia and Venezuela.     

Age constraints on felsic intrusions, metamorphism and gold mineralisation in the Palaeoproterozoic Rio Itapicuru greenstone belt, NE Bahia State, Brazil

U–Pb sensitive high resolution ion microprobe mass spectrometer (SHRIMP) ages of zircon, monazite and xenotime crystals from felsic intrusive rocks from the Rio Itapicuru greenstone belt show two development stages between 2,152 and 2,130 Ma, and between 2,130 and 2,080 Ma. The older intrusions yielded ages of 2,152±6 Ma in monazite crystals and 2,155±9 Ma in zircon crystals derived from the Trilhado granodiorite, and ages of 2,130±7 Ma and 2,128±8 Ma in zircon crystals derived from the Teofilândia tonalite. The emplacement age of the syntectonic Ambrósio dome as indicated by a 2,080±2-Ma xenotime age for a granite dyke probably marks the end of the felsic magmatism. This age shows good agreement with the Ar–Ar plateau age of 2,080±5 Ma obtained in hornblendes from an amphibolite and with a U–Pb SHRIMP age of 2,076±10 Ma in detrital zircon crystals from a quartzite, interpreted as the age of the peak of the metamorphism. The predominance of inherited zircons in the syntectonic Ambrósio dome suggests that the basement of the supracrustal rocks was composed of Archaean continental crust with components of 2,937±16, 3,111±13 and 3,162±13 Ma. Ar–Ar plateau ages of 2,050±4 Ma and 2,054±2 Ma on hydrothermal muscovite samples from the Fazenda Brasileiro gold deposit are interpreted as minimum ages for gold mineralisation and close to the true age of gold deposition. The Ar–Ar data indicate that the mineralisation must have occurred less than 30 million years after the peak of the metamorphism, or episodically between 2,080 Ma and 2,050 Ma, during uplift and exhumation of the orogen.Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Calculating derivatives for automatic history matching

Automatic history matching is based on minimizing an objective function that quantifies the mismatch between observed and simulated data. When using gradient-based methods for solving this optimization problem, a key point for the overall procedure is how the simulator delivers the necessary derivative information. In this paper, forward and adjoint methods for derivative calculation are discussed. Procedures for sensitivity matrix building, sensitivity matrix and transpose sensitivity matrix vector products are fully described. To show the usefulness of the derivative calculation algorithms, a new variant of the gradzone analysis, which tries to address the problem of selecting the most relevant parameters for a history matching, is proposed using the singular value decomposition of the sensitivity matrix. Application to a simple synthetic case shows that this procedure can reveal important information about the nature of the history-matching problem.     

Reviewing pre-TRANSALP DSS models

The interpretation of DSS (deep seismic soundings) profiles in Central and Eastern Alps is recalled in the paper and the models of the lower crust and Moho proposed several years ago are compared to the results of the TRANSALP seismic reflection profile. This evaluation highlights a good agreement as far as the geometry of the deep crustal structure is concerned. Therefore, the reliability of the interpretative models, previously exclusively based on DSS profiles, becomes improved. The deep structure beneath the whole Alpine range is examined reconsidering the map of the Moho boundary and the structural model already proposed for the central-eastern sector. Five main interpretative transects are put side by side, starting from the Western Alps and moving eastwards to the Swiss–Lombardian Central Alps (“European Geotraverse”), to the cross section from southern Bavaria to the Euganei Hills, to the TRANSALP profile, and finally to the easternmost profile available so far (southern Bavaria–Trieste). The comparison outlines lateral variations of the deep crustal structure as well as a sharp contrast between the Adria and the European lower crust and Moho. The transition from the Adria plate to the Dinaric domain remains, up to now, undefined.     

Structure of the lithosphere beneath the Eastern Alps (southern sector of the TRANSALP transect)

The interpretation of the seismic Vibroseis and explosive TRANSALP profiles has examined the upper crustal structures according to the near-surface geological evidences and reconstructions which were extrapolated to depth. Only the southern sector of the TRANSALP transect has been discussed in details, but its relationship with the whole explored chain has been considered as well. The seismic images indicate that pre-collision and deep collision structures of the Alps are not easily recognizable. Conversely, good records of the Neo-Alpine to present architecture were provided by the seismic sections.Two general interpretation models (“Crocodile” and “Extrusion”) have been sketched by the TRANSALP Working Group [2002]. Both illustrate the continental collision producing strong mechanical interaction of the facing European and African margins, as documented by giant lithosphere wedging processes. Arguments consistent with the “Extrusion” model and with the indentation of Adriatic (Southalpine) lithosphere underneath the Tauern Window (TW) are:

– According to the previous DSS reconstructions, the Bouguer anomalies and the Receiver Functions seismological data, the European Moho descends regularly attaining a zone south of the Periadriatic Lineament (PL). The Moho boundary and its geometry appear to be rather convincing from images of the seismic profile;

– the Tauern Window intense uplift and exhumation is coherent with the strong compression regime, which acted at depth, thus originating the upward and lateral displacement of the mobile and ductile Penninic masses according to the “Extrusion” model;

– the indentation of the Penninic mobile masses within the colder and more rigid Adriatic crust cannot be easily sustained. Wedging of the Adriatic stiffened lower crust, under high stresses and into the weaker Penninic domain, can be a more suitable hypothesis. Furthermore, the intrusion of the European Penninic crustal wedge underneath the Dolomites upper crust is not supported by any significant uplifting of the Dolomites. The total average uplift of the Dolomites during the Neogene appears to be 6−7 times smaller than that recognized in the TW. Markedly the northward dip of the PL, reaching a depth of approximately 20 km, is proposed in our interpretation;

– finally, the Adriatic upper crustal evolution points to the late post-collision change in the tectonic grow-up of the Eastern Alps orogenic chain. The tectonic accretion of the northern frontal zone of the Eastern and Central Alps was interrupted from the Late Miocene (Serravallian–Tortonian) onward, as documented by the Molasse basin evolution. On the contrary, the structural nucleation along the S-vergent tectonic belt of the eastern Southern Alps (Montello–Friuli thrust belt) severely continued during the Messinian and the Plio–Pleistocene. This structural evolution can be considered to be consistent with the deep under-thrusting and wedge indentation of the Adriatic lithosphere underneath the southern side of the Eastern Alps thrust-and-fold belt.

Similarly, the significance of the magmatic activity for the construction of the Southern Alps crust and for its mechanical and geological differentiation, which qualified the evolution of the thrust-and-fold belt, is highlighted, starting with the Permian–Triassic magmatism and progressing with the Paleogene occurrences along the Periadriatic Lineament and in the Venetian Magmatic Province (Lessini–Euganei Hills).     

A stratigraphical-geochemical study on the Chaco Paraná continental rift basin- An approach study based on regional sedimentology and drill-hole core analyses,South América

This paper is focused on a geologic "regional rift basin system pattern" and its stratigraphical-geochemical relationship. This is mainly based on the littoral shallow marine sedimentary succession paleogeography and deposits. These successions characterize the large extensional intracratonic Chaco rift basin system evolved from the Upper Cretaceous ( Late Campanian-Senonian-Maastrichtian-Early Paleocene) to Quaternary time. The siliciclastic littoral shallow marine successions were deposited from Early Senonian-Maastrichtian to Late Miocene during three main successive littoral shallow marine transgressions of continental extension.These transgressions happened over the wide pediplanized terrains of South America. These lands exist west of the more positive areas, between the Brazilian Shield and the foreland massifs that were settled in the more westernwards areas. Later, these regional foreland massifs were coupled and raised to the Andean Orogen Belt during the last 5 million years.The extensive intracratonic pediplanized low topographic relief areas were the reservoirs of siliciclastic littoral shallow marine succession deposits during the three successive widespread vast continental littoral shallow marine transgressions.The first transgression began at the Latest Campanian-Senonian and/or Early Maastrichtian time. After this episode, the sedimentary depositional systems continued during the Cenozoic until the Latest Miocene. These successions constitute a major allostratigraphic unit.The limit with underlying units is the regional unconformity between the regional volcanic event (Jurassic-Cretacic and interleaved eolianite sandstones) at the base and the undifferentiated Quaternary sediments (called as the Pampeano and Post-Pampeano Formations sensu lato). Based on many facies analyses there had been checked out different levels in the eustatic sea level variations within the allostratigraphic unit.Three major stages of extensional climax were recognized and related to the stages of conspicuous eustatical sea-level variations. They happened during the Latest Senonian-Paleocene, Eocene and Miocene.The first transgression occurred during the Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene although the sedimentary deposits related to this event are scarce, which are only a few meters in thickness. However, the Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene succession is very well recognized in the actual pre-Andean zone in the north-west of Argentina and Bolivia (the Sierras Subandinas and the meridional imbricated fault systems just joint to the actual orogen, I.e. , Quebrada de Humahuaca outcrops).During the Eocene and Middle to Latest Miocene occurred the second and third extensive regional littoral shallow marine transgressions. They are present either in well log registers as in most widespread outcrops on the entire Southamerican continent.The regional analysis led to the deduction of long periods of tectonic quiescence, at least three of them. They may be inferred and synchronously related with eustatic highstand sea level variations that occurred during the Late Paleocene-Early Eocene, Latest Eocene-Early to Mid Oligocene and Middle-to-Late Oligocene-Early Miocene.The structural style is related with major extensional N-S strike faultings (regional tilted and faulting blocks). On the other hand, quite a number of strike-slip faults (mainly of regional characteristic) are present crossing the area. They have a clear influence on the accommodation and transfer zones of the rift basin system. The strike is north-west to south-east on the border of the basin, to the west, in the contact with the Pampean Ridges and the narrow-meridionally-extense Sub-Andean folded trend ( mainly Paleozoic units belonging to the so-called Sierras Subandinas geological province). Also, at the western edge of the studied area, there exist many large shear zones and upthrust faults. The strike-slip regional faults dislocated the Pampean and Sub-Andean blocks due to the interaction of crossing regional tilted and fault blocks.For this reason, an en echelon regional block model is characteristic. Incipient contaminated igneous activities were associated with this cortical weak zones. Domes, needles and necks of volcanic and sub-volcanic origin appear as the landscape of the region.A part of the igneous activity was dated on Latest Pliocene although mainly corresponding to Pleistocene and Holocene. This deduction is obvious because their morphological constitution was never eroded. The volcanic aparatous are morphologically unmodified from their extrusion to present days.All the studied successions seem to resemble a long persisting erosive, transportation and deposition episode. This phenomenon is linked to a large regional (continental) unconformity dated at Late Cretaceous. The entire analyzed sedimentary succession deposits and their siliciclastic facies associations correspond clearly to a "heterolithic facies succession" which is very common within persisting tide-dominated depositional systems (passive margins). In fact, this is what happened during Cenozoic times (Torra,1998b, 2001a). The heterolithic Miocene facies deposits constitute one of the best continental exposed examples.Paleogeographical evidence showed that the Paranense and Amazonic Sea transgressions had been a littoral shallow marine connection during long time from Middle to Late Miocene. During the Late Cretaceous and Eocene periods marine connections were also active in the region. This fact is strongly supported by the tectonic and geomorphological framework of the proto-Southamerican continent, fossil remains and similar sedimentary deposits.The geochemical results showed an outstanding similarity among the three sandy-muddy successions herein studied. Both major and trace elements always show the same geochemical patterns. Specially mentioned are the elements gallium, cesium, chromium, barium, vanadium, thorium, zirconium, rubidium and strontium because they present very constant values through all successions.The Paranense and Amazonic epicontinental seas had been connected to the Pacific Ocean during the three marine episodes. The connections were formed by narrow inter-mountain valleys, present in the preAndean foreland massifs. These events occurred prior to the main orogenesis elevation of the Andean orogen belt in the last 5 to 1 Ma ( Pliocene-Latest Pleistocene).This paper shows, for the first time, a synthetic stratigraphical-geochemical "regional model" for the carries many unexamined-unexplored natural resources which need more regional and local studies for their evaluation. This is in spite of the area that has the problem of a significative vegetation coberture and scarce good outcrops. The development of modern techniques of dataacquisition will help to overcome these difficulties.     

The behaviour of boron isotopes in natural waters and in water–rock interactions

The wide boron isotopic variations occurring in natural waters mainly are derived from the 20‰ fractionation between dissolved boric acid and borate anions, associated with the preferential removal from the system of ¹¹B depleted borate ions by adsorption and/or minerals formation. Typical adsorbants of boron dissolved in groundwater are clay minerals of the aquifer matrix. Boron (and strontium) isotopes were used in investigating two alluvial aquifers in Tuscany, where boron concentration is often above 1 mg L^− 1 and may attain 8 mg L^− 1. The isotopic results indicate that, in the first case (Cecina River basin), the boron contamination is anthropogenic and derives from past discharge into streams of boron-rich industrial wastes. In the second case (Cornia Plain), the dissolved boron is released by boron-rich clayey sediments of the aquifer matrix and has, therefore, a natural origin.