Tectonic control of the Tejo river fluvial incision during the late Cenozoic, in Ródão—central Portugal (Atlantic Iberian border)

Staircases of strath terraces and strongly incised valleys are the most typical landscape features of Portuguese rivers. This paper examines the incision achieved during the late Cenozoic in an area crossed by the Tejo river between the border with Spain and the small town of Gavião. In the more upstream reach of this area, the Tejo crosses the Ródão tectonic depression, where four levels of terraces are distinguished. During the late Cenozoic fluvial incision stage, the Ródão depression underwent less uplift than the adjacent areas along the river. This is reflected by the greater thicknesses and spatial extent of the terraces; terrace genesis was promoted by impoundment of alluvium behind a quartzitic ridge and the local presence of a soft substratum. Outside this tectonic depression, the Tejo has a narrow valley incised in the Hercynian basement, with some straight reaches that probably correspond to NE–SW and NNW–SSE faults, the terraces being nearly absent. Geomorphological evidence of tectonic displacements affecting the Ródão dissected terrace remnants is described. Geochronological dating of the two younger and lower terrace levels of this depression suggests a time-averaged incision rate for the Tejo in the Ródão area, of ca. 1.0 m/ka over the last 60 thousand years. A clear discrepancy exists between this rate and the 0.1 m/ka estimated for the longer period since the end of the Pliocene. Although episodes of valley incision may be conditioned by climate and base-level changes, they may also have been controlled by local factors such as movement of small fault-bounded blocks, lithology and structure. Regional crustal uplift is considered to be the main control of the episodes of valley incision identified for this large, long-lived river. A model is proposed in which successive regional uplift events—tectonic phases—essentially determined the long periods of rapid river downcutting that were punctuated by short periods of lateral erosion and later by some aggradation, producing strath terraces.     

Combined U-Pb dating and Sm-Nd studies on lower crustal and mantle xenoliths from the Delegate basaltic pipes, southeastern Australia

Mafic rocks dominate the lower crustal and upper mantle xenolith suites within the Jurassic Delegate basaltic diatremes in the Paleozoic Lachlan Fold Belt, SE Australia. Two upper mantle mafic xenoliths from the Delegate pipes, a garnet pyroxenite and a garnet granulite (equilibrated at 1060 and 1140 °C, and 40–50 km), yield garnet-clinopyroxene Sm-Nd ages of 160 ± 4 Ma and 153 ± 10 Ma, respectively. Both ages are indistinguishable from the time of eruption of the diatremes, and are interpreted as showing continuous isotopic equilibrium within the mantle of Sm and Nd between garnet + clinopyroxene at temperatures ≥ 1050 °C. A lower crustal, 2-pyroxene granulite xenolith (equilibrated at 810–850 °C and ca. 25 km) yields a clinopyroxene + plagioclase + whole rock Sm-Nd isochron ages of 283 ± 26 Ma. This age probably reflects partial resetting of the isotopic systems of much older granulite during slow cooling, or after a heating event in the lower crust associated with the Jurassic magmatic activity represented by the basaltic host rock. Metamorphic zircons from the 2-pyroxene granulite xenolith were dated by the U-Pb method at 398±2 and 391 ± 2 Ma. These ages are considered to date granulite facies metamorphic events in the lower crust of the region. The age gap between the granulite facies metamorphism and granitoid plutonism in the region (420–410 Ma) indicates that the dated granulite is unlikely to represent residue after partial melting and magma extraction that generated the regional granitoids. It is suggested that these ages may record a relatively slow cooling following the cessation of mafic magmatic intrusion that formed the xenolith protoliths and that was probably the heat source responsible for granite production. At about 25 km, this thermal relaxation accounts for the change from an olivine + plagioclase + 2-pyroxene gabbroic assemblage into the granulite facies 2-pyroxene + plagioclase + spinel field. Received: 17 May 1995 / Accepted: 24 March 1997     

Variation of magnetic directions within pillow basalts

Relative directions of magnetization have been measured within individual pillow basalts collected from the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The angle between the magnetic directions was determined and is referred to as the directional difference. Although one pillow contained a directional difference of 44°, the remaining ten pillows had differences less than 14°. The maximum orientation and measurement error was 7°. Dispersion on the scale found in these fine-grained pillow basalts would not appreciably affect the magnetic anomaly pattern on the sea floor. We detected no reversals of magnetization despite the sometimes large and variable low-temperature oxidation. Comparison of directions within homogeneous segments of the pillow, viscous remanent magnetization (VRM) acquisition experiments, and alternating field (AF) demagnetization indicate a large portion of the dispersion was due to the acquisition of a viscous component in the larger grained, less oxidized portion of the pillows. Evidence from one variably weathered pillow suggests that extreme low-temperature oxidation may lead to the acquisition of a secondary component with high coercivities (20–80 mT). We could not determine whether this was a chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) or a VRM acquired by single domain grains near the superparamagnetic threshold. Hysteresis properties confirmed by microscopic examination indicated that the magnetic grain size in all the pillows was at least as small as pseudo-single domain.     

Characterization of the subsurface architecture and identification of potential groundwater paths in a clay-rich floodplain using multi-electrode resistivity imaging

The interaction between surface water and groundwater in clay-rich fluvial environments can be complex and is generally poorly understood. Airborne electromagnetic surveys are often used for characterizing regional groundwater systems, but they are constrained by the resolution of the method. A resistivity imaging survey has been carried out in the Macquarie Marshes (New South Wales, Australia) in combination with water chemical sampling. The results have enabled the identification of buried palaeochannels and the location of potential recharge points. The data have been compared with previously published airborne electromagnetic data in the same area. Deeper less conductive features suggest that there is a potential connection between the Great Artesian Basin and groundwater contained within the shallow sand aquifer. Even though the chemistry of the groundwater samples does not indicate interaction with the Great Artesian Basin, the observed discontinuity in the saprolite implies potential for this to happen in other locations.     

Efficient reliability analysis of earth dam slope stability using extreme gradient boosting method

Acta Geotechnica - Reliability analysis approach provides a rational means to quantitatively evaluate the safety of geotechnical structures from a probabilistic perspective. However, it suffers...     

Investigations of the bottom current sculpted margin of Hatton Bank, NE Atlantic

The northwest Hatton Bank margin is an ideal locality to demonstrate the interaction between bottom currents and slope configuration in controlling the distribution and morphology of bottom current deposits. The slope area investigated is isolated from any major terrigenous sediment supply and at present is influenced by the Deep Northern Boundary Current (DNBC). Swath bathymetry and high resolution acoustic data allow us to evaluate both local and regional controls on slope sedimentation and the possible mechanisms for bottom-current velocity variability across a slope setting within the NW European continental margin. The slope exhibits sculpting by bottom currents that flow in a predominantly southwest to northeast direction, and is only locally modified by slope failures. Positive relief features such as the Endymion Spur play an important role in constraining and accelerating bottom-current flow and, consequently, in redistributing sediment along the margin. We demonstrate that the size, morphology and distribution of bottom-current deposits along the slope vary as a function of the interaction between bottom currents, regional slope orientation and local seafloor topography.     

Modeling large-scale cohesive sediment transport affected by small-scale biological activity

Biological activity on the bottom of the seabed is known to have significant influence on the dynamics of cohesive sediment on a small spatial and temporal scale. In this study, we aim to understand the large-scale effects of small-scale biological activity. Hereto, effects of biology are quantitatively incorporated into the process-based sediment transport module of Delft3D. This Bio-mud model is used to study cohesive sediment transport and deposition patterns in the Western Wadden Sea for a period of 1 year to capture seasonal changes.     

Crustal zircons and mantle sulfides: Archean to Triassic events in the lithosphere beneath south-eastern Sicily

Three types of zircon coexist in an unusual lower crustal xenolith from the Valle Guffari diatreme (Hyblean Plateau, Sicily): igneous Type 1 (near-euhedral, weakly zoned; Ce/Ce > 1); partially recrystallised Type 2 (ovoid, structureless; weak Ce anomaly); hydrothermal Type 3 (sugary, spongy-textured, probably related to F-rich aqueous fluids). U–Pb dating by LAM-ICPMS, supported by in situ Hf-isotope analysis, suggests that both Type 1 and Type 2 zircons were originally Archean (ca 2.7 Ga), though many of these grains have experienced severe Pb loss. The U–Pb ages of the hydrothermal zircons cluster around 246 Ma, interpreted as the timing of the hydrothermal event. Their ε_Hf (+ 8.5 to − 1.2) indicates the mixing of old crustal components and material from a juvenile source.

In situ Os-isotope analyses of sulfides hosted in peridotite xenoliths from Valle Guffari show Paleoproterozoic–Archean T_RD minimum ages, corresponding to the age of the oldest zircon grains in the crustal xenolith. Other peaks of T_RD ages suggest that multiple metasomatic events have affected the lithospheric mantle.

These observations suggest that the lower crust and the upper part of the lithospheric mantle beneath the Hyblean Plateau represent the northernmost portion of the African Plate. These two units have coexisted since at least late Archean time, and have remained linked through several episodes of crustal modification, including the Permo-Triassic hydrothermal event, which was probably related to the onset of rifting in the Ionian Basin.