New geologic aspects based on comparative analysis of advanced satellite-and field data in the NE Gulf of Aqaba Area

The current investigations have been carried out within the framework of the special research project 108, sponsored by the German Research Society. Besides other sources, a new generation of satellite data was used to support field campaign. Within a variety of image processing algorithms some application oriented scenes are shown up in the present paper. Thereby, a high impact of information is given by the socalled shortwave infrared bands, not detectable by human eye or photographic systems. Using suitable concepts, optimized presentations can be developed by means of advanced image processing techniques for detailed lithological and structural mapping and for well projected field campaigns.     

Die Lage Der Nordatlantisch-Europäischen Hochdruckgebiete Während des IGJ

Резюме Предлагается метод картографической обработки частоты положений отчетливых антициклонов. Метод применяется для приземного поля давления. Для отдельных времен времен года в течение МГГ определялось наиболее частое положение в североатлантичеокой и европей областях. На основании полученных результатов можно сделать основной вывод о существовании высокой устойчивости Азорското дентра, который на протяжении МГГ не изменялся своему пояожению практически ни даже в речение отдеиьиых времен года, однако же были обнаружены отчетливые сезонные изменения направления антициклональиых отрогов из Азорской области высокото давления.

---

---

Herrn Univ. Prof. Dr Alois Gregor zum 70-sten Geburtstage gewidmet

---

Anschrift: Boční II, Praha 4—Spoiřilov.     

Salt movements in the Northeast German Basin and its relation to major post-Permian tectonic phases—results from 3D structural modelling, backstripping and reflection seismic data

The NW–SE-striking Northeast German Basin (NEGB) forms part of the Southern Permian Basin and contains up to 8 km of Permian to Cenozoic deposits. During its polyphase evolution, mobilization of the Zechstein salt layer resulted in a complex structural configuration with thin-skinned deformation in the basin and thick-skinned deformation at the basin margins. We investigated the role of salt as a decoupling horizon between its substratum and its cover during the Mesozoic deformation by integration of 3D structural modelling, backstripping and seismic interpretation. Our results suggest that periods of Mesozoic salt movement correlate temporally with changes of the regional stress field structures. Post-depositional salt mobilisation was weakest in the area of highest initial salt thickness and thickest overburden. This also indicates that regional tectonics is responsible for the initiation of salt movements rather than stratigraphic density inversion.Salt movement mainly took place in post-Muschelkalk times. The onset of salt diapirism with the formation of N–S-oriented rim synclines in Late Triassic was synchronous with the development of the NNE–SSW-striking Rheinsberg Trough due to regional E–W extension. In the Middle and Late Jurassic, uplift affected the northern part of the basin and may have induced south-directed gravity gliding in the salt layer. In the southern part, deposition continued in the Early Cretaceous. However, rotation of salt rim synclines axes to NW–SE as well as accelerated rim syncline subsidence near the NW–SE-striking Gardelegen Fault at the southern basin margin indicates a change from E–W extension to a tectonic regime favoring the activation of NW–SE-oriented structural elements. During the Late Cretaceous–Earliest Cenozoic, diapirism was associated with regional N–S compression and progressed further north and west. The Mesozoic interval was folded with the formation of WNW-trending salt-cored anticlines parallel to inversion structures and to differentially uplifted blocks. Late Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic compression caused partial inversion of older rim synclines and reverse reactivation of some Late Triassic to Jurassic normal faults in the salt cover. Subsequent uplift and erosion affected the pre-Cenozoic layers in the entire basin. In the Cenozoic, a last phase of salt tectonic deformation was associated with regional subsidence of the basin. Diapirism of the maturest pre-Cenozoic salt structures continued with some Cenozoic rim synclines overstepping older structures. The difference between the structural wavelength of the tighter folded Mesozoic interval and the wider Cenozoic structures indicates different tectonic regimes in Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic.We suggest that horizontal strain propagation in the brittle salt cover was accommodated by viscous flow in the decoupling salt layer and thus salt motion passively balanced Late Triassic extension as well as parts of Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary compression.     

The last 7500 cal yr B.P. of westerly rainfall in Central Chile inferred from a high-resolution pollen record from Laguna Aculeo (34°S)

We report multiproxy analyses of a sediment core obtained from Laguna Aculeo that spans the past 7500 years. Laguna Aculeo (33°50′S, 70°55′W) is one of the few natural inland lakes located in the Mediterranean zone of Central Chile, near the northern margin of the influence of the southern westerlies. The record shows elevated pollen counts of halophytes and seasonally drying of the lake basin prior to 5700 cal yr B.P., indicating severe aridity and warmer-than-present conditions. This was followed by the establishment of a fresh-water lake, along with an increase in arboreal and herbaceous plant diversity between 5700 and 3200 cal yr B.P. An intensification of this trend started at 3200 cal yr B.P., along with the abrupt decrease of halophytes until 100 cal yr B.P. Within this humid period, pollen accumulation rates show large-amplitude fluctuations, coeval with numerous turbidite layers, suggesting a highly variable and torrential rainfall pattern. This intense and variable precipitation regime is probably associated with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. We suggest that the modern Mediterranean climate of Central Chile was established at 3200 cal yr B.P. Paleovegetation and paleolimnological changes starting at 100 cal yr B.P. correlate with documented human activity surrounding the lake.     

The Elbe Fault System in North Central Europe—a basement controlled zone of crustal weakness

The Elbe Fault System (EFS) is a WNW-striking zone extending from the southeastern North Sea to southwestern Poland along the present southern margin of the North German Basin and the northern margin of the Sudetes Mountains. Although details are still under debate, geological and geophysical data reveal that upper crustal deformation along the Elbe Fault System has taken place repeatedly since Late Carboniferous times with changing kinematic activity in response to variation in the stress regime. In Late Carboniferous to early Permian times, the Elbe Fault System was part of a post-Variscan wrench fault system and acted as the southern boundary fault during the formation of the Permian Basins along the Trans-European Suture Zone (sensu [Geol. Mag. 134 (5) (1997) 585]). The Teisseyre–Tornquist Zone (TTZ) most probably provided the northern counterpart in a pull-apart scenario at that time. Further strain localisation took place during late Mesozoic transtension, when local shear within the Elbe Fault System caused subsidence and basin formation along and parallel to the fault system. The most intense deformation took place along the system during late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic time, when the Elbe Fault System responded to regional compression with up to 4 km of uplift and formation of internal flexural highs. Compressional deformation continued during early Cenozoic time and actually may be ongoing. The upper crust of the Elbe Fault System, which itself reacted in a more or less ductile fashion, is underlain by a lower crust characterised by low P-wave velocities, low densities and a weak rheology. Structural, seismic and gravimetric data as well as rheology models support the assumption that a weak, stress-sensitive zone in the lower crust is the reason for the high mobility of the area and repeated strain localisation along the Elbe Fault System.     

Li abundances in eclogite minerals: a clue to a crustal or mantle origin?

The mineral phases of 33 eclogite and garnet clinopyroxenite samples from various tectonic settings were analysed for Li by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). In all samples, Li is preferentially incorporated into clinopyroxene (0.4 to 80 µg/g), whereas co-existing garnet contains only minor amounts of Li (0.01 to 3.7 µg/g). When present, glaucophane shows Li abundances which are similar to those of clinopyroxene, but phengite contains significantly less Li than clinopyroxene. Additional phases, such as amphibole, quartz, clinozoisite and kyanite, have low Li concentrations (<1 µg/g). No correlation is apparent between the Li contents and major-element compositions of clinopyroxene or garnet. On the basis of both measured Li concentrations in clinopyroxene and estimated Li abundances in the whole rocks, the investigated samples can be subdivided into high-Li and low-Li groups. These groups coincide with the mode of origin of the rocks. Metabasaltic (metagabbroic) eclogites from high-pressure terranes belong to the high-Li group whereas, except for one eclogite, all kimberlite- and basanite-hosted xenoliths have low Li contents. Samples from eclogites and garnet clinopyroxenites associated with orogenic peridotites fall into both groups. It is suggested that the high-Li eclogites originated from basaltic oceanic crust whereby the notable Li enrichment of some samples was probably caused by low-temperature hydrothermal alteration prior to subduction. Furthermore, the low-Li eclogites and garnet clinopyroxenites may represent high-pressure cumulates from mafic melts percolating through the mantle.     

Kollisions- und Kompressionstektonik am Ostsaum des Golfes von aqaba

Zusammenfassung Am Ostsaum des Golfes von Aqaba (Midyan-Region, NW-Saudi Arabien) konnte in vielfältiger und sehr deutlicher Weise Kollisions- und Kompressionstektonik festgestellt werden, wie sie für diesen pull-apart-beanspruchten Blattverschiebungsraum mit seinen bekannten rhombisch begrenzten Grabensegmenten (Abb. 1) in der gegebenen Weise keinesfalls erwartet worden war. Nach bisherigen Kenntnissen ging man von einer tensional wirkenden, sinistralen, absetzigen Blattverschiebungsstruktur aus, die lediglich im Rahmen zu erwartender Begleiteffekte kompressionsbeanspruchte Elemente aufweist, welche jedoch der tensionalen Beanspruchung eindeutig nachgeordnet sind. Am Ostsaum des Golfes von Aqaba wurden einige der erwartbaren kompressiven Begleitstrukturen z. T. in allerjüngsten geologischen Einheiten gefunden und andererseits zeigte der Südwesten der Midyan-Halbinsel tektonische Kollisionsstrukturen, die nicht als Begleitelemente zur lateralen Großstruktur zu erklären sind, sondern lediglich durch multiple Kollisionen von Midyan und Sinai zu begründen sind. Wie der tektonische Geländebefund zeigt, müssen mehrfache Kollisionen in einer frühen Phase des Blattverschiebungsmechanismus geschehen sein und dürften sich vor allem aus dem vom nördlichen Roten Meer gebogen einsetzenden Blattverschiebungsverlauf erklären. Die Hypothese, daß die Aqaba-Levante-Struktur als eine Verbindung zu einer transform fault aus dem Roten Meer anzusehen ist, erhält durch die nachstehend aufgeführten Befunde eine wesentliche Untermauerung.

---

At the eastern margin of the Gulf of Aqaba (Midyan-region, NW Saudi Arabia) in manifold and distinct way collision and compression tectonics can be registrated, which in the given density and kind is not usual for a pull-apart structurated strike-slip-system with his wellknown rhombed shaped graben segments (fig. 1). The previous knowledge considered a sinistral, intermitted, tensional performing strike-slip structure, which only in frame of expected accompaying effects produces compression stressed elements. They are however unequivocal pursued to the important tensional stressed tectonic elements. At the eastern margin of the Gulf of Aqaba some of the expected accompanying compressive structures could be found in some part in the youngest geological units and on the other hand collision structures could be indicated in the southwest of the Midyan peninsular. Those are not to explain as resulting adjoining elements to the lateral master structure, but are only reasoning by a former collision between Midyan and Sinai. As the tectonic field investigations show several tectonic collisions must have happened in an early stage of the strike-slip mechanism and are to explain mainly by a curved strike-slip fault lane setting in the northern Red Sea. The hypothesis of the Aqaba-Levante-structure to have a connection to a transform fault coming from the Red Sea area receives by the field results, described in the following, an essentually foundation.

---

Résumé Sur la rive E du Golfe d'Aquaba (région de Midyan, dans le NW de l'Arabie Séoudite), il est possible de mettre en évidence, de plusieurs manières et avec certitude une tectonique de collision et de compression, chose inattendue dans une région d-ouverture et de décrochements, comportant classiquement des segments de grabens de forme rhombique (fig. 1. Les travaux antérieurs font état d'une structure de décrochement sénestre intermittante engendrant dans certains volumes, à titre d'effets secondaires, des contrainte compressives dont l'importance est toutefois mineure par rapport aux sollicitations distensives de l'ensemble. Sur la rive E du Golfe d'Aquaba, on observe effectivement certaines de ces structures compressives secondaires; mais on trouve aussi, dans le SW de la presqu'île de Midyan, des structures de collision qui ne peuvent pas être considérées comme des accopagnateurs de l'allure décrochante majeure, mais qui ont été engendrées par une cncienne collision entre le Midyan et le Sinai. Comme le montre l'étude de terrain, plusieurs collisions ont dû se produire à un stade précoce du mécanisme de décrochement; elles s'expliquent essentiellement par la forme courbe de la faille de décrochement dans la partie N de la Mer Rouge. Les observations de terrain, reprises ci-dessous, confirment l'hypothèse selon laquelle la structure Aquaba-Levant est le prolongement d'une faille transformante de la Mer Rouge.

---

(Midyan-Region, NW-Saudi Arabien) , (. 1) , , , , , , . , . , Midyan , , , , Midyan . , , , . . . , - , , , .

     

Salinization of groundwater in the North German Basin: results from conjoint investigation of major, trace element and multi-isotope distribution

Conjoint consideration of distribution of major, rare earth elements (REE) and Y (combined to REY) and of H, O, C, S, Sr isotopes reveals that four types of groundwater are distinguishable by their chemical composition presented by spider patterns. REY patterns indicate thermo-saline deep water and two types of shallow saline groundwaters. Presence of connate waters is not detectable. Sr isotope ratios distinguish three sources of Sr: fast and slow weathering of biotite and K-feldspar in Pleistocene sediments, respectively, and dissolution of limestones. δ¹³C(DIC) indicate dissolution of limestone under closed and open system conditions. Numerous samples show δ¹³C(DIC) > 13‰ which is probably caused by incongruent dissolution of calcite and dolomite. The brines from below 1,000 m represent mixtures of pre-Pleistocene seawater or its evaporation brines and infiltrated post-Pleistocene precipitation. The shallow waters represent mixtures of Pleistocene and Recent precipitation salinized by dissolution of evaporites or by mixing with ascending brines. The distribution of water types is independent on geologic units and lithologies. Even the Tertiary Rupelian aquiclude does not prevent salinization of the upper aquifer.