Evidence of Strain Partitioning Between the Sierra Madre Fault and the Los Angeles Basin, Southern California from Numerical Models

— Geodetic data indicate that the northern Metropolitan Los Angeles region is shortening at a rate of 4.5–6.0 mm/yr between downtown Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Mountains. If we assume that all of the uplift of the San Gabriel Mountains is due to the major frontal fault system (the Sierra Madre fault) and use reported values for bedrock uplift, slip per event and recurrence intervals to determine the slip rate on the Sierra Madre fault, we obtain slip rates between 0.6–1.27 mm/yr. Using these slip rates, the horizontal shortening attributable to the Sierra Madre fault accounts for only ~33% of the observed shortening across the basin, leaving ~67% of the shortening to be accounted for elsewhere. Herein we present a suite of models that test possible shortening mechanisms to account for this strain deficit. The models incorporate a range of fault geometries and have a layered structure with variable vertical and horizontal rheologies. The models demonstrate how lower-crust rheology and the presence of a low rigidity, anelastically deforming sedimentary basin affects the dissipation of stress imposed on the viscous layers by elastic failure of the faults. We found that viscoelastic models with a single fault, vertically strong crust and a compliant sedimentary basin yield a horizontal velocity profile that best matches the geodetically observed velocity profile across the Los Angeles Basin. Our models also indicate that we are still not accounting for all of the observed deformation. Therefore, more complex models that include both laterally varying rheologies and frictional properties on faults must be considered.     

Revisiting the Tidal Activation of Seismicity with a Damage Mechanics and Friction Point of View

— The Load Unload Response Ratio theory (LURR) puts forward the idea that the ratio of seismicity during times of increased tidal loading to times of decreased tidal loading takes on anomalously large values as the preparatory region of the earthquake approaches a critical state. We repeated the calculations of LURR for several earthquakes in California, for which results had been published, using estimates of the parameters which could be determined from the published work. We were unable to confirm any LURR ratio predictive significance. We test an alternative method of evaluating the influence of tidal stresses on earthquakes based on damage mechanics. As in rock mechanics experiments, it may be that anomalous activation of seismicity prior to large earthquakes occurs only during those time intervals when the applied stress exceeds values previously attained. We applied this approach to analyze the same data set used to test the LURR hypothesis, and it also failed to reveal any significant precursory indications. It may be that time-dependent failure processes such as self-driven nucleation occur on a time scale longer than the diurnal tide, thus destroying the expected synchronization.     

Drainage basin sensitivity to tectonic and climatic forcing: implications of a stochastic model for the role of entrainment and erosion thresholds

Long‐term average rates of channel erosion and sediment transport depend on the frequency–magnitude characteristics of ?ood ?ows that exceed an erosion threshold. Using a Poisson model for rainfall and runoff, analytical solutions are developed for average rates of stream incision and sediment transport in the presence of such a threshold. Solutions are derived and numerically tested for three erosion/transport formulas: the Howard–Kerby shear‐stress incision model, the Bridge–Dominic sediment transport model, and a generic shear‐stress sediment transport model. Results imply that non‐linearity resulting from threshold effects can have a ?rst‐order impact on topography and patterns of dynamic response to tectonic and climate forcing. This non‐linearity becomes signi?cant when fewer than about half of ?ood events are capable of detaching rock or sediment. Predicted morphology and uplift‐gradient scaling is more closely consistent with observations and laboratory experiments than conventional slope‐linear or shear‐linear erosion laws. These results imply that particle detachment thresholds are not details that can be conveniently ignored in long‐term landscape evolution models. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rare earth element geochemistry of Late Devonian reefal carbonates, Canning Basin, Western Australia: confirmation of a seawater REE proxy in ancient limestones

Rare earth element and yttrium (REE+Y) concentrations were determined in 49 Late Devonian reefal carbonates from the Lennard Shelf, Canning Basin, Western Australia. Shale-normalized (SN) REE+Y patterns of the Late Devonian samples display features consistent with the geochemistry of well-oxygenated, shallow seawater. A variety of different ancient limestone components, including microbialites, some skeletal carbonates (stromatoporoids), and cements, record seawater-like REE+Y signatures. Contamination associated with phosphate, Fe-oxides and shale was tested quantitatively, and can be discounted as the source of the REE+Y patterns. Co-occurring carbonate components that presumably precipitated from the same seawater have different relative REE concentrations, but consistent REE+Y patterns. Clean Devonian early marine cements (n = 3) display REE+Y signatures most like that of modern open ocean seawater and the highest Y/Ho ratios (e.g., 59) and greatest light REE (LREE) depletion (average Nd_SN/Yb_SN = 0.413, SD = 0.076). However, synsedimentary cements have the lowest REE concentrations (e.g., 405 ppb). Non-contaminated Devonian microbialite samples containing a mixture of the calcimicrobe Renalcis and micritic thrombolite aggregates in early marine cement (n = 11) have the highest relative REE concentrations of tested carbonates (average total REE = 11.3 ppm). Stromatoporoid skeletons, unlike modern corals, algae and molluscs, also contain well-developed, seawater-like REE patterns. Samples from an estuarine fringing reef have very different REE+Y patterns with LREE enrichment (Nd_SN/Yb_SN > 1), possibly reflecting inclusion of estuarine colloidal material that contained preferentially scavenged LREE from a nearby riverine input source. Hence, Devonian limestones provide a proxy for marine REE geochemistry and allow the differentiation of co-occurring water masses on the ancient Lennard Shelf. Although appropriate partition coefficients for quantification of Devonian seawater REE concentrations from out data are unknown, hypothetical Devonian Canning Basin seawater REE patterns were obtained with coefficients derived from modern natural proxies and experimental values. Resulting Devonian seawater patterns are slightly enriched in LREE compared to most modern seawaters and suggest higher overall REE concentrations, but are very similar to seawaters from regions with high terrigenous inputs. Our results suggest that most limestones should record important aspects of the REE geochemistry of the waters in which they precipitated, provided they are relatively free of terrigenous contamination and major diagenetic alteration from fluids with high, non-seawater-like REE contents. Hence, we expect that many other ancient limestones will serve as seawater REE proxies, and thereby provide information on paleoceanography, paleogeography and geochemical evolution of the oceans.     

Computer simulation of flow through a lattice flow-cell model

For single-phase flow through a network model of a porous medium, we report (1) solutions of the Navier–Stokes equation for the flow, (2) micro-particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) measurements of local flow velocity vectors in the “pores throats” and “pore bodies,” and (3) comparisons of the computed and measured velocity vectors. A “two-dimensional” network of cylindrical pores and parallelepiped connecting throats was constructed and used for the measurements. All pore bodies had the same dimensions, but three-different (square cross-section) pore-throat sizes were randomly distributed throughout the network. An unstructured computational grid for flow through an identical network was developed and used to compute the local pressure gradients and flow vectors for several different (macroscopic) flow rates. Numerical solution results were compared with the experimental data, and good agreement was found. Cross-over from Darcy flow to inertial flow was observed in the computational results, and the permeability and inertia coefficients of the network were estimated. The development of inertial flow was seen as a “two-step” process: (1) recirculation zones appeared in more and more pore bodies as the flow rate was increased, and (2) the strengths of individual recirculation zones increased with flow rate. Because each pore-throat and pore-body dimension is known, in this approach an experimental (and/or computed) local Reynolds number is known for every location in the porous medium at which the velocity has been measured (and/or computed).     

The Upper Valanginian (Early Cretaceous) positive carbon-isotope event recorded in terrestrial plants

Our understanding of the ancient ocean-atmosphere system has focused on oceanic proxies. However, the study of terrestrial proxies is equally necessary to constrain our understanding of ancient climates and linkages between the terrestrial and oceanic carbon reservoirs. We have analyzed carbon-isotope ratios from fossil plant material through the Valanginian and Lower Hauterivian from a shallow-marine, ammonite-constrained succession in the Crimean Peninsula of the southern Ukraine in order to determine if the Upper Valanginian positive carbon-isotope excursion is expressed in the atmosphere. δ¹³C_plant values fluctuate around − 23‰ to − 22‰ for the Valanginian-Hauterivian, except during the Upper Valanginian where δ¹³C_plant values record a positive excursion to ∼− 18‰. Based upon ammonite biostratigraphy from Crimea, and in conjunction with a composite Tethyan marine δ¹³C_carb curve, several conclusions can be drawn: (1) the δ¹³C_plant record indicates that the atmospheric carbon reservoir was affected; (2) the defined ammonite correlations between Europe and Crimea are synchronous; and (3) a change in photosynthetic carbon-isotope fractionation, caused by a decrease in atmospheric pCO₂, occurred during the Upper Valanginian positive δ¹³C excursion. Our new data, combined with other paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic information, indicate that the Upper Valanginian was a cool period (icehouse) and highlights that the Cretaceous period was interrupted by periods of cooling and was not an equable climate as previously thought.     

Overbank deposition along the concave side of the Red River meanders,Manitoba, and its geomorphic significance

Slow earth sliding is pervasive along the concave side of Red River meanders that impinge on Lake Agassiz glaciolacustrine deposits. These failures form elongated, low‐angled (c. 6 to 10°) landslide zones along the valleysides. Silty overbank deposits that accumulated during the 1999 spring freshet extend continuously along the landslide zones over hundreds of metres and aggraded the lower slopes over a distance 50 to 80 m from the channel margin. The aggradation is not obviously related to meander curvature or location within a meander. Along seven slope profiles surveyed in 1999 near Letellier, Manitoba, the deposits locally are up to 21 cm thick and generally thin with increasing distance from, and height above, the river. Local deposit thickness relates to distance from the channel, duration of inundation of the landslide surface, mesotopography, and variations in vegetation cover. Immediately adjacent to the river, accumulated overbank deposits are up to 4 m thick. The 1999 overbank deposits also were present along the moderately sloped (c. 23 to 27°) concave banks eroding into the floodplain, but the deposits are thinner (locally up to c. 7 cm thick) and cover a narrower area (10 to 30 m wide) than the deposits within the landslide zones. Concave overbank deposition is part of a sediment reworking process that consists of overbank aggradation on the landslide zones, subsequent gradual downslope displacement from earth sliding, and eventually reworking by the river at the toe of the landslide. The presence of the deposits dampens the outward migration of the meanders and contributes to a low rate of contemporary lateral channel migration. Concave overbank sedimentation occurs along most Red River meanders between at least Emerson and St. Adolphe, Manitoba. © Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada.     

Limnology of Two Antarctic Epishelf Lakes and their Potential to Record Periods of Ice Shelf Loss

George VI Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula and its northern margin marks the southern most latitudinal limit of recent ice shelf retreat. As part of a project to reconstruct the long-term (Holocene) history of George VI Ice Shelf we studied two epishelf lakes impounded by the ice shelf at Ablation Point, on the east coast of Alexander Island. These lakes, Moutonnée and Ablation, are stratified water bodies with a lower marine layer and an upper freshwater layer. To determine if their sediment records could be used to detect past changes in the presence or absence of the ice shelf it was necessary to describe their present-day limnology and sedimentology. We measured water column chemistry and sampled the water column and sediments of the lakes along vertical and horizontal transects. We analysed these samples for diatoms, stable isotopes (δ¹⁸O, δ²H, δ¹³C_DIC, δ¹³C_org), geochemistry (TOC, TN, C/N ratios) and physical sedimentology (grain-size). This was supplemented by chemical and biological reference data from the catchments. Results showed that the water columns of both lakes are nutrient limited and deficient in phytoplankton. Benthic productivity is low and decreases with depth. Comparison of water column chemistry with an earlier survey shows a net increase in the thickness of the freshwater layer in Moutonnée Lake between 1973 and 2001, which could indicate that George VI Ice Shelf has thinned during this period. However, a similar trend was not observed in Ablation Lake (5 km to the north) and an alternative explanation is that the changes are a seasonal phenomena. Data from the surface sediment transects identified a number of proxies that respond to the present day stratification of the water column including diatom species composition, stable isotopes and geochemistry, particularly in Moutonnée Lake. Collectively these data have been used to develop a conceptual model for determining past ice shelf configuration in epishelf lakes. Specifically, periods of past ice shelf loss, and the removal of the ice dam, would see the present stratified epishelf lake replaced by a marine embayment. It is suggested that this change would leave a clear signature in the lake sediment record, notably the deposition of an exclusively marine biological assemblage, increased ice rafted debris and δ¹³C_org values that are indicative of marine derived organic matter. These authors contributed equally to this work