French Polynesia Tsunami Warning Center (CPPT)

Since 1964, the Geophysical Laboratory in Tahiti has been charged with the responsibility of issuing tsunami warnings. But this research laboratory is also designed to conduct other missions. One of them is to study an oversee seismicity and volcanism in the South Central Pacific. For this activity the Geophysical Laboratory, which is also the French Polynesia Tsunami Warning Center (Centre Polynésien de Prévention des Tsunamis — CPPT), processes the data recorded by the Polynesian Seismic Network which includes 21 short-period stations, 4 broad-band three-component long period stations, and 2 tide gauge stations. These stations are, for the most, telemetered to CPPT in Tahiti which is equipped wilh data processing capabilities.At CPPT, Tsunami Warning is based on the measurement of the Seismic Moment through the mantle magnitudeM _m and the proportionality of observed tsunami height to this seismic moment.The new mantle magnitude scale,M _m, uses the measurement of the mantle of Rayleigh and Love wave energy in the 50–300 s period range and is directly related to the seismic moment throughM _m = logM _o – 20. Knowledge of the seismic moment allows an estimation of a range of high seas amplitudes for the expectable tsunami.The relation that estimates the tsunami height according to the seismic moment is based on the normal mode tsunami theory but also fits a dataset of 17 tsunamis recorded at Papeete (PPT) since 1958. This procedure is fully automatic: a computer detects, locates and estimates the seismic moment through theM _m magnitude and, in terms of moment, gives an amplitude window for the expected tsunami. These-several operations are executed in real time. In addition, the operator can use historical references and, if necessary, acoustic T waves.This automatic procedure, which has been operating at the CPPT since 1986, is certainly transposable and applicable to other tsunami warning centers that issue warnings for earthquakes detected more than 1000 km away, and has significant potential in the regional field.     

瑞士阿尔卑斯山地质考察纪实

本文概述了瑞士地质单元基本特征和地质演化过程。详细记述的内容为:汝拉山侏罗纪地层和构造;磨拉石盆地中海相和陆相磨拉石沉积;海尔微第带的推覆构造、复理石沉积、华力西地块;平宁带中的蛇绿混杂岩、闪光片岩、低温高压变质岩(蓝闪石片岩、榴辉岩),活化基底和盖层推覆体;奥地利阿尔卑斯—南阿尔卑斯仰冲叠覆体中的基底和未受变质的南大陆边缘的浅水碳酸盐岩及断陷盆地内较深水放射虫硅质岩。笔者提出,具有典型意义的瑞士阿尔卑斯碰撞造山带的研究成果对于深入研究我国西部造山带有着重要借鉴作用。     

White mica K-Ar ages of blueschist-facies rocks from the Piemonte 'calc-schists' of the western Italian Alps

Abstract Fifty calc-schists have been systematically collected from the Piemonte zone of the western Italian Alps and examined in terms of petrology, X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD) analysis of carbonaceous materials, and K-Ar ages of white mica separates. The petrological study and XRD analysis of carbonaceous materials have shown that calc-schists have suffered blueschist-facies metamorphism in the subduction zone of the convergent margin between the Apulian (African) continental and Tethyan oceanic plates. The metamorphic sequence is divided into three mineral zones based on increasing metamorphic temperature: chlorite (lower than 300°C), chloritoid, and rutile (higher than 450°C). The chlorite zone has dispersed ages of white mica separates, ranging from 115 to 44 Ma, whereas the rutile zone has a comparatively uniform age distribution from 60 to 40 Ma. The chloritoid zone has an intermediate age variation. The large variation in the chlorite zone is attributed to mixing of variable amounts of detrital mica derived from older high temperature metamorphic rocks in the separates, which have not been completely reset during Alpine metamorphism. The uniform age (average ca 50 Ma) in the rutile zone is the cooling age of blueschist-facies calc-schists, which have been episodically exhumed at the collision event of the European and Apulian continents in the Paleocene-Eocene.     

Synmetamorphic veining: origin of andalusite-bearing veins in the Vedrette di Ries contact aureole, Eastern Alps, Italy

Discordant andalusite-biotite-quartz-bearing veins occur in the contact aureole of the Vedrette di Ries pluton (Italian Eastern Alps), never outside the area of contact metamorphic andalusite development. Andalusite veins are found only within andalusite-bearing hornfelses, and vein biotite occurs wherever host-rock garnet is partially replaced by biotite. Veins formed during contact metamorphism, synchronously with the crystallization of andalusite and biotite within host rocks. Their pegmatitic structure and their orientation suggest that vein parageneses crystallized within fluid-filled cavities that opened by hydraulic fracturing. A mechanism of synmetamorphic veining is proposed to explain rock failure and subsequent mineral deposition within veins. During hydrofracturing induced by dehydration reactions in response to heating in the aureole, fissures were immediately filled with locally derived fluids. The lack of large-scale flux, together with high fluid pressures required by hydrofracturing, suggest fluid in the cavities was a virtually stagnant, passive medium, and that mass-transport toward fractures was driven by intergranular diffusion. Because temperature and P_f values within veins are similar to those in the host rock, vein assemblages are interpreted as the stable, high-T side of reactions taking place within pelitic schists, at the time when fractures opened. Once nucleation of product phases occurred, chemical components released by dissolution of reactant minerals were driven to precipitation sites by chemical potential gradients. Since nucleation was favoured at the strained grains of vein walls, andalusite and biotite simultaneously grew in vein and host rock. The proposed genetic model contrasts with generally adopted metasomatic mechanisms for the genesis of Al₂SiO₅-bearing veins, in not requiring large fluid/rock ratios or a highly ‘aggressive’ fluid composition. The mechanism of synmetamorphic veining may be particularly useful in the interpretation of vein occurrences in medium- and deep-crustal rocks which have undergone extensive devolatilization.     

Timing of metamorphism in the Tauern Window, Eastern Alps: Rb-Sr ages and fabric formation

The Peripheral Schieferhülle of the Tauern Window of the Eastern Alps represents post-Hercynian Penninic cover sequences and preserves a record of metamorphism in the Alpine orogeny, without the inherited remnants of Hercynian events that are retained in basement rocks. The temperature-time-deformation history of rocks at the lower levels of these cover sequences have been investigated by geochronological and petrographic study of units whose P-T evolution and structural setting are already well understood. The Eclogite Zone of the central Tauern formed from protoliths with Penninic cover affinities, and suffered early Alpine eclogite facies metamorphism before tectonic interposition between basement and cover. It then shared a common metamorphic history with these units, experiencing blueschist facies and subsequent greenschist facies conditions in the Alpine orogeny. The greenschist facies phase, associated with penetrative deformation in the cover and the influx of aqueous fluids, reset Sr isotopes in metasediments throughout the eclogite zone and cover schists, recording deformation and peak metamorphism at 28-30 Ma. The Peripheral Schieferhülle of the south-east Tauern Window yields Rb-Sr white mica ages which can be tied to the structural evolution of the metamorphic pile. Early prograde fabrics pre-date 31 Ma, and were reworked by the formation of the large north-east vergent Sonnblick fold structure at 28 Ma. Peak metamorphism post-dated this deformation, but by contrast to the equivalent levels in the central Tauern, peak metamorphic conditions did not lead to widespread homogenization of the Sr isotopes. Localized deformation continued into the cooling path until at least 23 Ma, partially or wholly resetting Sr white mica ages in some samples. These isotopic ages may be integrated with structural data in regional tectonic models, and may constrain changes in the style of crustal deformation and plate interaction. However, such interpretations must accommodate the demonstrable variation in thermal histories over small distances.     

The mechanism of veining and retrograde alteration of Alpine eclogites

Abstract The introduction of externally derived fluids into rocks of the Zermatt–Saas zone of the Swiss Alps gave rise to the simultaneous formation of shear and hydraulic fractures. These fractures are now filled with albite-rich assemblages and surrounded by alteration halos up to c. 2 m wide. The alteration assemblages are zoned and an examination of reactions in P–T–a H₂O space implies that the parageneses developed by the hydration of fluid-absent eclogites. A mechanical analysis of the veins (after Sibson, 1981) shows that P _fluid/ P _load must have been at least 0.96. Fluid migration into the country rocks must have been driven by excess hydraulic head either derived from the vertical extent of the veins or due to their connection to a deeper, external reservoir, possibly tapped along thrust surface(s). Diffusive and capillary transport were insignificant. The fluids may have been derived from underlying metasediments that were dehydrating during the quasi-isothermal uplift of this part of the Alps, or they may have originated during the prograde mesoalpine metamorphism documented in the area.     

Vegetation responses to climatic variability in the Swiss Southern Alps during the Misox event at the early–mid Holocene transition

Sedimentary pollen, charcoal and plant macrofossil analyses with high resolution and precision suggest a strong shift in vegetation composition during the early to mid‐Holocene transition in the upper mountain belt. At Piano mire (1439 m above sea level (a.s.l.), Ticino, Switzerland) forests were dominated by Abies alba during the early Holocene (prior to ca. 8000 cal. a BP). Abrupt collapses of A. alba at ca. 7800–7400 cal. a BP enabled the expansion of the light‐demanding pioneer Betula. Afterwards A. alba populations regained their previous abundance in the forests. Within the dating uncertainties of our record we assume that a unique combination of wet and cold years between 8400 and 7500 cal. a BP led to repeated lethal disadvantages for Abies. Our record of Abies oscillations is in good biostratigraphic agreement with the record that has been used to define the Misox cold event (Pian di Signano, 1540 m a.s.l.), which has been previously correlated with the 8200 cal. a BP event. Given the age estimates of the Abies collapses in our well‐dated record, our results suggest that additional efforts are needed to understand the linkage between the Misox and the 8200 cal. a BP event. They imply a high sensitivity of mountain vegetation far below the tree line (～800 m) to Holocene climatic changes of about 2°C in annual air temperature. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Calibration of the in situ cosmogenic 14C production rate in New Zealand's Southern Alps

In situ cosmogenic ¹⁴C (in situ ¹⁴C) analysis from quartz‐bearing rocks is a novel isotopic tool useful for quantifying recent surface exposure histories (up to ～25 ka). It is particularly powerful when combined with longer‐lived cosmogenic isotopes such as ¹⁰Be. Recent advances in the extraction of in situ ¹⁴C from quartz now permit the routine application of this method. However, only a few experiments to calibrate the production rate of in situ ¹⁴C in quartz have been published to date. Here, we present a new in situ ¹⁴C production rate estimate derived from a well‐dated debris flow deposit in the Southern Alps, New Zealand, previously used to calibrate ¹⁰Be production rates. For example, based on a geomagnetic implementation of the Lal/Stone scaling scheme we derive a spallogenic production rate of 11.4 ± 0.9 atoms ¹⁴C (g quartz)^?1 a^?1 and a ¹⁴C/¹⁰Be spallogenic production rate ratio of 3.0 ± 0.2. The results are comparable with production rates from previous calibrations in the northern hemisphere. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The AD 1717 rock avalanche deposits in the upper Ferret Valley (Italy): a dating approach with cosmogenic 10Be

On 12 September AD 1717, a rock volume larger than 10 million m³ collapsed onto the Triolet Glacier, mobilized a mass composed of ice and sediment and travelled more than 7 km downvalley in the upper Ferret Valley, Mont Blanc Massif (Italy). This rock avalanche destroyed two small settlements, causing seven casualties and loss of livestock. No detailed maps were made at the time. Later investigators attributed accumulations of granitic boulders and irregular ridges on the upper valley floor to either glacial deposition, or the AD 1717 rock avalanche, or a complex mixture of glacial deposition, earlier rock avalanche and AD 1717 rock avalanche origin. In this study, we present cosmogenic ¹⁰Be exposure ages from nine boulders in the extensive chaotic boulder deposit with irregular ridges, two from Holocene glacier‐free areas, and one from a Little Ice Age moraine. Exposure ages between 330 ± 23 and 483 ± 123 a from eight of nine boulders from the chaotic deposit indicate that at least seven were deposited by the AD 1717 rock avalanche. The other three boulders yielded ¹⁰Be exposure ages of 10 900 ± 400, 9700 ± 400 and 244 ± 97 a, respectively. Our results are in good agreement with the existing chronology from dendrochronology and lichenometry, and radiocarbon analysis of wood samples, but not with older ¹⁴C ages from a peat bog in the upper part of the valley. Based on the new age control, the rock avalanche deposits cover the whole bottom of the upper Ferret valley. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.