Holocene activity of the Scilla Fault, Southern Calabria: Insights from coastal morphological and structural investigations

Integration of on-land and offshore geomorphological and structural investigations coupled to extensive radiometric dating of co-seismically uplifted Holocene beaches allows characterization of the geometry, kinematics and seismotectonics of the Scilla Fault, which borders the eastern side of the Messina Strait in Calabria, Southern Italy. This region has been struck by destructive historical earthquakes, but knowledge of geologically-based source parameters for active faults is relatively poor, particularly for those running mostly offshore, as the Scilla Fault does. The  30 km-long normal fault may be divided into three segments of  10 km individual length, with the central and southern segments split in at least two strands. The central and northern segments are submerged, and in this area marine geophysical data indicate a youthful morphology and locally evidence for active faulting. The on-land strand of the western segment displaces marine terraces of the last interglacial (124 to 83 ka), but seismic reflection profiles suggest a full Quaternary activity. Structural data collected on bedrock faults exposed along the on-land segment provide evidence for normal slip and  NW-SE extension, which is consistent with focal mechanisms of large earthquakes and GPS velocity fields in the region. Detailed mapping of raised Holocene marine deposits exposed at the coastline straddling of the northern and central segments supplies evidence for two co-seismic displacements at  1.9 and  3.5 ka, and a possible previous event at  5 ka. Co-seismic displacements show a consistent site value and pattern of along-strike variation, suggestive of characteristic-type behaviour for the fault. The  1.5–2.0 m average co-seismic slips during these events document M_e  6.9–7.0 earthquakes with  1.6–1.7 ka recurrence time. Because hanging-wall subsidence cannot be included into slip magnitude computation, these slips reflect footwall uplift, and represent minimum average estimates. The palaeoseismological record based on the palaeo-shorelines suggests that the last rupture on the Scilla Fault during the February 6, 1783 M_w = 5.9–6.3 earthquake was at the expected time but it may have not entirely released the loaded stress since the last great event at  1.9 ka. Comparison of the estimated co-seismic extension rate based on the Holocene shoreline record with available GPS velocities indicates that the Scilla Fault accounts for at least  15–20% of the contemporary geodetic extension across the Messina Strait.     

Thin-section analysis as a tool to aid identification of palaeoearthquakes on the “slow”, active Geleen Fault, Roer Valley Graben

We analyzed thin sections from two palaeoseismic trenches across the low-slip-rate Geleen Fault in the Belgian Maas River valley to help identifying the most recent large palaeoearthquake on this fault segment. In the first trench we sampled silty sediment below and above a prehistoric stone pavement that was supposedly at or near the surface at the time of the event, and subsequently thrown down. The samples below show a well-developed in situ argillic Bt soil horizon in parent sediment containing remnants of stratification, whereas the sediment above is a structureless colluvium reworked at least partly from Bt-horizon material. Below the stone pavement, we also found evidence of contorted stratification, which is in agreement with macroscopic observations of both the sediment and the stone pavement itself, and which is attributed to co-seismic soft-sediment deformation. In the second trench, we sampled a sequence of vaguely discernible soil horizons in the hanging-wall, interpreted as a buried soil profile (Bt, E, and possibly A horizons), overlain by a featureless deposit. Thin-section analysis supports the colluvial nature of the latter, and also provides evidence that both the base of this layer and the top of the poorly developed A horizon below have occupied a shallow position in a soil profile. A sample from the same depth in the footwall is composed of very different material. Instead of colluvium, we find patches of Bt soil, most likely representing the same pedogenic level as the in situ Bt horizon at larger depth in the hanging-wall, but displaced and subsequently degraded. Furthermore, thin sections confirm that vertical structures cutting this Bt horizon are sand dykes. These dykes could be traced macroscopically upward to the base of the colluvium. In both trenches, we have thus identified a stratigraphic boundary in the hanging-wall, close to the surface, separating an in situ soil below from colluvium above. We interpret this limit and the overlying colluvium as the event horizon and the colluvial wedge, respectively, of a surface-rupturing palaeoearthquake. In addition, in both cases we found evidence of soft-sediment deformation (related to liquefaction) contemporaneous with the event within the stratigraphic resolution.     

First seismic record for intra-arc strike-slip tectonics along the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone at the obliquely convergent plate margin of the southern Andes

A temporal seismic network recorded local seismicity along a 130 km long segment of the transpressional dextral strike-slip Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone (LOFZ) in southern Chile. Seventy five shallow crustal events with magnitudes up to M_w 3.8 and depths shallower than 25 km were observed in an 11-month period mainly occurring in different clusters. Those clusters are spatially related to the LOFZ, to the volcanoes Chaitén, Michinmahuida and Corcovado, and to active faulting on secondary faults. Further activity along the LOFZ is indicated by individual events located in direct vicinity of the surface expression of the LOFZ. Focal mechanisms were calculated using deviatoric moment tensor inversion of body wave amplitude spectra which mostly yield strike-slip mechanisms indicating a NE–SW direction of the P-axis for the LOFZ at this latitude. The seismic activity reveals the present-day activity of the fault zone. The recent M_w 6.2 event near Puerto Aysén, Southern Chile at 45.4°S on April 21, 2007 shows that the LOFZ is also capable of producing large magnitude earthquakes and therefore imposing significant seismic hazard to this region.     

A seismic source zone model for the seismic hazard assessment of the Italian territory

We designed a new seismic source model for Italy to be used as an input for country-wide probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) in the frame of the compilation of a new national reference map.

We started off by reviewing existing models available for Italy and for other European countries, then discussed the main open issues in the current practice of seismogenic zoning.

The new model, termed ZS9, is largely based on data collected in the past 10 years, including historical earthquakes and instrumental seismicity, active faults and their seismogenic potential, and seismotectonic evidence from recent earthquakes. This information allowed us to propose new interpretations for poorly understood areas where the new data are in conflict with assumptions made in designing the previous and widely used model ZS4.

ZS9 is made out of 36 zones where earthquakes with M_w > = 5 are expected. It also assumes that earthquakes with M_w up to 5 may occur anywhere outside the seismogenic zones, although the associated probability is rather low. Special care was taken to ensure that each zone sampled a large enough number of earthquakes so that we could compute reliable earthquake production rates.

Although it was drawn following criteria that are standard practice in PSHA, ZS9 is also innovative in that every zone is characterised also by its mean seismogenic depth (the depth of the crustal volume that will presumably release future earthquakes) and predominant focal mechanism (their most likely rupture mechanism). These properties were determined using instrumental data, and only in a limited number of cases we resorted to geologic constraints and expert judgment to cope with lack of data or conflicting indications. These attributes allow ZS9 to be used with more accurate regionalized depth-dependent attenuation relations, and are ultimately expected to increase significantly the reliability of seismic hazard estimates.     

A preliminary stable isotope study on Mogok Ruby, Myanmar

The primary occurrence of ruby in the Mogok area, northern Myanmar is exclusively found in marble along with spinel–forsterite-bearing marble and phlogopite–graphite marble. These marble units are enclosed within banded biotite–garnet–sillimanite–oligoclase gneisses. Samples of these marbles collected for C–O stable isotope analysis show two trends of δ¹³C–δ¹⁸O variation resulting most likely from fluid–rock interactions. Ruby-bearing marble and phlogopite–graphite marble follow a trend with coupled C–O depletion, whereas spinel–forsterite-bearing marble follows a δ¹⁸O depletion trend with relatively constant δ¹³C values. Ruby formation might have resulted from CO₂-rich fluid–rock interaction, while spinel–forsterite-bearing marble was genetically related to CO₂-poor fluid–rock interaction. Both fluids may have arisen from external sources. Based on graphite Raman spectral thermometry, the estimated temperature for phlogopite–graphite marble, and probably ruby-bearing marble, was lower than 607 °C, and for spinel–forsterite-bearing marble, lower than 710 °C. Contrasting C/O diffusion between graphite/ruby/spinel/forsterite and calcite, local variations of isotopic compositions of newly formed minerals as a result of non-pervasive fluid infiltration, and open-system isotopic disturbance during cooling may have affected C-/O-isotopic fractionations between minerals. The estimated high formation temperatures for ruby and spinel/forsterite imply that the parental fluids may have been related to nearby igneous intrusions and/or metamorphic processes. Whether these two types of fluid were genetically related is unclear based on the present data.     

“Cretaceous black flysch” in the Pieniny Klippen Belt, West Carpathians: a case of geological misinterpretation

This is a critical assessment of the paper by Oszczypko et al. (2004: Cretaceous Research 25, 89–113), in which they tried to prove a mid-Cretaceous age for the Szlachtowa (“black flysch”) and Opaleniec Formations, in the Pieniny Klippen Belt, West Carpathians, both of which had previously been shown to be of Jurassic age. We argue that the mid-Cretaceous age assignment is a misinterpretation, primarily resulting from their field samples having been collected from some Cretaceous lithostratigraphic units, tectonically associated with the Jurassic formations, and/or from tectonic contact-breccias involving Jurassic and Cretaceous strata. In addition, we suggest that they have overlooked a number of significant palaeontological papers, published since 1962, which record the presence of in situ ammonites, aptychi, belemnites, thin-shelled bivalves (Bositra), gryphaeids, foraminifera, and ostracod assemblages, all indicating a Jurassic (mainly Aalenian), and not a Cretaceous, age for the Szlachtowa Formation, and also the in situ Jurassic (Bajocian) ammonites and thin-shelled bivalves (Bositra), Bositra-microfacies, and age-diagnostic foraminiferal assemblages of the Opaleniec Formation.Our presentation here of recently published dinocyst data from well-preserved assemblages further supports the Jurassic ages for the Szlachtowa (“black flysch”) and Opaleniec Formations.     

安徽省黄山地区唐家坞组生物地层

安徽省南部黄山市刘村一带唐家坞组的时代以往归为晚志留世,新近在唐家坞组中采获腕足类、瓣鳃类、腹足类等多门类化石,并首次采获胞石、鹦鹉螺等化石,其中胞石Conochitina(Densichitana)dens的时代为兰多维列世末至文洛克世初期,含这些化石的层位相当于秀山动物群的层位。结合地质情况分析,唐家坞组时限主要属于早志留世。     

碱消解-高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子体质谱法测定生物样品中的甲基汞和乙基汞

建立了碱消解-高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子体质谱联用系统测定生物样品中甲基汞(MeHg)与乙基汞(EtHg)的分析方法。为提高灵敏度,选用微流量的PFA雾化器,在优化的检测条件下,MeHg及EtHg检出限可达到0.036μg/L和0.03μg/L;线性范围达到4个数量级,两条工作曲线线性相关系数为1。对1.78μg/L MeHg、1.65μg/L EtHg的混合标准溶液重复测定7次,色谱峰面积的相对标准偏差(RSD)分别为1.79%和1.44%。对标准物质BCR 464(金枪鱼)的分析结果表明,测定值与标准值基本吻合,但略低于标准值;甲基汞和乙基汞的加标回收率分别为85.9%和84.5%。高效液相色谱与质谱联用技术的高灵敏度和低检出限能够满足生物样品中汞形态定量分析的要求。     

徐州土壤多环芳烃的环境地球化学迁移特征

选择江苏徐州黄棕壤进行不同深度层位多环芳烃含量的定量分析,研究并探讨了多环芳烃在土壤深度剖面中的地球化学迁移特征。研究结果显示,多环芳烃在徐州土壤剖面中主要集中在地表0~20 cm内。其中低环多环芳烃化合物的迁移能力较强,4~6环等高环化合物相对较难迁移,主要残留于地表生态系统环境中。     

激光拉曼光谱法分析多种显微组分荧光变化及其应用

利用激发488 nm激光的氩离子激光器作为RENISHAW inVia型激光拉曼光谱仪的光源,建立了多种显微组分荧光变化(FAMM)分析方法,并对镜质体反射率明显抑制的东营凹陷有效烃源岩进行了测定。结果表明,东营凹陷有效烃源岩的有机质类型越好,镜质体反射率抑制程度越高,有效烃源岩的真实成熟度应主要处于0.64%~1.30%,而不是实测镜质体反射率所反映的0.37%~1.10%。