The Darwin Rise demise: the western Pacific guyot heights trace the trans-Pacific Mendocino fracture zone

The Darwin Rise has been proposed so many times and in so many forms and places that the time has come to make a more comprehensive examination of the region. Lying on the NW Pacific Plate between the Geisha Guyots, the Mid-Pacific Mountains, the equator, and the trenches, the region is roughly bounded by magnetic anomaly M20 (147 Ma). It was subjected to a massive outpouring of lava about 105 to 120 Ma, which created the guyots and seamounts in that region. Guyots are excellent tools for studying events of long ago because they eroded in the same lowstand in the Cretaceous and guyot relief, therefore, is a surrogate for paleo-sealevel. The relief is derived by subtracting the break depth of the summit plateau of a guyot from the regional depth. Guyot relief would necessarily be less in the center than to the periphery if the feature formed on a pre-existing rise, as has been postulated. The existence of a paleo-Darwin Rise would give concentric contours for the region in question. Of the sixty guyots used in this study, thirty-seven of these guyots were surveyed using SASS multibeam in the Marcus-Wake seamount group. Twenty-three guyots were surveyed using random track single-beam sonar surveys. An entirely different scenario is shown. Data revealed a major fracture passing through the area coevally or after the guyots formed. Because the depths to the summit are not the same now, vertical tectonics occurred after subaerial erosion. This means the fracture formed during and after the erosion (roughly 105 Ma) and influenced the normal sequence of events in guyot formation. Depending on how one deciphers trends through the Hess Rise morass, SASS bathymetry shows a continuation of the Surveyor/Mendocino fracture zone swarm inside the M20 region to the NE of these data. The fracture swarm continues to the western Pacific trench system. Based on this information, if the Darwin Rise ever existed, it had to have done so elsewhere.     

Influence of the zone of weakness on dip angle and shear heating of subducted slabs

We study the importance of the zones of weakness and the pattern of downgoing flow in steady-state models of subducting lithosphere, which interacts mechanically and thermally with the ambient mantle. The non-linear system of governing equations consists of (i) the momentum equation in stream function formulation and (ii) the steady-state heat transfer equation including conduction and advection of heat and dissipation. A finite element method has been applied to this system. We consider the viscosity to be a non-linear function of both the temperature and the stream function. In steady-state two-dimensional (2D) flow, the stream function isolines follow material trajectories. They are used to follow the top of the subducting slab, which because of its possible increase in water content, is assumed to have a lower viscosity. The zone of weakness has been thus obtained in the self-consistent fashion since the stream function as well as the temperature are the output from our modeling and no a priori assumptions about the shape of the bending lithosphere are taken into account. It was shown that several orders decrease of viscosity in the zone of weakness is required to obtain the dip angle of about 45°. If the decrease of viscosity is not sufficient enough, the subducted slab either sinks almost vertically or does not exhibit a plate-like behavior. We have also demonstrated that shear heating can unrealistically increase at the zone of weakness for fast subductions if decrease of viscosity is underestimated.     

Neotectonic deformation in the transition zone between the Dead Sea Transform and the East Anatolian Fault Zone, Southern Turkey: a palaeomagnetic study of the Karasu Rift Volcanism

In southern Turkey ongoing differential impingement of Arabia into the weak Anatolian collisional collage resulting from subduction of the Neotethyan Ocean has produced one of the most complex crustal interactions along the Alpine–Himalayan Orogen. Several major transforms with disputed motions, including the northward extension of the Dead Sea Fault Zone (DSFZ), meet in this region. To evaluate neotectonic motion on the Amanos and East Hatay fault zones considered to be northward extensions of the DSFZ, the palaeomagnetism of volcanic fields in the Karasu Rift between these faults has been studied. Remanence carriers are low-Ti magnetites and all except 5 of 51 basalt lavas have normal polarity. Morphological, polarity and K–Ar evidence show that rift formation occurred largely during the Brunhes chron with volcanism concentrated at 0.66–0.35 Ma and a subsidiary episode at 0.25–0.05. Forty-four units of normal polarity yield a mean of D/I=8.8°/54.7° with inclination identical to the present-day field and declination rotated clockwise by 8.8±4.0°. Within the 15-km-wide Hassa sector of the Karasu Rift, the volcanic activity is concentrated between the Amanos and East Hatay faults, both with left lateral motions, which have rotated blocks bounded by NW–SE cross faults in a clockwise sense as the Arabian Block has moved northwestwards. An average lava age of 0.5 Ma yields a minimum cumulative slip rate on the system bounding faults of 0.46 cm/year according with the rate deduced from the Africa–Arabia Euler vector and reduced rates of slip on the southern extension of the DSFZ during Plio-Quaternary times. Estimates deduced from offsets of dated lavas flows and morphological features on the Amanos Fault Zone [Tectonophysics 344 (2002) 207] are lower (0.09–0.18 cm/year) probably because they are limited to surface fault breaks and do not embrace the seismogenic crust.Results of this study suggest that most strike slip on the DSFZ is taken up by the Amanos–East Hatay–Afrin fault array in southern Turkey. Comparable estimates of Quaternary slip rate are identified on other faults meeting at an unstable FFF junction (DSFZ, East Anatolian Fault Zone, Karatas Fault Zone). A deceleration in slip rate across the DSFZ and its northward continuation during Plio-Quaternary times correlates with reorganization of the tectonic regime during the last 1–3 Ma including tectonic escape within Anatolia, establishment of the North and East Anatolian Fault Zones bounding the Anatolian collage in mid–late Pliocene times, a contemporaneous transition from transpression to transtension and concentration of all basaltic magmatism in this region within the last 1 Ma.     

Fold-Thrust-Belt Structure of the Proterozoic Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt: A Proposed Correlation Between India and Antarctica in Gondwana

The Proterozoic Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt along the east coast of India shares a thrusted lower contact with the surrounding cratons. The thrust, known as the Terrane Boundary shear zone, is associated with two large lateral ramps resulting in a curved outline on the northwestern corner of the mobile belt. The Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt is divided into two lithotectonic units, the Lathore Group and the Turekela Group, based on their lithological assemblages and deformational history. On the basis of published data from a Deep Seismic Sounding (DSS) profile of the Eastern Ghats crust, the Terrane Boundary Shear Zone is considered to be listric in nature and acts as the sole thrust between craton and mobile belt. The Lathore and Turekela Groups are nappes. With this structural configuration the NW part is described as a fold thrust belt. However, the thrusting postdates folding and granulite metamorphism that occurred in the Eastern Ghats, as in the Caledonide type of fold thrust belt of NW Scotland. The Terrane Boundary Shear Zone is interpreted to be contiguous with the Rayner-Napier boundary of the Enderby Land in a Gondwana assembly.     

Deformation History of the Kunavaram Complex, Eastern Ghats Belt, India: Implications for Alkaline Magmatism Along the Indo-Antarctica Suture

The Kunavaram alkaline complex is a NE-SW trending elongate body located along a major lineament, the Sileru Shear Zone (SSZ) that is regarded as a Proterozoic suture related to Indo-Antarctica collision. The complex is hosted within migmatitic quartzofeldspathic gneisses, mafic granulites retrogressed to amphibolites, and quartzites. The structural evolution of the country rocks and the alkaline complex are similar. The first phase of deformation, D₁, produces a pervasive segregation banding (S₁) in all rock units within and outside the complex. A second deformation phase D₂ isoclinally folded S₁ along subvertical axial planes with shallow plunging axes. F₂ isoclinal folds are ubiquitous in the country rocks and the eastern extremity of the complex. In the interior of the alkaline body, D₂ strain decreases and S₁ is commonly subhorizontal. While amphibolite to granulite facies conditions prevailed during deformation, post-D₂ annealing textures testify to persisting high grade conditions. In the west, a NNE-SSW trending dextral shear zone with strike-slip sense (D₃) truncates the complex. Within this shear zone, quartzofeldspathic country rocks are plastically deformed, while hornblende-K-feldspar assemblages of the complex are retrogressed to biotite and plagioclase. Warping related to D₃ shears also resulted in fold interference patterns on the subhorizontal S₁ foliation in low D₂ strain domains. Based on its steep dip, north-easterly trend, and non-coaxial nature with dextral strike-slip sense, the D₃ shear zone can be correlated with the SSZ. Since this shear zone, i.e., the SSZ, is not associated with primary igneous fabrics and resulted in solid state deformation of the complex, it cannot be considered as a conduit for alkaline magmatism, but is probably responsible for the post-tectonic disposition of the pluton.     

Analytical prediction of aggregates' effects on the ITZ volume fraction and Young's modulus of concrete

In order to evaluate analytically the ITZ volume fraction (f_ITZ) in concrete, a three phase model is proposed for the random concrete microstructure using the Voronoï tessellation. Within this model, the ITZ local thickness is a statistical variable depending on the local paste thickness available between each couple of neighbouring aggregates. The f_ITZ is found to not exceed 7% for typical concretes. Then, the concrete Young's modulus is predicted analytically using a four‐phase generalized self consistent model but in which the proposed f_ITZ is considered. It is found that the concrete Young's modulus increases when increasing aggregates volume fraction, aggregates maximum size and the proportion of coarse aggregates and when decreasing the ITZ thickness and Young's modulus. Finally, the validity of the proposed model is discussed based on a comparison between its predictions and three sets of experimental results related to normal and high strength concretes taken from literature. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Possible spatial variability in the Selwyn Block of Central Victoria: evidence from Late Devonian felsic igneous rocks

The Neoproterozoic to Cambrian Selwyn Block in Central Victoria forms the mainly unexposed basement to the Paleozoic metasediments, granitic rocks and felsic volcanic complexes of the Melbourne Zone of the Lachlan Orogen. The Late Devonian felsic rocks are largely products of partial melting of the Selwyn Block, and their chemistry implies that their sources were most probably arc-related andesite, dacite, volcaniclastic greywackes and some pelites. When plotted against the median longitudes of the plutons and volcanic complexes, the average values for ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_t and ?Nd_t (at 370 Ma) reveal broad trends interpreted to reflect possible compositional and/or age structure in the Selwyn Block. Assuming that the trends are real, from W to E, I-type sources are progressively less crustally evolved, probably younging eastward. The S-type sources show no trend in ?Nd_t, suggesting that there was efficient sediment mixing. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_t values, however, become more evolved eastward (opposite in sense to the apparent variation in the I-type sources). This is interpreted as the original Selwyn Block sediments having been more pelitic eastward, perhaps suggesting a deepening of the basin in this direction, as well as structurally upward in the succession. The opposite senses of variation highlights the spatial separation of the S- and I-type sources and suggest that the granitic magmas here are unlikely to represent any sort of mixing continuum.     

Field evidence for normal fault linkage and relay ramp evolution: the Kırkağaç Fault Zone,western Anatolia (Turkey)

Linking of normal faults forms at all scales as a relay ramp during growth stages and represents the most efficient way for faults to lengthen during their progressive formation. Here, I study the linking of normal faulting along the active K?rka?aç Fault Zone within the west Anatolian extensional system to reconstruct fault interaction in time and space using both field- and computer-based data. I find that (i) connecting of the relay zone/ramp occurred with two breaching faults of different generations and that (ii) the propagation was facilitated by the presence of pre-existing structures, inherited from the ?zmir-Bal?kesir transfer zone. Hence, the linkage cannot be compared directly to a simple fault growth model. Therefore, I propose a combined scenario of both hangingwall and footwall fault propagation mechanisms that explain the present-day geometry of the composite fault line. The computer-based analyses show that the approximate slip rate is 0.38 mm/year during the Quaternary, and a NE–SW-directed extension is mainly responsible for the recent faulting along the K?rka?aç Fault Zone. The proposed structural scenario also highlights the active fault termination and should be considered in future seismic hazard assessments for the region that includes densely populated settlements.     

肥东花岗质岩脉的变形及年代学特征对郯庐断裂带早白垩世构造活动的指示

郯庐断裂带肥东段位于大别造山带与苏鲁造山带之间。在肥东段西韦采石场内发育了大规模的北北东向左行走滑韧性剪切带和一条低角度的韧性滑脱正断层。走滑韧性剪切带为郯庐断裂带走滑活动的产物,低角度滑脱正断层则代表了伸展背景下的构造活动。低角度滑脱正断层上、下盘发育未变形和变形的岩脉,走滑韧性剪切带内外也发育有受剪切带活动而变形的岩脉。对采石场内岩脉的构造和同位素年代学研究表明,低角度韧性滑脱正断层在129~126Ma之间发生过剪切活动,走滑韧性剪切带的活动时间在125Ma之后。综合研究认为,郯庐断裂带的伸展活动可能开始于早白垩世早期(130Ma),但在早白垩世并非一直处于伸展活动之中,125Ma之后的左行走滑活动很可能发生在早白垩世的晚期。