Dauphiné twinning and texture memory in polycrystalline quartz. Part 1: Experimental deformation of novaculite

Mechanical Dauphiné twinning in quartz has been of long-standing interest, both in single crystals and polycrystalline aggregates. This study investigates texture development in fine-grained quartz rock novaculite with no initial texture using compression experiments conducted in the Paterson gas apparatus to explore the influence of stress and temperature. Texture patterns are measured with time-of-flight neutron diffraction and hard synchrotron X-rays, analyzing diffraction data with the Rietveld method. Similar texture patterns are observed as described previously but the new results establish a profound influence of temperature and document that twinning initiates at stresses less than 50 MPa. Possibilities of using Dauphiné twinning as a paleopiezometer in quartz-bearing rocks are discussed.     

MODES-2D—Method of detecting strike-shift shear zones

One of the goals of using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and other geodetic survey techniques in tectonics has been to detect boundaries such as faults or shear zones between rigid or mildly deforming crustal masses. The calculation of infinitesimal strains and rotations with GPS data has been widely used to detect shear zones but it has been largely unsuccessful because infinitesimal strain and rotation, although useful in many other ways, is non-diagnostic of shear zones or faults. Our approach is to work with components of deformation, not strain, and to design specifically a diagnostic method of detecting shear zones. This paper introduces the first part of our method, the detection of two-dimensional, strike-shift shear zones (MODES-2D). The MODES-2D method has three elements: (1) determination of the orientation of a suspected strike-shift shear zone by analyzing components of a deformation tensor derived from a data set of displacements in an arbitrary coordinate system; (2) resolution of the deformation tensor into the coordinate system parallel and normal to the detected shear zone; and (3) exploration of the resolved data set for evidence for a belt of inhomogeneous deformation, which is an essential characteristic of a shear zone. The operation of MODES-2D is illustrated herein with a theoretical survey network across an ideal shear zone developed with a buried dislocation-fault and with a survey network afforded by the crossing of the Kaynaşlı viaduct by the 1999 Düzce–Bolu earthquake rupture in Turkey.     

Evolution of Cretaceous–Cenozoic quartz pebble conglomerate gold placers during basin formation and inversion, southern New Zealand

Numerous auriferous fluvial quartz pebble conglomerates (QPCs) are present within the Late Cretaceous–Recent sedimentary sequence in southern New Zealand. The QPCs formed in low-relief settings before, during, and after regional marine transgression, in alluvial fan and a variety of fluvial and near-shore depositional settings: In particular, during slow thermal subsidence associated with Late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic rifting, and during the early stages of orogenic uplift following mid Cenozoic marine regression. QPC maturity characteristics are complex and vary with sediment transport and recycling history, stratigraphic proximity to the transgressive Waipounamu Erosion Surface, and the amount of first-cycle detritus incorporated during recycling. For pre-marine QPCs, the amount of first cycle detritus varies with tectonic intensity and proximity of the depositional setting to remnant Cretaceous topography. For post-marine QPCs, it varies with tectonic intensity and proximity to Late Cenozoic uplift of basement ranges.QPCs do not form during a single bedrock erosion–sediment deposition cycle: Non-oxidised and/or oxidized groundwater alteration (kaolinisation) of labile minerals in immature sediment and the upper part of underlying basement, and repeated sedimentary recycling, are fundamental processes of QPC formation regardless of the tectonic or sedimentary settings. Altered immature rock disaggregates easily upon erosion, and alteration clays are winnowed to leave quartz-rich residues containing resistant heavy minerals such as zircon and gold. Detrital sulfide survives recycling if deposition and burial in saturated sediments are rapid. QPCs result only if sediment recycling is not accompanied by excessive erosion of fresh basement rock. Uplift of many parts of the Otago Schist belt since late Miocene has raised rocks above the water table, increased erosion rates, and inhibited groundwater alteration and QPC formation. QPC formation is still occurring in Southland, where the water table is high, sediments are saturated and undergoing alteration, and uplift and erosion rates, topography, and fluvial gradients are all low. The QPCs accumulate as residual gravel on the valley floors of low-competence streams that are slowly incising pervasively altered dominantly late Miocene–Pliocene immature conglomerates.QPCs formation essentially represents physical and chemical lagging of precursor strata. Accumulation of detrital gold and other heavy minerals is an inevitable consequence, and most QPCs contain some gold. Three types of significant gold placer have developed in the QPCs. Type 1 placers are essentially eluvial and/or colluvial in origin and form without significant fluvial transport, by residual accumulation in low-competence valleys during low-rate uplift, fluvial incision and QPC formation. Type 2 placers have formed during significant fluvial transport and subsequent fluvial incision, mainly in higher energy proximal and medial reaches of larger pre-marine (Eocene) and post-marine fluvial systems. Type 3 placers formed by wave-base and marine current winnowing in the shallow shelf setting during low-rate regional marine transgression, especially in the Eocene.     

北喜马拉雅穹隆带然巴韧性剪切带石英动态重结晶颗粒的分维几何分析与主要流变参数的估算

位于北喜马拉雅穹隆带东段的然巴构造穹隆外围发育环形韧性剪切带,带内岩石经韧性剪切形成各类糜棱状岩石。石英为带内变形岩中最为常见的造岩矿物,在不同的温度、应变速率下产生不同的显微构造,其中动态重结晶最为常见。重结晶新晶颗粒边界普遍具有锯齿状或港湾状结构,是应变和变形环境的天然记录。新晶粒分维几何统计分析表明:带内动态重结晶石英颗粒边界形态具有自相似性(1≤D≤2),表现出分形特征,分维数值为1.14～1.19,变形温度大约500℃。同构造变质环境属中——高绿片岩相;初步估算古应变速率可能低于10^-9.5S^-1;根据重结晶粒径估算变形古应力6.2～58.8MPa。     

Faulting style and stress field investigations for swarm earthquakes in NE Baveria/Germany – the transition between Vogtland/NW-Bohemia and the KTB-site

A seismicity and stress field analysis of a region in NE Bavaria reveals a complex picture of seismic dislocation. The magnitudes are generally low, the strongest event recorded had a magnitude of 2.3. In the southern part of the area investigated, earthquakes occur very rarely. During the observation period of approximately four years, only four events, two of them forming a doublet, were recorded. Hypocentral depths in the southern part are considerably great (15 to 17 km) and indicate a mafic lower crust. The seismicity of the Marktredwitz area, located in the western extension of the Eger rift, is dominated by earthquake swarms that are strongly clustered in space and time. The swarms occurred at depths between 10 and 14 km. Precise relative relocations show clear planar arrangements of the hypocentres and enable to identify the orientation of active fault planes. A comparison of the structural and geomorphological settings reveals major similarities in the occurrence of earthquake swarms compared to the situation in the bordering Vogtland/NW-Bohemia swarm area.Focal mechanisms cover a wide range of faulting styles. Normal fault, strike slip and reverse fault mechanisms as well as movements along sub-horizontal planes were found. The focal mechanisms were used to invert for the stress field. The inversion results reveal an ambiguity for the state of stress in the area of investigation and allow two different interpretations: A clockwise rotation of the stress field from North to South as well as a predominance of two slightly different stress regimes are possibilities.     

山西数字化形变台对海洋地震的映震能力及预测意义

从2001年以来,世界各地的一些海洋地震发生前,侯马等数字化形变台的波形记录会发生明显的变化,就此进行了初步分析,认为强震前的预滑移可能会产生这种长周期的形变波,它们对海洋地震的预报有一定的参考意义.     

Deformation characteristics of lacustrine carbonate silt in the Julian Alps

The deformation characteristics, shear moduli and damping ratios of reconstituted lacustrine carbonate silt samples were investigated in different kinds of laboratory tests. Material from a landslide that occurred in a seismically very active area in Slovenia was used in the tests. The initial values of this material's deformation characteristics and the extent to which these values change due to increasing shear strain depend on a number of factors, such as the degree of saturation, the initial void ratio, over-consolidation, and the effective stresses. The use of a volumetric threshold strain has proved to be the best way of describing the shear modulus reduction curve irrespective of any other factors, and it fits well with the data obtained in the experiments. The critical state and consolidation lines for the investigated material are presented in the paper as deformational characteristics at critical strain levels. The material's liquefaction potential was studied for certain in situ conditions.     

Current motion and short-term deformations in the Suez–Sinai area from GPS observations

We analyze observations from eight GPS campaigns carried out between 1997 and 2005 on a network of 13 sites in the Suez–Sinai area, where separation between the African and the Arabian plates takes place. This is the key area to understand if and in which way Sinai behaves like a sub-plate of the African plate and the role played by seismic and geodetic (long-term) deformation release.Our analysis shows that, on average, the Suez–Sinai area motion, in terms of ITRF00 velocities, matches the African plate motion defined by the NNR-NUVEL-1A model.The horizontal principal strain rate axes estimated separately in the Gulf of Suez area and in the northern Sinai vary from compression across the Gulf (−2.2 ± 1.2) × 10⁻⁸ year⁻¹ to NE extension (1.0 ± 1.5) × 10⁻⁸ year⁻¹ in the North, showing the presence of two distinct domains, so that in our opinion Sinai cannot be considered simply a unique rigid block.The analysis of GPS baseline length variations shows short-term deformations across the Gulf of Suez, reaching up a maximum value of more than 1 cm in 8 years.Since current geodynamical models do not predict significant tectonic deformation in this area, we work under the hypothesis that a contribute may be expected by post-seismic relaxation effects. Under this hypothesis, we compare the baselines length variations with the post-seismic relaxation field associated with five major local earthquakes occurred in the area, testing two different viscoelastic models. Our results show that the detected short-term deformations are better modeled for viscosity values of 10¹⁸ Pa s in the lower crust and 10²⁰ Pa s in the asthenosphere. However, since the modeled post-seismic effect results modest and a certain amount of the detected deformation is not accounted for, we think that an improved modeling should take into account the lateral heterogeneities of crust and upper mantle structures.     

The structural controls of gold mineralisation within the Bardoc Tectonic Zone,Eastern Goldfields Province,Western Australia: implications for gold endowment in shear systems

The Bardoc Tectonic Zone (BTZ) of the late Archaean Eastern Goldfields Province, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, is physically linked along strike to the Boulder-Lefroy Shear Zone (BLSZ), one of the richest orogenic gold shear systems in the world. However, gold production in the BTZ has only been one order of magnitude smaller than that of the BLSZ (∼100 t Au vs >1,500 t Au). The reasons for this difference can be found in the relative timing, distribution and style(s) of deformation that controlled gold deposition in the two shear systems. Deformation within the BTZ was relatively simple and is associated with tight to iso-clinal folding and reverse to transpressive shear zones over a <12-km-wide area of high straining, where lithological contacts have been rotated towards the plane of maximum shortening. These structures control gold mineralisation and also correspond to the second major shortening phase of the province (D₂). In contrast, shearing within the BLSZ is concentrated to narrow shear zones (<2 km wide) cutting through rocks at a range of orientations that underwent more complex dip- and strike-slip deformation, possibly developed throughout the different deformation phases recorded in the region (D₁–D₄). Independent of other physico-chemical factors, these differences provided for effective fluid localisation to host units with greater competency contrasts during a prolonged mineralisation process in the BLSZ as compared to the more simple structural history of the BTZ.     

河流渗滤系统对硝态氮污水的净化作用研究

河流渗滤系统对入渗的地表水有一定的净化作用,过去人们很少从理论上研究河流渗滤系统对污染河水的净化作用。本文采用室内土柱实验装置来模拟渭河渗滤系统,研究了硝态氮污染的河水在该系统中的环境行为及净化机制,其环境行为主要为反硝化作用。其净化程度与该渗滤系统的渗滤介质有关,如果渗滤介质为粘土,其净化率达到100%。若介质为粗砂粒物质,其净化程度较低。