Hydraulic properties of the crystalline basement

Hydraulic tests in boreholes, up to 4.5 km deep, drilled into continental crystalline basement revealed hydraulic conductivity (K) values that range over nine log-units from 10⁻¹³−10⁻⁴ m s⁻¹. However, K values for fractured basement to about 1 km depth are typically restricted to the range from 10⁻⁸ to 10⁻⁶ m s⁻¹. New data from an extended injection test at the KTB research site (part of the Continental Deep Drilling Program in Germany) at 4 km depth provide K=5 10⁻⁸ m s⁻¹. The summarized K-data show a very strong dependence on lithology and on the local deformation history of a particular area. In highly fractured regions, granite tends to be more pervious than gneiss. The fracture porosity is generally saturated with Na–Cl or Ca–Na–Cl type waters with salinities ranging from <1 to >100 g L⁻¹. The basement permeability is well within the conditions for advective fluid and heat transport. Consequently, fluid pressure is hydrostatic and a Darcy flow mechanism is possible to a great depth. Topography-related hydraulic gradients in moderately conductive basement may result in characteristic advective flow rates of up to 100 L a⁻¹ m⁻² and lead to significant advective heat and solute transfer in the upper brittle crust. An erratum to this article can be found at     

江西安远路迳金伯利质煌斑岩筒研究——一种新型的幔源碱性超基性岩

路迳岩筒属火山通道相,由金伯利质煌斑岩、角砾岩、角砾凝灰岩组成,富含幔源橄榄岩包体、普通辉石巨晶和岩球。造岩矿物是橄榄石、斜方辉石、单斜辉石、角闪石和金云母,深源特征指示矿物有镁铝榴石、铬透辉石、铬尖晶石和镁钛铁矿。岩石化学组成超低SiO2,低MgO,高Al2O3,富碱,富挥发组分。轻稀土元素富集,相容元素贫化,不相容元素明显富集。岩浆起源深度约85km。其中：岩体产状,富含包体、巨晶和岩球,岩石结构和构造,矿物组成,岩石化学组成超低SiO2、富碱、富挥发组分等特征与金伯利岩相似;但岩石化学组成高Al2O3,低MgO,K2O低于Na2O,REE和LREE/HREE偏低,部分微量元素的亏损或富集,金云母成分富TiO2,富TFeO,贫MgO,镁铝榴石、铬透辉石、铬尖晶石和镁钛铁矿的Cr2O3含量偏低,岩浆起源深度较浅,均与金伯利岩有重大差异,而更接近煌斑岩类。研究认为,是幔源岩浆岩的一种新类型,岩石名称界定为金伯利质煌斑岩。     

Fault induced permanent ground deformations: Experimental verification of wet and dry soil, numerical findings’ relation to field observations of tunnel damage and implications for design

Few building codes contains provisions fault surface ruptures and accompanying soil deformations which constitutes a great risk to human lives, buildings and infrastructure. A numerical and experimental comparison show a fair agreement of result. Analysis of “real” scale show the how water increases the incompressibility of wet soil causing shear deformations to become larger and conjugate ruptures to appear for reverse faults. Field observations and numerical analysis indicates that horizontal compression of soil surrounding underground structures should be taken into account in design.     

A new fault rupture scenario for the 2003 Mw 6.6 Bam earthquake, SE Iran: Insights from the high-resolution QuickBird imagery and field observations

The December 26, 2003 M_w 6.6 Bam earthquake is one of the most disastrous earthquakes in Iran. QuickBird panchromatic and multispectral satellite imagery with 61 cm and 2.4 m ground resolution, respectively provide new insights into the surface rupturing process associated with this earthquake. The results indicate that this earthquake produced a 2–5 km-wide surface rupture zone with a complex geometric pattern. A 10-km-long surface rupture zone developed along the pre-existing Bam fault trace. Two additional surface rupture zones, each 2–5 km long, are oblique to the pre-existing Bam fault in angles of 20–35°. An analysis of geometric and geomorphic features also shows that movement on the Bam fault is mainly right-lateral motion with some compressional component. This interpretation is consistent with field investigations, analysis of aftershocks as well as teleseismic inversion. Therefore, we suggest that the 2003 Bam earthquake occurred on the Bam fault, and that the surface ruptures oblique to the Bam fault are caused by secondary faulting such as synthetic shears (Reidel shears). Our fault model for the Bam earthquake provides a new tectonic scenario for explaining complex surface deformations associated with the Bam earthquake.     

Cooling rate effect as a cause of systematic overestimating of the absolute Thellier paleointensities: A cautionary note

Cooling rate (CR) effects on the intensity of thermoremanent magnetization has been documented for archaeomagnetic materials, where cooling in laboratory conditions is generally much faster compared to natural cooling rates. Since the latter condition also applies to many volcanic rocks, we have investigated in this study the influences of the CR on the determination of absolute paleointensity using recent basaltic rocks. We used magnetically and thermally stable samples mainly containing Ti-poor pseudo-singledomain titanomagnetites (the most widely used material for Thellier paleointensity experiments). These samples previously succeed in retrieving the strength of laboratory field intensities with the Coe’s version of the Thellier method in a simulated paleointensity experiment using similar cooling rates. Our experimental results indicate that the cooling rate effects produce systematic and significant overestimates of the absolute intensity up to 70%. The effect can be much larger than predicted by Neél theory for non-interacting single-domain grains.     

Geology and hazard implications of the Maraunot notch in the Pinatubo Caldera,Philippines

The 1991 Pinatubo eruption left 5–6 km³ of debris on the volcano slopes, much of which has been mobilized into large lahars in the following rainy seasons. Also during the eruption, collapse, localized in part along preexisting faults, left a caldera 2.5 km in diameter that almost immediately began to accumulate a 1.6 × 10⁸ m³ lake. By 2001, the water had risen to the fault-controlled Maraunot Notch, the lowest, northwestern portion of the caldera rim comprising the physiographic sill of the Caldera Lake. That year, a narrow artificial canal dug into an old volcanic breccia underlying the outlet channel failed to induce a deliberate lake breakout, but discharge from heavy rains in July 2002 rapidly deepened the notch by 23 m, releasing an estimated 6.5 × 10⁷ m³ of lake water that bulked up into lahars with a volume well in excess of 1.6 × 10⁸ m³. Lakes in other volcanoes have experienced multiple breakouts, providing practical motivation for this study. Fieldwork and high-resolution digital elevation models reveal andesites and ancient lacustrine deposits, strongly fractured and deformed along a segment of the Maraunot Fault, a prominent, steeply dipping, left-lateral fault zone that trends N35°–40°W within and parallel to the notch. Seismicity in 1991 demonstrated that the Maraunot Fault is still active. The fault zone appears to have previously been the erosional locus for a large channel, filled with avalanche or landslide deposits of an earlier eruption that were exhumed by the 2002 breakout floods. The deformed lacustrine sediments, with an uncalibrated ¹⁴C age of 14,760 ± 40 year BP from a single charcoal sample, attest to the existence of an earlier lake, possibly within the Tayawan Caldera, rim remnants of which survive as arcuate escarpments. That lake may well have experienced one or more ancient breakouts as well. The 2002 event greatly reduced the possibility of another such event by scouring away the erodible breccia, leaving less erodible fractured andesites and lacustrine rocks, and by enlarging the outlet channel and its discharge capacity. Several lines of evidence indicate, however, that future lahar-generating lake breakouts at the notch may keep populations of Botolan municipality downstream at risk: (1) a volume of 9.5 × 10⁷ m³ of lake water remains perched 0.8 km above sea level; (2) seismicity in 1991 demonstrated that the Maraunot Fault is still active and movements of sufficient magnitude could enlarge the outlet and the discharge through it; (3) more likely, however, with or without earthquake activity, landslides from the steep to overhanging channel walls could block the channel again, and a major rainstorm could then cause a rise in lake level and sudden breakouts; (4) intrusion of a new dome into the bottom of the lake, possibly accompanied by phreatic explosions, could expel large volumes of lahar-generating water.     

河北沽源—多伦地区中生代含铀火山岩地球化学

沽源和多伦地区是燕辽多金属成矿带的重要组成部分，中生界主要发育上侏罗统白旗组、张家口组，下白垩统大北沟组和花吉营组。张家口组火山岩分布广、厚度大，是铀（钼）矿床的主要含矿主岩。中生代火山岩属于钙碱性系列，化学成分富硅、偏碱，δ值1.17-7.60。稀土元素特征反映火山岩有壳幔混合和壳源改造两种成因。火山岩形成于弱造山环境，其年龄与库拉—太平洋板块向亚洲板块俯冲的时间吻合。张家口组酸性火山岩具有我国相山产铀火山杂岩富硅、富钾，铕极亏损的地球化学特征。     

苏浙皖地区海相油气地质特征及勘探目标的选择

从晚震旦世开始至中三叠世，苏浙皖（下扬子）地区沉积了三套巨厚的海相烃源岩系，即：上震旦统一上奥陶统，石炭系－二叠系，下三叠统海相烃源岩，三套烃源岩热演化特点不同，下古生界烃源岩经历了加里东、印支－燕山期构造阶段的热演化，已达过成熟干气阶段，上古生界烃源岩基本处于生油阶段晚期；大部分三叠系烃源岩处于成熟生油阶段，少数处于未成熟阶段，区内下古生界烃源岩经历了两次成油过程，第一次发生在加里东运动前的盆地沉降阶段，第二次发生在加里东运动后晚古生代陆表海代积阶段，全区海相油气储盖条件发育，配置有利，经多年油气勘探证实，下古生界油气勘探应立足于苏北地区，上古生界油气勘探除苏北地区外，尚有皖南与浙西地区，中生界海相油气勘探应集中在区内几个发育较好的中生代盆地，如常州、句容，无为，望江盆地等。