Basin evolution associated to curved thrusts: The Prerif Ridges in the Volubilis area (Rif Cordillera,Morocco)

The Volubilis Basin is located between two structural arcs formed by the Prerif Ridges that developed during and after sedimentation. The arcs correspond with W- to WSW-verging anticline culminations, limited, to the north by a NE-SW strike-slip lateral ramp. Sedimentary infill took place during two stages of ridge formation and propagation. The first stage occurred in the Middle Miocene-early Tortonian and was determined by the deposition of the Nappe Prérifaine in the northern part of the basin, and continental and marine sediments over the Prerif Ridges. The second one, Late Miocene in age (Tortonian–Messinian), corresponds to the sedimentation of calcarenites and bioclastic limestones at the basin edges, with a lateral transition to white and blue marls toward the center of the basin. There is clear evidence of synsedimentary deformation, suggesting the interaction of sedimentation and tectonics. Geophysical data allow us to characterize the stratigraphic architecture of the Volubilis Basin and the geometry of the top of the Paleozoic basement. An approximately N–S Tortonian–Messinian asymmetric depocenter is located close to the front of the eastern arc. This research illustrates the nucleation, progressive thrust bending and segmentation, and the propagation of folds interacting with sedimentation. Thrust nucleation agrees with Paleozoic basement highs under the detachment surface. The progressive development of these tectonic structures conditioned the formation, segmentation and final continentalization of the Volubilis Basin, which can be considered as a piggy-back basin.     

Magnetic fabric of Plio-Pleistocene sediments from the Crotone fore-arc basin: Insights on the recent tectonic evolution of the Calabrian Arc (Italy)

Low-field anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analyses were performed on 532 samples collected in 36 (mostly lower Pliocene to lower Pleistocene) marine clay sites from the Crotone basin, a fore-arc basin located on top of the external Calabrian accretionary wedge. The Crotone basin formed since mid-late Miocene under a predominant extensional tectonic regime, but it was influenced thereafter by complex interactions with NW–SE left-lateral strike-faults bounding the basin, which also yielded post-1.2 Ma ∼30° counterclockwise block rotations. The basin is filled by continental to marine sediments yielding one of the thickest and best-exposed Neogene succession available worldwide. The deep-marine facies – represented by blue-grey marly clays gave the best results, as they both preserved a clear magnetic fabric, and provided accurate chronology based on previously published magnetostratigraphy and calcareous plankton (i.e. foraminifers and nannofossils) biostratigraphy. Magnetic susceptibility range and rock magnetic analyses both indicate that AMS reflects paramagnetic clay matrix crystal arrangement. The fabric is predominantly oblate to triaxial, the anisotropy degree low (<1.06), and the magnetic foliation mostly subparallel to bedding. Magnetic lineation is defined in 30 out of 36 sites (where the e12 angle is <35°). By also considering local structural analysis data, we find that magnetic fabric was generally acquired during the first tectonic phases occurring after sediment deposition, thus validating its use as temporally dependent strain proxy. Although most of the magnetic lineations trend NW–SE and are orthogonal to normal faults (as observed elsewhere in Calabria), few NE–SW compressive lineations show that the Neogene extensional regime of the Crotone basin was punctuated by compressive episodes. Finally, compressive lineations (prolate magnetic fabric) documented along the strike-slip fault bounding the basin to the south support the significance of Pleistocene strike-slip tectonics. Thus the Crotone basin shows a markedly different tectonics with respect to other internal and western basins of Calabria, as it yields a magnetic fabric still dominated by extensional tectonics but also revealing arc-normal shortening episodes and recent strike-slip fault activity. The tectonics documented in the Crotone basin is compatible with a continuous upper crustal structural reorganization occurring during the SE-migration of the Calabria terrane above the Ionian subduction system.     

Detailed crustal structure in the area of the southern Apennines–Calabrian Arc border from local earthquake tomography

We present a new seismic velocity model for the southern Apennines–Calabrian Arc border region with the aim to better define the crustal structures at the northern edge of the Ionian subduction zone. This sector also includes the Pollino Mts. area, where a seismic sequence of thousands of small to moderate earthquakes has been recorded between spring 2010 and 2013. In this sector a seismic gap was previously hypothesized by paleoseismological evidences associated with the lack of major earthquakes in historical catalogs.To perform the tomographic inversion we selected ca. 3600 earthquakes that have occurred in the last thirty years and recorded by permanent and temporary networks managed by INGV and Calabria University. Using for the first time the Local Tomography Software for passive tomography inversion (LOTOS hereinafter) to crustal analysis in southern Italy, we have computed the distribution of Vp, Vs, and the Vp/Vs ratio. The obtained velocity model, jointly evaluated with results of synthetic modeling, as well as with the hypocenter distribution and geological information, gives us new constraints on the geodynamical and structural knowledge of the study area.The comparison between the shallow tomography sections and surface geology shows good correlation between velocity patterns and the main geological features of the study area. In the upper crust a low-velocity anomaly of P- and S-waves is detectable beneath the Pollino Mts. area and seems to separate the Calabrian and southern Apennines domains, characterized by higher velocities. The distributions of high Vp/Vs ratio, representing strongly fractured rocks with likely high fluid content, clearly correlate with areas of significant seismicity.In the lower crust we detect a clear transition from high to low seismic velocities in correspondence with the Tyrrhenian coast of the study area, which may represent the transition from the thinner Tyrrhenian crust to the thicker one beneath Calabria. In this area, also characterized by a progressive detachment of a retreating lithospheric slab, the generation of a Subduction-Transform Edge Propagator (STEP) fault zone, that laterally decouples subducting lithosphere from non-subducting lithosphere in a scissor type of fashion, may have taken place. These conditions imply the existence of a kinematic decoupling which allows for differential movement between the Calabrian Arc and the southern Apennine chain. The low velocity anomaly separating the southern Apennines and the Calabrian Arc domain may be related to fluid upwelling occurring in correspondence with the northern edge of the Calabrian subducting slab.     

Raised Holocene paleo-shorelines along the Capo Vaticano coast (western Calabria,Italy): Evidence of co-seismic and steady-state deformation

Detailed mapping of geomorphological and biological sea-level markers around the Capo Vaticano promontory (western Calabria, Italy), has documented the occurrence of four Holocene paleo-shorelines raised at different altitudes. The uppermost shoreline (PS1) is represented by a deeply eroded fossiliferous beach deposit, reaching an elevation of ∼2.2 m above the present sea-level, and by a notch whose roof is at ∼2.3 m. The subjacent shoreline PS2 is found at an elevation of ∼1.8 m and is represented by a Dendropoma rim, a barnacle band and by a wave-cut platform. Shoreline PS3 includes remnants of vermetid concretions, a barnacle band, a notch and a marine deposit, and reaches an elevation of ∼1.4 m. The lowermost paleo-shoreline (PS4) includes a wave-cut platform and a notch and reaches an elevation of ∼0.8 m. Radiocarbon dating of material from individual paleo-shorelines points to an average uplift rate of 1.2–1.4 mm/yr in the last ∼6 ka at Capo Vaticano. Our data suggest that Holocene uplift was asymmetric, with a greater magnitude in the south-west sector of the promontory, in a manner similar to the long-term deformation attested by Pleistocene terraces. The larger uplift in the south-western sector is possibly related to the additional contribution, onto a large-wavelength regional signal, of co-seismic deformation events, which are not registered to the north-east. We have recognized four co-seismic uplift events at 5.7–5.4 ka, 3.9–3.5 ka, ∼1.9 ka and <1.8 ka ago, superposed on a regional uplift that in the area, is occurring at a rate of ∼1 mm/yr. Our findings places new constrains on the recent activity of border faults south of the peninsula and on the location of the seismogenic source the 1905 destructive earthquake.     

中蒙弧地区地震活动性及其地球动力学成因研究

应用中国地震局地球物理研究所和蒙古科学院天体和地球物理研究中心合作编制的蒙古国及邻区M≥3.5的地震目录,研究了中蒙弧地区的地震活动性特征.结果表明,与中国大陆的“南北地震带”相对应,研究区地震总体分布大致以107°E为界,呈现西强东弱的特点,7级以上的强震集中于贝加尔湖、萨彦、阿尔泰以及天山地区,107°E以东,除纬度40°线附近（燕山地震带）地震较集中且强度大之外,其它地区地震稀少,强度也低.通过断层的野外调查和本地区震源机制解,进一步研究了该地区地震活动性特征的构造应力场及地球动力学成因.研究区大部份地震都是走滑型断层活动的地震.逆断层活动的地震主要分布于中国的天山地区和中蒙边境一带的阿尔泰山地区,正断层活动的地震主要分布于俄罗斯的贝加尔湖裂谷带,走滑兼倾滑断层活动的地震主要分布在研究区域的西部地区.研究区域内的大部份地区主压应力轴（P）的倾角都小于30°,为水平或近水平的构造应力场,自西向东主压应力轴的走向从近南-北方向逐渐转为北东-南西方向.断层的野外调查、震源机制解和区域构造应力场的方向表明,中蒙弧地区主要来自西南面的印度洋板块向北偏东方向的碰撞挤压,通过青藏高原传递到本区,来自东面太平洋板块的影响已较微弱,这是研究区地震活动西强东弱、8级以上强震都发生在西部的主要原因.     

共反射元弧叠加方法在火山岩成像中的应用

常规叠加方法假设叠加的地震道集的反射波来自地下同一个反射点,而地表观测到 的反射波场在空间上小于菲涅尔体范围是不可分辨的. 本文根据火山岩体特征,用元弧描述 火山岩的反射界面. 将来自菲涅尔体范围内的反射波沿着元弧界面求和,进而扩大叠加次数 ,达到增加反射信号能量提高地震反射波的叠加成像质量的目的. 文中给出了反射波走时参 数与地下元弧反射界面之间的联系和叠加实现的步骤. 计算结果表明,元弧叠加方法能够提 高剖面的信噪比,增加反射波同相轴的连续性.     

藏南冈底斯岩基晚白垩世构造岩浆作用:以拉萨白堆复合岩体中-基性岩脉群为例

拉萨白堆复合岩体寄主为含包体的花岗闪长岩,并被一系列平行-近平行东西走向中-基性岩脉群穿插,总体形成类似"条纹码"般的构造形式。锆石U-Pb定年表明,这些基性岩脉主要形成于85~68Ma。同期中性和基性脉岩都表现出富集大离子亲石元素和LREE,亏损高场强元素,Sr同位素初始比值较低,但Nd同位素比值(εNd(t)+3.1)和锆石Hf同位素组成(εHf(t)+10.7)较高,都不具有Eu异常。与中性脉岩相比,基性脉岩具有(1)Mg O含量较高和较高的Mg#(50.6);(2)较高的Cr、Ni、Co含量;(3)较富集HREE且平坦分布。但中性脉岩Y含量较低,Sr/Y比值(38~72)较高,具有高Sr-低Y的特征;这些特征表明:这些岩浆岩的源区可能为受流体交代的岩石圈地幔。中-基性脉岩之间具有岩浆演化关系,在岩浆演化过程中以角闪石的分离结晶为主。结合文献数据,这些新数据表明冈底斯岩基的在晚白垩世(85~68Ma)经历了弧上伸展构造作用,岩浆作用持续活动,可能与新特提斯洋板片的北向斜俯冲相关。     

A new Lower Triassic (Induan) Jerus Limestone locality in northwest Pahang,Peninsular Malaysia: Conodont fauna,depositional and tectonic settings

Limestones exposed north of Raub, Pahang, Malaysia, and sandwiched between the Bentong‐Raub Suture Zone and the westernmost margin of the Sukhothai Arc terrane, yield a late Dienerian (late Induan) conodont fauna. The co‐occurrence of Neospathodus dieneri Sweet (morphotypes 1, 2 and 3) and Neospathodus pakistanensis Sweet represents the Neospathodus dieneri morphotype 3 sub‐zone of the Neospathodus dieneri Zone. The sampled limestones are interpreted as the northwards extension of the Jerus Limestone which crops out near Cheroh and Jerus villages, significantly extending the known outcrop of the Jerus Limestone northwards. The Jerus Limestone is interpreted as hemipelagic and formed in a foredeep or forearc setting on top of the accretionary complex formed by eastwards subduction of the Palaeo‐Tethys during the Lower to Middle Triassic.     

Paleomagnetic constraints on Miocene rotation in the central Japan Arc

We present new Middle Miocene paleomagnetic data for the central Japan Arc, and discuss their implications for Miocene rotation. To obtain a refined paleodirection, we made magnetic measurements on basaltic to andesitic lavas and intrusive rocks from 12 sites in the Tsugu volcanic rocks (ca 15 Ma) in the northern part of the Shitara area, Japan. Significant secondary magnetizations in samples with strong magnetic intensities are interpreted as lightning‐induced components. Mean directions carried by magnetite and/or titanomagnetite were determined for all sites. An overall mean direction with a northerly declination was obtained from dual‐polarity site means for nine sites. This direction is indistinguishable from the mean direction for coeval parallel dikes in the northern part of the Shitara area, and also indistinguishable from the Miocene reference direction derived from the paleopole for the North China Block in the Asian continent. These comparisons suggest little or no rotation or latitudinal motion in the study area with respect to the North China Block since 15 Ma. We obtained a refined early Middle Miocene paleodirection (D = 9.7°, I = 52.5°, α₉₅ = 4.8°; 30 sites) and paleopole (82.0°N, 230.8°E, A₉₅ = 5.6°) for Shitara by combining data from the Tsugu volcanic rocks and a coeval dike swarm. An anomalous direction found at three sites could be a record of an extraordinary field during a geomagnetic polarity transition or excursion. Paleomagnetic data from Shitara suggest that: (i) the western wing of the Kanto Syntaxis, a prominent cuspate geologic structure in central Honshu, underwent a counterclockwise rotation with respect to the main part of the southwestern Japan Arc between ca 17.5 Ma and 15 Ma; (ii) collision between the Japan and Izu–Bonin (Ogasawara) Arcs began prior to 15 Ma; and (iii) clockwise rotation of the entire southwestern part of the Japan Arc had ceased by 15 Ma.     

澜沧江南带三叠纪火山岩岩石学、地球化学特征、Ar-Ar年代学研究及其构造意义

滇西三江地区澜沧江南带广泛发育三叠纪火山岩。在北部云县一带,中晚三叠世火山岩出露齐全,自下而上可划分为中三叠统忙怀组(T₂m),上三叠统小定西组(T₃x)和上三叠统芒汇河组(T₃mh)。忙怀组以酸性火山岩为主,为一套流纹岩夹火山碎屑岩组合;小定西组发育为中基性火山熔岩夹火山碎屑岩;芒汇河组具有流纹质火山碎屑岩与玄武岩共存的"双峰式"火山岩特征。地球化学特征表明,南澜沧江带三叠纪火山岩具有弧火山岩与大陆板内火山岩的双重属性,推测其形成环境为过渡型的大陆边缘造山带环境。对南澜沧江带南部景洪附近采集到的石英安山岩样品进行Ar-Ar年龄测试,得到的坪年龄为236.7±2.2Ma,为中三叠世。结合火山岩年代学结果,推测澜沧江洋主碰撞期为早三叠世,中三叠世与晚三叠世早期分别为碰撞后的应力松弛阶段与洋盆继续俯冲期,到晚三叠世末期,俯冲作用结束,澜沧江洋关闭。