Effect of sampling and linkage on fault length and length–displacement relationship

The power-law exponent (n) in the equation: D=cL ⁿ , with D = maximum displacement and L = fault length, would be affected by deviations of fault trace length. (1) Assuming n=1, numerical simulations on the effect of sampling and linkage on fault length and length–displacement relationship are done in this paper. The results show that: (a) uniform relative deviations, which means all faults within a dataset have the same relative deviation, do not affect the value of n; (b) deviations of the fault length due to unresolved fault tip decrease the values of n and the deviations of n increase with the increasing length deviations; (c) fault linkage and observed dimensions either increase or decrease the value of n depending on the distribution of deviations within a dataset; (d) mixed deviations of the fault lengths are either negative or positive and cause the values of n to either decrease or increase; (e) a dataset combined from two or more datasets with different values of c and orders of magnitude also cause the values of n to deviate. (2) Data including 19 datasets and spanning more than eight orders of fault length magnitudes (10⁻²–10⁵ m) collected from the published literature indicate that the values of n range from 0.55 to 1.5, the average value being 1.0813, and the peak value of n _d (double regression) is 1.0–1.1. Based on above results from the simulations and published data, we propose that the relationship between the maximum displacement and fault length in a single tectonic environment with uniform mechanical properties is linear, and the value of n deviated from 1 is mainly caused by the sampling and linkage effects.     

The Physico-Chemical Properties of a Subducted Slab from Garnet Zonation Patterns (Sesia Zone, Western Alps)

Garnets in continentally derived high-pressure (HP) rocks ofthe Sesia Zone (Western Alps) exhibit three different chemicalzonation patterns, depending on sample locality. Comparisonof observed garnet zonation patterns with thermodynamicallymodelled patterns shows that the different patterns are causedby differences in the water content of the subducted protolithsduring prograde metamorphism. Zonation patterns of garnets inwater-saturated host rocks show typical prograde chemical zonationswith steadily increasing pyrope content and increasing XMg,together with bell-shaped spessartine patterns. In contrast,garnets in water-undersaturated rocks have more complex zonationpatterns with a characteristic decrease in pyrope and XMg betweencore and inner rim. In some cases, garnets show an abrupt compositionalchange in core-to-rim profiles, possibly due to water-undersaturationprior to HP metamorphism. Garnets from both water-saturatedand water-undersaturated rocks show signs of intervening growthinterruptions and core resorption. This growth interruptionresults from bulk-rock depletion caused by fractional garnetcrystallization. The water content during burial influences significantly thephysical properties of the subducted rocks. Due to enhancedgarnet crystallization, water-undersaturated rocks, i.e. thoselacking a free fluid phase, become denser than their water-saturatedequivalents, facilitating the subduction of continental material.Although water-bearing phases such as phengite and epidote arestable up to eclogite-facies conditions in these rocks, dehydrationreactions during subduction are lacking in water-undersaturatedrocks up to the transition to the eclogite facies, due to thethermodynamic stability of such hydrous phases at high P–Tconditions. Our calculations show that garnet zonation patternsstrongly depend on the mineral parageneses stable during garnetgrowth and that certain co-genetic mineral assemblages causedistinct garnet zonation patterns. This observation enablesinterpretation of complex garnet growth zonation patterns interms of garnet-forming reactions and water content during HPmetamorphism, as well determination of detailed P–T paths. KEY WORDS: dehydration; high-pressure metamorphism; Sesia Zone; subduction; thermodynamic modelling     

新疆卡拉麦里金矿带成矿规律及找矿预测

新疆卡拉麦里成矿带内地层较全、构造发育、岩浆活动频繁，志留系、泥盆系和石炭系在带内广泛发育，为本区主要含金地层．卡拉麦里深断裂严格控制区内侵入岩、次一级构造和矿产分布，构成岩浆侵入的主要通道，与此有关的次一级断层和裂隙则构成良好的赋存空间．卡拉麦里深大断裂纵贯全区，金成矿地质条件优越，沿走向Au异常、金矿床(点)成群成带分布，最后确定了7个金找矿远景区．     

西藏俄卡地银多金属异常区地球化学

异常形态、分布严格受推覆断裂控制,范围大、浓集中心明显,浓度变化及因子载荷表明。区内找Ag、Pb有利,而Sb又为其最佳指示元素。     

滇西水成铀矿勘探综合测井成果

滇西龙川江盆地发现水成铀矿。本文借助地球物理综合测井技术，对龙川江盆地水成铀矿的成矿规律作有益分析和探讨。重点论述滇西水成铀成矿的成矿（沉积）环境及其成矿物征。     

武当地块基性岩席群及其地质意义

侵位于武当地块内部的大量的板状为基性侵入体近年来一直被认为是800Ma左右发生的扬子古大陆裂解的重要依据。然而作者在武当地块北缘与西南部所做的1：5万地质填图以及相应的构造学和同位素年代学研究表明，它们与武当地块顺层伸展滑脱构造主滑脱面之顺层韧性一韧性变形带有密切的空间关系，是被褶皱了的岩席群。最新获得的岩体单颗粒锆石U－Pb年龄为401－407Ma，结合已有的地球化学研究成果，并考虑到邻区同时代碱性岩浆的侵位，作者认为，这套基性岩群代表了泥盆纪时南秦岭地区曾发生过大规模的上地幔岩浆的底侵作用，并因此导致南秦岭上部地壳的伸展减薄。     

The presence, characteristics and earthquake implications of the St. Lawrence fault zone within and near Lake Ontario (Canada–USA)

Questions persist concerning the earthquake potential of the populous and industrial Lake Ontario (Canada–USA) area. Pertinent to those questions is whether the major fault zone that extends along the St. Lawrence River valley, herein named the St. Lawrence fault zone, continues upstream along the St. Lawrence River valley at least as far as Lake Ontario or terminates near Cornwall (Ontario, Canada)–Massena (NY, USA). New geological studies uncovered paleotectonic bedrock faults that are parallel to, and lie within, the projection of that northeast-oriented fault zone between Cornwall and northeastern Lake Ontario, suggesting that the fault zone continues into Lake Ontario. The aforementioned bedrock faults range from meters to tens of kilometers in length and display kinematically incompatible displacements, implying that the fault zone was periodically reactivated in the study area. Beneath Lake Ontario the Hamilton–Presqu'ile fault lines up with the St. Lawrence fault zone and projects to the southwest where it coincides with the Dundas Valley (Ontario, Canada). The Dundas Valley extends landward from beneath the western end of the lake and is marked by a vertical stratigraphic displacement across its width. The alignment of the Hamilton–Presqu'ile fault with the St. Lawrence fault zone strongly suggests that the latter crosses the entire length of Lake Ontario and continues along the Dundas Valley.The Rochester Basin, an east–northeast-trending linear trough in the southeastern corner of Lake Ontario, lies along the southern part of the St. Lawrence fault zone. Submarine dives in May 1997 revealed inclined layers of glaciolacustrine clay along two different scarps within the basin. The inclined layers strike parallel to the long dimension of the basin, and dip about 20° to the north–northwest suggesting that they are the result of rigid-body rotation consequent upon post-glacial faulting. Those post-glacial faults are growth faults as demonstrated by the consistently greater thickness, unit-by-unit, of unconsolidated sediments on the downthrown (northwest) side of the faults relative to their counterparts on the upthrown (southeast) side. Underneath the western part of Lake Ontario is a monoclinal warp that displaces the glacial and post-glacial sediments, and the underlying bedrock–sediment interface. Because of the post-glacial growth faults and the monoclinal warp the St. Lawrence fault zone is inferred to be tectonically active beneath Lake Ontario. Furthermore, within the lake it crosses at least five major faults and fault zones and coexists with other neotectonic structures. Those attributes, combined with the large earthquakes associated with the St. Lawrence fault zone well to the northeast of Lake Ontario, suggest that the seismic risk in the area surrounding and including Lake Ontario is likely much greater than previously believed.     

Post-mid-Cretaceous eastern North Sea evolution inferred from 3D thermo-mechanical modelling

The Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic evolution of the eastern North Sea region is investigated by 3D thermo-mechanical modelling. The model quantifies the integrated effects on basin evolution of large-scale lithospheric processes, rheology, strength heterogeneities, tectonics, eustasy, sedimentation and erosion.

The evolution of the area is influenced by a number of factors: (1) thermal subsidence centred in the central North Sea providing accommodation space for thick sediment deposits; (2) 250-m eustatic fall from the Late Cretaceous to present, which causes exhumation of the North Sea Basin margins; (3) varying sediment supply; (4) isostatic adjustments following erosion and sedimentation; (5) Late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic Alpine compressional phases causing tectonic inversion of the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone (STZ) and other weak zones.

The stress field and the lateral variations in lithospheric strength control lithospheric deformation under compression. The lithosphere is relatively weak in areas where Moho is deep and the upper mantle warm and weak. In these areas the lithosphere is thickened during compression producing surface uplift and erosion (e.g., at the Ringkøbing–Fyn High and in the southern part of Sweden). Observed late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic shallow water depths at the Ringkøbing–Fyn High as well as Cenozoic surface uplift in southern Sweden (the South Swedish Dome (SSD)) are explained by this mechanism.

The STZ is a prominent crustal structural weakness zone. Under compression, this zone is inverted and its surface uplifted and eroded. Contemporaneously, marginal depositional troughs develop. Post-compressional relaxation causes a regional uplift of this zone.

The model predicts sediment distributions and paleo-water depths in accordance with observations. Sediment truncation and exhumation at the North Sea Basin margins are explained by fall in global sea level, isostatic adjustments to exhumation, and uplift of the inverted STZ. This underlines the importance of the mechanisms dealt with in this paper for the evolution of intra-cratonic sedimentary basins.     

内蒙古色尔腾山山前断裂(乌句蒙口-东风村段)的断层活动与古地震事件

通过对色尔腾山山前断裂乌句蒙口 -东风村段的遥感资料解释、野外地质地貌考察 ,并通过对重点地段的古地震探槽开挖 ,获得了该断裂段晚更新世晚期以来的垂直位移速率是 0 88～ 1 83mm a ,全新世中期以来的垂直位移速率是 0 89mm a。通过 2个大型探槽的开挖、古地震事件分析和相关堆积物的断代研究 ,以及用逐次限定方法分析整个断层段上的古地震事件 ,认定该断裂段上全新世以来发生了 5次古地震事件 :事件 1发生在距今 90 0 0± 130 0年 ,事件2发生在距今 6 5 0 0± 5 0 0年 ,事件 3发生在距今 5 5 70年左右 ,事件 4发生在距今 4 2 0 0± 30 0年 ,事件 5发生在距今 32 5 0± 2 5 0年。晚更新世晚期到距今 1万年之间 ,古地震事件很不完整。全新世以来的 5次古地震事件表现出一定的丛集特征。最早的一丛事件发生在距今 890 0年左右 ,第2丛发生在距今 6 5 0 0～ 5 70 0年之间 ,第 3丛事件发生在距今 32 5 0～ 4 2 0 0年之间。第 1丛与第 2丛古地震事件之间间隔为 2 4 0 0年左右 ,而第 2丛与第 3丛古地震事件之间仅间隔 15 70年左右。距今 32 5 0年以来 ,该断裂段上还没有发生过错断地表的地震事件 ,已经超出了古地震丛之间的重复间隔。因此 ,它是色尔腾山前活动断裂带上具备潜在危险的一个活动断裂段。     

电阻率图像中的地下水和断层

目的：将电阻率层析成像应用于探测潜伏断层的研究中，本文发现了断层和地下水的一些基本电阻率分布特征，这对于工程物探意义重大，一般情况下，断层两侧具有不同的电阻率特征，但是，根据电阻率层析图像中的电阻率分布，通常难以区分断层和地下水层，这是因为两者不仅都具有低电阻率值，而且还具有非常相似的电阻率异常特征。资料和方法：运用电阻率层析图像的数据，电阻率层析图像中的断层会呈现如下特征：1）由于孔隙度的加大和地下水的存在，使得断层表现出高角度的低阻线性结构。它们既可以出现在浅部盖层中，也可以存在于深部基岩中，特别是在深部区域，它们尤为明显；2）它们还呈现出高角度的线性梯度带，在该梯度带两边的电阻率结构出现整体性的差异，通常情况下，正断层的上盘表现出低阻或／和班驳状的高阻和低阻扰动区，而下盘则为完整的高阻区，这与逆冲断层正好相反；3）与断层有关的电阻率异常区常常具有良好的大尺度水平连续性，并且可以追瞎异常区附近的精细电性结构。而地下水的电阻率特征为：1）如果没有裂隙，地表水所引起的低阻区非常浅，即使存在丰富的水源以及高孔隙度的砾岩和中粗砂。一般情况下，其底端深度不超过强风化区；2）地下水的电阻率值非常低，特别在高矿化度的地区。地下水，包括岩溶水和砂岩水，的电阻率总显示出局部水平延伸或／和面团状特征；3）地下水层的深度朝某个固定方向逐渐增加，并且其电阻率图像会随季节而变；4）一般情况下，在水下渗的地区，会出现降水漏斗，其上部为高阻，而下部为低阻，从而便形成了“Y”或“V”字型的典型结构。结果：利用上述的基本特征一般可以区分断层和地下水。结论：仅依靠电阻率层析图像，可能极难准确地区分断层和裂隙水，这是因为裂隙水不但可能具有高角度的低阻线性结构，而且在一定尺度上具有很好的水平连续性，还有，由于电阻率层析成像较差的垂直分辨率，难以精确确定断层的上端点位置，所以结合其它的物探手段如钻探和浅层地震勘探是非常必要的。