Response of active tectonics on the alluvial Baghmati River, Himalayan foreland basin, eastern India

Active tectonics in a basin plays an important role in controlling a fluvial system through the change in channel slope. The Baghmati, an anabranching, foothills-fed river system, draining the plains of north Bihar in eastern India has responded to ongoing tectonic deformation in the basin. The relatively flat alluvial plains are traversed by several active subsurface faults, which divide the area in four tectonic blocks. Each tectonic block is characterized by association of fluvial anomalies viz. compressed meanders, knick point in longitudinal profiles, channel incision, anomalous sinuosity variations, sudden change in river flow direction, river flow against the local gradient and distribution of overbank flooding, lakes, and waterlogged area. Such fluvial anomalies have been identified on the repetitive satellite images and maps and interpreted through DEM and field observations to understand the nature of vertical movements in the area. The sub-surface faults in the Baghmati plains cut across the river channel and also run parallel which have allowed us to observe the effects of longitudinal and lateral tilting manifested in avulsions and morphological changes.     

Interpretation of radon anomalies in seismotectonic and tectonic-gravitational settings: the south-eastern Crati graben (Northern Calabria, Italy)

The study area is located in the south-eastern part of the Crati valley (Northern Calabria, Italy), which is a graben bordered by N–S trending normal faults and crossed by NW–SE normal left-lateral faults. Numerous severe crustal earthquakes have affected the area in historical time. Present-day seismic activity is mainly related to the N–S faults located along the eastern border of the graben. In this area, much seismically induced deep-seated deformation has also been recognised.In the present paper, radon concentrations in soil gas have been measured and compared with (a) lithology, (b) Quaternary faults, (c) historical and instrumental seismicity, and (d) deep-seated deformation.The results highlight the following:

(a) There is no evidence of a strong correlation between lithology and the radon anomalies.

(b) A clear correlation between the N–S geometry of radon anomalies and the orientation of main fault systems has been recognised, except in the southernmost part of the area, where the radon concentrations are strongly affected by the superposition of the N–S and the NW–SE fault systems.

(c) Epicentral zones of instrumental and historical earthquakes correspond to the highest values of radon concentrations, probably indicating recent activated fault segments. In particular, high radon values occur in the zones struck by earthquakes in 1835, 1854, and 1870.

(d) Deep-seated gravitational deformation generally coincides with zones characterised by low radon concentrations.

In the studied area, the anisotropic distribution of radon concentrations is congruent with the presence of neotectonic features and deep-seated gravitational phenomena. The method used in this study could profitably contribute towards either seismic risk or deep-seated gravitational deformation analyses.     

Structure of Palaeogene sediments in east Ellesmere Island: Constraints on Eurekan tectonic evolution and implications for the Nares Strait problem

The “Nares Strait problem” represents a debate about the existence and magnitude of left-lateral movements along the proposed Wegener Fault within this seaway. Study of Palaeogene Eurekan tectonics at its shorelines could shed light on the kinematics of this fault. Palaeogene (Late Paleocene to Early Eocene) sediments are exposed at the northeastern coast of Ellesmere Island in the Judge Daly Promontory. They are preserved as elongate SW–NE striking fault-bounded basins cutting folded Early Paleozoic strata. The structures of the Palaeogene exposures are characterized by broad open synclines cut and displaced by steeply dipping strike-slip faults. Their fold axes strike NE–SW at an acute angle to the border faults indicating left-lateral transpression. Weak deformation in the interior of the outliers contrasts with intense shearing and fracturing adjacent to border faults. The degree of deformation of the Palaeogene strata varies markedly between the northwestern and southeastern border faults with the first being more intense. Structural geometry, orientation of subordinate folds and faults, the kinematics of faults, and fault-slip data suggest a multiple stage structural evolution during the Palaeogene Eurekan deformation: (1) The fault pattern on Judge Daly Promontory is result of left-lateral strike-slip faulting starting in Mid to Late Paleocene times. The Palaeogene Judge Daly basin formed in transtensional segments by pull-apart mechanism. Transpression during progressive strike-slip shearing gave rise to open folding of the Palaeogene deposits. (2) The faults were reactivated during SE-directed thrust tectonics in Mid Eocene times (chron 21). A strike-slip component during thrusting on the reactivated faults depends on the steepness of the fault segments and on their obliquity to the regional stress axes.Strike-slip displacement was partitioned to a number of sub-parallel faults on-shore and off-shore. Hence, large-scale lateral movements in the sum of 80–100 km or more could have been accommodated by a set of faults, each with displacements in the order of 10–30 km. The Wegener Fault as discrete plate boundary in Nares Strait is replaced by a bundle of faults located mainly onshore on the Judge Daly Promontory.     

Geodynamic evolution of the Salinas de Añana diapir in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin,Western Pyrenees

The Salinas de Añana diapir is located in the Basque-Cantabrian basin part of the great evaporite basin, along with the Gulf of Mexico and the Central European basin, when the fragmentation of Pangea started. The evolution of these basins can only be achieved by understanding the control of salt in the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of these basins.Sedimentation began with clastic Buntsandstein sediments and minor Muschelkalk limestones. Subsequent Keuper evaporites are the bottom of sedimentary cover constituted by Jurassic limestones and marls, a clastic Lower Cretaceous and an alternant limestone and marl Upper Cretaceous, whose deposition has been conditioned by salt tectonics. The emplacement of salt extends from the Aptian until now, favored by the duplication of the salt thickness associated with the thrust of Sierra Cantabria, so it is an excellent example to study changes in the regime of intrusion along the time. The geodynamic evolution of the Salinas de Añana diapir was determined through the interpretation of 45 reprocessed seismic lines, along with information from three wells. Migration of the salt in this diapir, conditioned by N120E and N30E pre-Alpine basement lineations, was determined using time isopach maps of the various rock layers. Vertical evolution of the diapir was determined through the reconstruction of a north-south section at various geologic times by flattening the respective seismic horizons. A minimum of salt flow into the diapir coincides with a minimum rate of sedimentation during the Turonian. Similarly, maximum flows of salt into the diapir occurred during the Coniacian and Lower Santonian and again from the end of the Lower Miocene to the present, coinciding with maximum rates of sedimentation during these times. In the Tertiary, probably during the Oligocene, the diapir was displaced to the south by the Sierra Cantabria thrust, maintaining the contact between the evaporites of diapir and the same evaporites of the lower block. Since the Oligocene, the salts of the lower block migrated towards and into the diapir, deforming the trace of the overthrust.     

The Early Cretaceous Jacuí Group,a newly discovered volcaniclastic–epiclastic accumulation at the top of the Paraná Basin,southern Brazil

The presence of volcaniclastic rocks related to the silicic magmatism within the Serra Geral Formation has been a matter of long-standing debate. In this paper, we present extensive documentation that supports the presence and abundance of these rocks in the Jacuí Group, a newly discovered volcaniclastic and epiclastic accumulation in southern Brazil. The Jacuí Group is composed of two interfingered stratigraphic units, the Volta Alegre and Tupanciretã formations, and it represents the uppermost stratigraphic unit of the Paraná Basin. The Volta Alegre Formation is primarily composed of resedimented volcaniclastic tuffites, the pyroclasts which were sourced from the Santa Maria subgroup of the Palmas-type of the Serra Geral Formation. The Tupanciretã Formation is composed of fluvial and aeolian deposits transported towards the north–northwest. Deposition of the Jacuí Group began in the Early Cretaceous (∼132 Ma) and was coeval with the acidic volcanism of the Santa Maria subgroup. This group was deposited in a probable interior sag basin that represents either the beginning of the extension in the inner part of the continent that subsequently migrated to the east or the far-field impact of extensional processes that preceded the break-up of Gondwana and the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean.     

Exhumation history of the Peake and Denison Inliers: insights from low-temperature thermochronology

Multi-method thermochronology applied to the Peake and Denison Inliers (northern South Australia) reveals multiple low-temperature thermal events. Apatite fission track (AFT) data suggest two main time periods of basement cooling and/or reheating into AFT closure temperatures (～60–120°C); at ca 470–440 Ma and ca 340–300 Ma. We interpret the Ordovician pulse of rapid basement cooling as a result of post-orogenic cooling after the Delamerian Orogeny, followed by deformation related to the start of the Alice Springs Orogeny and orocline formation relating to the Benambran Orogeny. This is supported by a titanite U/Pb age of 479 ± 7 Ma. Our thermal history models indicate that subsequent denudation and sedimentary burial during the Devonian brought the basement rocks back to zircon U–Th–Sm/He (ZHe) closure temperatures (～200–150°C). This period was followed by a renewal of rapid cooling during the Carboniferous, likely as the result of the final pulses of the Alice Springs Orogeny, which exhumed the inlier to ambient surface temperatures. This thermal event is supported by the presence of the Mount Margaret erosion surface, which indicates that the inlier was exposed at the surface during the early Permian. During the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic, the inlier was subjected to minor reheating to AFT closure temperatures; however, the exact timing cannot be deduced from our dataset. Cretaceous apatite U–Th–Sm/He (AHe) ages coupled with the presence of contemporaneous coarse-grained terrigenous rocks suggest a temporally thermal perturbation related with shallow burial during this time, before late Cretaceous exhumation cooled the inliers back to ambient surface temperatures.     

月球构造新认识：基于60m高精度全月月形图的月球构造形态学研究

一直以来月球上都没有发现像地球上一样的全球板块构造现象,被认为是属于单板块构造的行星体并且是不活动的。随着月球地形探测精度的提高,人们逐渐发现了一些地质现象表明月球并不像之前想象的一样是不活动的。高精度的月形数据显示出了月球上除了存在众所周知的(撞击作用产生的)复杂的撞击构造外,仍然存在许多可能由内生作用产生的构造特征:如裂谷、山脊、火山群等。本文利用最新高精度月球激光高度数据(LOLA数据)建立了全月60m(相当于7秒网格)高精度月形图。由于数据量超大(TB级别),作者编写了基于并行架构的集群计算处理代码,其计算效率提高了近300倍。基于这些图件,作者在全球范围内找出许多重要的构造现象,并根据其构造及地质特征进行分类研究。研究结果表明并不像之前认识一样,月球上的确存在许多地质构造体是由月球的内生地质作用所产生,并建立对于月球结构和构造的新认识。此外,通过对比发现,像地球上全球尺度的线性山脉只是板块构造运动的结果;另一方面,在无板块构造的行星上,就像月球一样,会产生大面积的高地(月陆)和低地(月海地区),这种地质现象很有可能是行星地壳岩浆演化的直接结果。在文章最后,作者还将制作出的60m分辨率的全月月形系列图件附后并公开,以方便其他科研人员进一步开展相关研究;并以此敬献中国地质科学院60周年庆典。     

The effects of the North Anatolian Fault on the geomorphology in the Eastern Marmara Region,Northwestern Turkey

North-western Anatolia has been actively deformed since Pliocene by the right-lateral North Anatolian Fault (NAF). This transform fault, which has a transtensional character in its western end due to effects from the Aegean extensional system, is a major control on the regional geomorphologic evolution. This study applied some geomorphic analyses, such as stream longitudinal profiles, stream length-gradient index, ratio of valley floor width and valley height, mountain front sinuosity, hypsometry and asymmetry factor analyses, to an area just east of the Sea of Marmara in order to understand the tectonic effects on the area’s geomorphological evolution. The active and fastest northern branch of the NAF lies within a topographic depression connecting Sea of Marmara in the east to the Adapazar? Basin in the west. This depression filled with early Pleistocene and younger sediment after a series of pull-apart basins opened along the NAF. North of this depression lies the Kocaeli Peneplain, whose southern edge the NAF uplifted. Meandering streams on the central peneplain were incised possibly due to baselevel changes in the Black Sea. South of the depression, an E-trending mountainous area has a rugged morphology. Based on geomorphic analyses, uplifted Pliocene sediment, marine terraces, and recent earthquake activity, this area between northern and southern branches of the NAF is actively uplifting. The geomorphic indices used in this study are sensitive to vertical movements rather than lateral ones. The bedrock lithology that played an important role on the area’s geomorphologic evolution also affects the geomorphic indices used here.