Synorogenic alluvial-fan – fan-delta deposition in the Papuan foreland basin: Plio-Pleistocene Era Formation,Papua New Guinea

The Pliocene to possibly Pleistocene uppermost Orubadi and Era Formations, southwest margin of the Papuan Peninsula, are interpreted as having been deposited in alluvial-fan, fan-delta and shallow-marine environments. The alluvial-fan facies consists primarily of lenticular, coarse-grained conglomerate (up to 2 m boulders) and cross-bedded and horizontally laminated sandstone. Conglomerate and sandstone were deposited in shallow fluvial channels and by overbank sheetfloods. The facies also contains thick mudflow diamictite and minor tuff and terrestrial mudstone. The shallow-marine and fan-delta facies, in contrast, consists of heterogeneously interbedded marine and terrestrial mudstone, sandstone, diamictite, conglomerate and limestone. Marine mudstone is calcareous, sandy, bioturbated, and contains marine shells. Limestone is mostly packstone that has a varied, open-marine fauna. Rare coral boundstone is also present. Marine sandstone is burrowed to bioturbated and is hummocky cross-stratified in places. Some marine mudstone contains sandstone pillows formed by loading of unconsolidated sand by storm waves. Other sandstone in the fan-delta facies is cross-bedded, lacks shells and was probably deposited by fluvial processes. Several conglomerate beds in the fan-delta facies are well sorted and imbricated and were also deposited by stream floods. The synorogenic Orubadi and Era Formations were deposited in a foreland basin formed from loading of the Papuan–Aure Fold and Thrust Belt on the edge of the Australian craton. Deformation in the fold and thrust belt was probably related to docking and compression of the Finisterre Terrane–Bismarck Arc against the New Guinea Orogen. The Era Formation interfingers with the reefal Wedge Hill Limestone in which reef facies likely grew on a deforming anticline. Era Formation siliciclastics were sourced from volcanic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks that were uplifted in the orogen to the northeast. Volcanic sediment was derived mostly from a then-active volcanic arc likely related to southward subduction at the Trobriand Trough.     

三江北段东莫扎抓矿区构造变形特征

已有关于青藏高原隆升的各种构造模型多重视新生代变形而忽略了早期构造变形的限制.本文以三江北段东莫扎抓矿区为研究对象,通过详细的构造-岩相填图,恢复了矿区二叠纪以来变形序列,结合区域资料讨论了变形事件的大地构造背景.研究表明矿区发育中-下二叠统九十道班组灰岩、上二叠统那益雄组碎屑岩、上三叠统结扎群甲丕拉组碎屑岩和上三叠统结扎群波里拉组灰岩4套地层系统,二叠系与三叠系之间为不整合接触,局部被近南北向逆断层代替.北西向逆断层横亘矿区,断层上盘三叠纪碎屑岩和灰岩整体北倾,断层下盘三叠纪岩石被左右两条走滑断层夹持向南挤出.在图面和露头尺度上矿区叠加褶皱明显,南北向剖面上多见紧闭的倾伏褶皱,近东西向剖面上则为开阔水平的斜歪褶皱,表明南北向剖面上观察到的是已被叠加的早期褶皱,为矿区第一期变形,其形成与三叠纪末古特提斯洋盆闭合有关.始新世晚期印-亚大陆碰撞地壳缩短形成矿区第二期构造,即北西向逆断层和褶皱叠加.第三期近南北向逆断层可能形成于始新世末,与印-亚大陆碰撞引起的侧向旋转有关.     

构造楔形体的识别与勘探——以准噶尔盆地南缘为例

构造楔形体的形成需要两个条件,一是两条相互连接的断层,二是这两条断层的位移传递方向相反。当反向传递的位移量切割了上覆地层,通常在楔形体前翼形成具指示意义的背斜构造,此类背斜可作为判断深部构造楔形体存在的直接依据。准噶尔盆地南缘3排背斜内带的构造楔形体模式非常典型,并表现为“混序”的特征。在山前深部楔形体沿侏罗系西山窑组煤层向北扩展过程中,部分位移量沿构造楔顶部的反冲断层向南消减,并切割上覆地层形成第一排背斜带,另一部分位移量则继续向北传递,在断坡位置引发褶皱变形,形成第二排和第三排背斜带。在总位移量保持稳定的前提下,这3排背斜带在走向上的此消彼长反映了位移量在南、北两个方向上的转换。准噶尔盆地南缘第二、三排背斜带中-新生界内部发育多个小型的构造楔形体,这些互相叠置的楔形构造横向延伸不大,但有可能构成独立的成藏系统,具有不同的油气水特征,从而造成同一个背斜带不同部位的含油气性迥异。在油气勘探中应通过加强地震采集、处理和解释攻关,力求精细刻画各个楔形构造在三维空间的展布,再针对已落实的楔形体展开钻探。     

汶川地震震中映秀地区地表破裂特征

汶川8级大震的震中位于映秀镇,地震在映秀地区造成了多处地表破裂,如公路拱曲、地震陡坎,坡中槽新变形等,长度达300余米.经实地全站仪和GPS测量,定量分析了地表破裂的垂直分量与水平分量以及两者之间的比值,以此揭示了映秀-北川断裂的运动性质为逆冲兼右行走滑,在映秀地区逆冲分量大于走滑分量.将本次地震造成的位错数据与震前资料对比,发现汶川地震产生的地表破裂位置与地质历史上映秀-北川断裂造成的断层位错位置是相当吻合的,说明映秀地区Ⅳ级阶地上40余米的的断层陡坎可能是地质历史时期若干次大地震的结果.     

Drainage migration and out of sequence thrusting in Bhalukpong,Western Arunachal Himalaya,India

In the foreland regions of the Western Arunachal Himalaya (WAH), geological studies along the Kameng river (between Tipi village and the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT)) reveal four levels of unpaired terraces and a paired terrace. In WAH, wrench deformation of HFT zone resulted in a SE propagation of the Balipara anticline and it is suggested that the Mikir high basement controls its orientation. Ages of terrace surfaces from Siwaliks suggest that since the Late Pleistocene, Kameng River migrated at a rate varying between ∼7.5 cm/yr in upper reaches and ∼13.5 cm/yr towards northeast due to HFT related uplift. In the Brahmaputra plains, luminescence ages of abandoned paleochannel deposits suggest eastward shifting of the Kameng river at an average rate of ∼1 m/yr. Field evidences between Bhalukpong and Tipi villages show Pliocene strath and Quaternary terrace surfaces, displaced by faults that do not correspond to the mapped faults in the foreland region. We interpret them as out-of-sequence thrusts (OOSTs). This is the first such report of OOST in the NE Himalaya. Presence of active OOST is inferred by similar age (∼1 ka) and differing incision rates of the surface of same terrace (T_2b) in adjacent locations. This suggests that OOSTs in the western Arunachal Siwalik are <1 ka. Average slip rate and horizontal shortening rate on OOST during the Holocene, are calculated as ∼12 mm/yr and 7 mm/yr respectively. Thus any estimation of Holocene shortening in the Siwalik therefore, needs to incorporate slip along the OOSTs given that it accommodates a significant amount of N-S compression of the Himalayan fold-and-thrust belt. The reason for OOST in the WAH Siwalik foreland is discussed in terms of the critical wedge dynamics arising from erosion via tectonics-climate interaction. We estimate a minimum slip rate of Siwalik as ∼27 mm/yr during the Holocene and suggest acceleration in shortening rates east of Bhutan.     

Active tectonics of the outer northern Apennines: Adriatic vs. Po Plain seismicity and stress fields

The recent earthquake sequences of 2012 (northern Italy) and 2013 (Marche offshore) provided new, fundamental constraints to the active tectonic setting of the outer northern Apennines. In contrast to the Po Plain area, where the 2012 northern Italy earthquakes confirmed active frontal thrusting, the new focal mechanisms obtained in this study for the 2013 Marche offshore earthquakes indicate that only minor thrust fault reactivation occurs in the Adriatic domain, even for a theoretically favourably oriented maximum horizontal compression. Recent seismicity in this domain appears to be mainly controlled by transcurrent crustal faults dissecting the Apennine thrust belt. The along-strike stress field variation from the Po Plain to the Adriatic area has been quantitatively investigated by applying the multiple inverse method (MIM) to the analysis of the entire seismicity recorded from January 1976 to August 2014, from the top 12 km of the crust (fault plane solutions from 127 earthquakes with M_W ≥ 4), allowing us to obtain a comprehensive picture of the state of stress over the outer zone of the fold and thrust belt. The present-day stress field has been defined for 39 cells of 1.5° × 1.5° surface area and 12 km depth. The obtained stress field maps point out that, although the entire outer northern Apennines belt is characterized by a sub-horizontal maximum compressive axis (σ₁), the minimum compression (σ₃) is sub-vertical only in the Po Plain area, becoming sub-horizontal in the Adriatic sector, thus confirming that the latter region is dominated by an active tectonic regime of strike-slip type.     

喜马拉雅西北部逆冲带的地壳电性结构

印度板块北部地形起伏较大的喜马拉雅山地区由几个构造互异的地质单元组成,依地形高、低把喜马拉雅碰撞带分成低喜马拉雅和高喜马拉雅.为了研究与主要逆冲带（含主缝合带MCT和主边界带MBT）有关的地壳电性结构,沿Rohtangpass (海拔4000 m) 到Mandi (海拔400 m)剖面进行了MT探测.通过对16个测点观测资料的分析和考虑地形的二维反演,获得了沿剖面的二维电性结构.电性结构显示,在Chail和主逆冲边界带下方,东西走向的缝合带突然转向北.在下喜马拉雅的Rampur 区段的元古代基底为范围较大的高阻体,而浅部地壳被逆冲带分成向北倾的电导性块体和电阻性块体.Chail 逆冲带东侧低喜马拉雅Rampur 区段的推挤和它西侧的基底脊柱体导致主边界带及相关的逆冲带（Kangra 拐角）向北转弯,Kangra拐角处的应力可能是由于西侧基底脊柱体进入到Kangra 区引起的.     

Spatial and Temporal Changes of Groundwater Level Induced by Thrust Faulting

Changes of groundwater level, ranging from a fall of 11.10 m to a rise of 7.42 m, induced by thrust faulting during the 1999 M_w 7.6, Chi-Chi earthquake have been recorded in 276 monitoring wells in Taiwan. Most coseismic falls appeared near the seismogenic fault as well as other active faults, while coseismic rises prevailed away from the fault. Coseismic groundwater level rises and falls correlated fairly well with hypocentral distance in the vicinity of the thrust fault. We found a major difference of coseismic changes in wells of different depths at most multiple-well stations. The recovery process of coseismic groundwater level changes is associated with the confining condition of the aquifer. Cross-formational flow is likely to play an important role in groundwater level changes after the earthquake. In the hanging wall of the thrust fault, an abnormal decline of groundwater level was observed immediately before the earthquake. The underlying mechanism of the unique preseismic change warrants further investigation.     

The Structure and Stratigraphy of the Western External Sierras of the Pyrenees,Northern Spain

The External Sierras of the southern Pyrenees represent the frontal thrust complex of a south Pyrenean thrust sheet which was active from the late Eocene to early Miocene. Triassic, Cretaceous and Eocene limestones, sandstones and mudstones involved in this thrusting can be divided into eight mappable units. Mapping and the construction of serial sections across the Western External Sierras show that the amount of southward translation of the thrust sheet increases eastwards from the thrust tip. There is an increased slip of at least 5km along 30km of the External Sierras. Structures show a progressive development from a “primitive” form in the west to a more complex thrust and fold geometry in the east. The general pattern is one of thrust and fold development in response to compression from the north. Backthrusting has occurred on the forward side of the frontal thrust complex. These backthrusts cut up section towards the north and form triangle zones where they intersect thrusts which cut up sections towards the south. The latest thrust movements deformed early Miocene fanglomerates and were out-of-sequence reactivations of earlier thrusts.     

柴达木盆地东部中新生代两期逆冲断层作用的FT定年

柴达木盆地东部都兰一带,由于一系列北东倾的、向南西推覆的逆冲断层作用和温泉断裂的右行走滑作用,将柴达木盆地的变质基底和前中生界沉积基底翘起,从而使得柴达木盆地与共和盆地分隔开来. 逆冲断层中磷灰石裂变径迹（FT）测年结果反映了柴达木盆地基底断层作用的规律性. 从FT测年结果可以看出,FT年龄分为2组,也就是2个活动时期：第1期为108 Ma至61 Ma;第2期为26.6 Ma至17.8 Ma. 第1期反映的断裂活动具有明显的规律性：从柴达木盆地南缘的东昆仑开始,向柴北缘方向,逆冲推覆的断层作用时间逐渐变年轻,从东昆仑的108.0±9.6 Ma（柴达木南缘断裂）变为63.7±4.4 Ma（柴北缘断裂）,之后可能有小的跳动. 第2期,在原有的一些逆冲断层上形成了新的活动,或形成了一些新的逆冲断层,总体上具有无序或跳跃式变动的特点.