Holocene activity of the Scilla Fault, Southern Calabria: Insights from coastal morphological and structural investigations

Integration of on-land and offshore geomorphological and structural investigations coupled to extensive radiometric dating of co-seismically uplifted Holocene beaches allows characterization of the geometry, kinematics and seismotectonics of the Scilla Fault, which borders the eastern side of the Messina Strait in Calabria, Southern Italy. This region has been struck by destructive historical earthquakes, but knowledge of geologically-based source parameters for active faults is relatively poor, particularly for those running mostly offshore, as the Scilla Fault does. The  30 km-long normal fault may be divided into three segments of  10 km individual length, with the central and southern segments split in at least two strands. The central and northern segments are submerged, and in this area marine geophysical data indicate a youthful morphology and locally evidence for active faulting. The on-land strand of the western segment displaces marine terraces of the last interglacial (124 to 83 ka), but seismic reflection profiles suggest a full Quaternary activity. Structural data collected on bedrock faults exposed along the on-land segment provide evidence for normal slip and  NW-SE extension, which is consistent with focal mechanisms of large earthquakes and GPS velocity fields in the region. Detailed mapping of raised Holocene marine deposits exposed at the coastline straddling of the northern and central segments supplies evidence for two co-seismic displacements at  1.9 and  3.5 ka, and a possible previous event at  5 ka. Co-seismic displacements show a consistent site value and pattern of along-strike variation, suggestive of characteristic-type behaviour for the fault. The  1.5–2.0 m average co-seismic slips during these events document M_e  6.9–7.0 earthquakes with  1.6–1.7 ka recurrence time. Because hanging-wall subsidence cannot be included into slip magnitude computation, these slips reflect footwall uplift, and represent minimum average estimates. The palaeoseismological record based on the palaeo-shorelines suggests that the last rupture on the Scilla Fault during the February 6, 1783 M_w = 5.9–6.3 earthquake was at the expected time but it may have not entirely released the loaded stress since the last great event at  1.9 ka. Comparison of the estimated co-seismic extension rate based on the Holocene shoreline record with available GPS velocities indicates that the Scilla Fault accounts for at least  15–20% of the contemporary geodetic extension across the Messina Strait.     

Thin-section analysis as a tool to aid identification of palaeoearthquakes on the “slow”, active Geleen Fault, Roer Valley Graben

We analyzed thin sections from two palaeoseismic trenches across the low-slip-rate Geleen Fault in the Belgian Maas River valley to help identifying the most recent large palaeoearthquake on this fault segment. In the first trench we sampled silty sediment below and above a prehistoric stone pavement that was supposedly at or near the surface at the time of the event, and subsequently thrown down. The samples below show a well-developed in situ argillic Bt soil horizon in parent sediment containing remnants of stratification, whereas the sediment above is a structureless colluvium reworked at least partly from Bt-horizon material. Below the stone pavement, we also found evidence of contorted stratification, which is in agreement with macroscopic observations of both the sediment and the stone pavement itself, and which is attributed to co-seismic soft-sediment deformation. In the second trench, we sampled a sequence of vaguely discernible soil horizons in the hanging-wall, interpreted as a buried soil profile (Bt, E, and possibly A horizons), overlain by a featureless deposit. Thin-section analysis supports the colluvial nature of the latter, and also provides evidence that both the base of this layer and the top of the poorly developed A horizon below have occupied a shallow position in a soil profile. A sample from the same depth in the footwall is composed of very different material. Instead of colluvium, we find patches of Bt soil, most likely representing the same pedogenic level as the in situ Bt horizon at larger depth in the hanging-wall, but displaced and subsequently degraded. Furthermore, thin sections confirm that vertical structures cutting this Bt horizon are sand dykes. These dykes could be traced macroscopically upward to the base of the colluvium. In both trenches, we have thus identified a stratigraphic boundary in the hanging-wall, close to the surface, separating an in situ soil below from colluvium above. We interpret this limit and the overlying colluvium as the event horizon and the colluvial wedge, respectively, of a surface-rupturing palaeoearthquake. In addition, in both cases we found evidence of soft-sediment deformation (related to liquefaction) contemporaneous with the event within the stratigraphic resolution.     

First seismic record for intra-arc strike-slip tectonics along the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone at the obliquely convergent plate margin of the southern Andes

A temporal seismic network recorded local seismicity along a 130 km long segment of the transpressional dextral strike-slip Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone (LOFZ) in southern Chile. Seventy five shallow crustal events with magnitudes up to M_w 3.8 and depths shallower than 25 km were observed in an 11-month period mainly occurring in different clusters. Those clusters are spatially related to the LOFZ, to the volcanoes Chaitén, Michinmahuida and Corcovado, and to active faulting on secondary faults. Further activity along the LOFZ is indicated by individual events located in direct vicinity of the surface expression of the LOFZ. Focal mechanisms were calculated using deviatoric moment tensor inversion of body wave amplitude spectra which mostly yield strike-slip mechanisms indicating a NE–SW direction of the P-axis for the LOFZ at this latitude. The seismic activity reveals the present-day activity of the fault zone. The recent M_w 6.2 event near Puerto Aysén, Southern Chile at 45.4°S on April 21, 2007 shows that the LOFZ is also capable of producing large magnitude earthquakes and therefore imposing significant seismic hazard to this region.     

准噶尔盆地腹部Z2井三叠系地层及沉积特征

对准噶尔Z2井三叠系各组的岩性、电性特征进行了详细解释与描述,对各组的孢粉、大孢子组合特征展开了讨论,提出了该井三叠系地层划分为自碱滩组、克拉玛依组和百口泉组,且将其与邻区钻遇的三叠系进行了横向及纵向对比。在此基础上,通过对测、录井资料的精细解释,并借鉴前人的区域沉积相研究成果,探讨了该区三叠纪沉积环境。     

高、低煤阶煤层气藏地质特征及控气作用差异性研究

高、低煤阶煤层气地质特征及控气作用差异性是研究煤层气富集成藏的重要组成部分,是煤层气勘探开发理论研究过程中重要的基础性研究领域之一。本文以中国沁水、阜新盆地和美国粉河盆地等典型的含气盆地为例,探讨了高、低煤阶煤层气的储层物性差异,分析了构造控气和水文地质控气作用的差异性。研究表明,高煤阶气藏含气量高,CH4百分含量高,δ13C1值大于-38.75‰,储层渗透率变化小,储层改造难,构造热事件对煤层气的生成、富集贡献大,持续的水动力使气藏遭到破坏,且破坏幅度大,现今地下水格局对气藏的形成具有一定的影响;低煤阶气藏含气量低,CH4百分含量低,δ13C1值大于-49.11‰,储层渗透率变化大,储层易改造,煤热演化史及煤阶影响着煤层气的生成、富集,在煤层气生成过程中活跃的水动力是甲烷生成的主要的水文地质条件之一,但持续的水动力使气藏遭到破坏,且破坏幅度小,而合适的地层水矿化度则是低煤阶煤层气生成的重要条件,地下水格局对气藏的调整和改造起到决定性的影响。     

A GPR study of subsidence-creep-fault processes in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico

In 1983, inhabitants of the City of Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico, began to observe a series of differential settlements causing damages to constructions along linear trends parallel to a system of regional faults. The same phenomenon occurs in others cities of the Mexican Volcanic Belt (MVB), such as Celaya, Aguascalientes, and Querétaro, and is linked to a structurally controlled subsidence, caused by groundwater withdrawal, and the presence of geological faults. We define this subsidence type as Subsidence-Creep-Fault Processes (SCFP), based on the necessary elements for their generation, and we studied them through geophysical and geotechnical techniques. In Morelia, the geophysical investigations have been carried out using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). GPR profiles, perpendicular to the axis of the surface fault generated by the SCFP were carried out. The common-offset single-fold profiling was used, with a central frequency of 50 MHz. In all cases it has been possible to visualize a fault plane dividing two blocks, the presence of synthetic and antithetic faults, influence zones from 20 m to 40 m, and a maximum “net throw” of 4 m. Exploration trenches followed the same direction of the profiles obtained with GPR (perpendicular to the axis of the surface fault). These trenches exposed a fault plane dividing two blocks with different lithology, generating a maximum “net throw” of 4.40 m; as well they help in the determination of influence zones that varied from 14 m to 40 m.     

桃山铀矿田桃山断裂及其保矿作用

桃山铀矿田位于江西省中部,断裂构造发育,既有成矿构造,也有保矿构造,其中斜贯桃山矿田的桃山断裂即是一保矿构造,它形成于车免近时期,走向北东,倾向南东,右行正断,并具铰链断层性质,上盘地块掀斜下落,致使上盘成矿壳层向NW和NE倾斜,由于倾末端的侵蚀深度较小,保矿条件较好,加强这些地带的铀矿勘查和评价具有重要意义。     

Ground motion estimation during the Kashmir earthquake of 8th October 2005

In this article, analytical methods have been used to estimate ground motion during the 8 October 2005, Kashmir earthquake. Peak ground acceleration (PGA) values at several stations in the epicentral region have been estimated by empirical analytical source mechanism models. As an alternate analysis, PGA estimates have also been obtained using the stochastic finite fault seismological model. The estimated PGAs are compared with that obtained from damage values. A PGA contour map in the near-source region is provided. It is found that very near to the epicenter, PGA would have reached more than 1 g. It is demonstrated that empirical analytical models can be effectively used to estimate ground motion due to rupture of active faults.     

青藏高原北缘阿尔金走滑边界的侧向扩展——甘肃北山晚新生代走滑构造与地壳稳定性分析

对北山地区遥感影像和野外地质特征的分析表明,自阿尔金断裂带向NW方向依次出露三危山-双塔断裂、大泉断裂和红柳河断裂。这些断裂近于平行,且同为左行走滑断裂,具有相似的展布特征,空间走向均为NE40-50°,断裂系末端均发育“树枝状”分支断层．在断层夹块之间形成“多米诺”构造,构成了北山地区主要的构造样式。断层谷地沉积物分析和断层泥ESR年代学测试结果表明,三危山-双塔断裂形成于上新世（N2k）,大泉断裂形成于早更新世（1．2-1．5Ma）．而北山地区分支断层和次级断层的活动在400ka之后。对北山地区断裂构造几何学和年代学的研究表明．阿尔金断裂系晚新生代以来向NW方向的侧向扩展．是阿尔金走滑边界重要的生长方式。北山地区特殊的走滑构造组合样式．使该地区的构造变形难于在某条断层上聚集能量,而分散在若干条次级断层上的位移量又微乎其微,该地区成为“最稳定的活动区”。     

甘肃庆城庄19井区上三叠统延长组长82亚油层组低渗透储层的地质特征

长82亚油层组是甘肃庆城地区庄19井区上三叠统延长组中储集砂岩相对富集的层位,但砂岩低渗透性的特点显著,成为影响该区石油储产量增长的主要地质因素。结合前人的相关工作,通过钻井岩心观察、测井曲线分析、储层岩石实验测试等工作,详细地分析了庄19井区长82亚油层组低渗透储层的地质特征,认为沉积微相和压实作用、胶结作用是控制低渗透性储集砂岩发育和分布的主要地质因素,寻找以水下分流河道微相为代表的有利储集相带砂岩体是油气勘探的重要方向。