Hydrothermal Vent Geology and Biology at Earth’s Fastest Spreading Rates

Earth’s fastest present seafloor spreading occurs along the East Pacific Rise near 31°–32° S. Two of the major hydrothermal plume areas discovered during a 1998 multidisciplinary geophysical/hydrothermal investigation of these mid-ocean ridge axes were explored during a 1999 Alvin expedition. Both occur in recently eruptive areas where shallow collapse structures mark the neovolcanic axis. The 31° S vent area occurs in a broad linear zone of collapses and fractures coalescing into an axial summit trough. The 32° S vent area has been volcanically repaved by a more recent eruption, with non-linear collapses that have not yet coalesced. Both sites occur in highly inflated areas, near local inflation peaks, which is the best segment-scale predictor of hydrothermal activity at these superfast spreading rates (150 mm/yr).     

Spreading-rate dependence of hydroacoustic and teleseismic seismicity of ridge-transform systems: East Pacific Rise,Galapagos Ridge,and Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Seismicity in ocean ridge-transform systems reveals fundamental processes of mid-ocean ridges, while comparisons of seismicity in different oceans remain rare due to a lack of detection of small events. From 1996 to2003, the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA/PMEL) deployed several hydrophones in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the northern Atlantic Ocean.These hydrophones recorded earthquakes with small magnitudes, providing us with...     

Characterizing impulsive wave-in-deck loads on coastal bridges by probabilistic models of impact maxima and rise times

When waves impact a seawall, a vertical breakwater, an exposed jetty, a pier or a coastal bridge, they abruptly transfer their momentum into the structure. This energy transfer can be very violent and its duration exceptionally short. In the case of coastal bridges, whose spans are designed to have very short vibration period, wave impacts might have duration comparable to the natural period of oscillation of the structure, which therefore becomes prone to damage and failure. Previous forensic studies have documented the relative importance of impulsive loads on deck suspended structure, demonstrating the need to assess the effect of wave impacts on both the stability and the integrity of structural members since the early stages of the design. This requires the estimation of the dynamic characteristics of the loading pattern, and in particular the wave impulse and corresponding impact maxima and rise times. Based on the conservation of momentum, functional relationships between these parameters have been identified since pioneering work dating back to the late '30s of the 20th century. The complexity of the loading process, however, results in a significantly large variability of wave impact maxima and rise times even under similar conditions, suggesting the need for a probabilistic approach to the definition of the relationship between these two variables, to be applied when estimating the dynamic properties of wave for use in structural analysis of coastal structures. In the recent past, some effort has been made to identify functional relationships between such quantities; these require the assessment of the conditional quantiles (or similarly the conditional distribution) of wave impact maxima given the rise times. In this paper, we compare three different statistical methods proposed in the literature to accomplish this task, in order to assess the reliability of the approach and suggest guidelines for practical applications. A copula-based method, Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS), and quantile regression are applied to measurements from large-scale 3-dimensional physical model tests. The investigation suggests that quantile regression gives the simplest results to be used in practice; copula approach and GAMLSS are possible alternative when semi-parametric or fully parametric modeling is needed.     

Tectonics of a fast spreading center: A Deep-Tow and sea beam survey on the East Pacific rise at 19°30′ S

Sea Beam and Deep-Tow were used in a tectonic investigation of the fast-spreading (151 mm yr^-1) East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 19°30 S. Detailed surveys were conducted at the EPR axis and at the Brunhes/Matuyama magnetic reversal boundary, while four long traverses (the longest 96 km) surveyed the rise flanks. Faulting accounts for the vast majority of the relief. Both inward and outward facing fault scarps appear in almost equal numbers, and they form the horsts and grabens which compose the abyssal hills. This mechanism for abyssal hill formation differs from that observed at slow and intermediate spreading rates where abyssal hills are formed by back-tilted inward facing normal faults or by volcanic bow-forms. At 19°30 S, systematic back tilting of fault blocks is not observed, and volcanic constructional relief is a short wavelength signal (less than a few hundred meters) superimposed upon the dominant faulted structure (wavelength 2–8 km). Active faulting is confined to within approximately 5–8 km of the rise axis. In terms of frequency, more faulting occurs at fast spreading rates than at slow. The half extension rate due to faulting is 4.1 mm yr^-1 at 19°30 S versus 1.6 mm yr^-1 in the FAMOUS area on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). Both spreading and horizontal extension are asymmetric at 19°30 S, and both are greater on the east flank of the rise axis. The fault density observed at 19°30 S is not constant, and zones with very high fault density follow zones with very little faulting. Three mechanisms are proposed which might account for these observations. In the first, faults are buried episodically by massive eruptions which flow more than 5–8 km from the spreading axis, beyond the outer boundary of the active fault zone. This is the least favored mechanism as there is no evidence that lavas which flow that far off axis are sufficiently thick to bury 50–150 m high fault scarps. In the second mechanism, the rate of faulting is reduced during major episodes of volcanism due to changes in the near axis thermal structure associated with swelling of the axial magma chamber. Thus the variation in fault spacing is caused by alternate episodes of faulting and volcanism. In the third mechanism, the rate of faulting may be constant (down to a time scale of decades), but the locus of faulting shifts relative to the axis. A master fault forms near the axis and takes up most of the strain release until the fault or fault set is transported into lithosphere which is sufficiently thick so that the faults become locked. At this point, the locus of faulting shifts to the thinnest, weakest lithosphere near the axis, and the cycle repeats.     

珠江口盆地东沙隆起的沉降史及其动力机制

根据东沙隆起及其周围钻井资料的一维构造沉降对比分析,结合前人在基底、盖层及断裂等方面的研究,将东沙隆起地区的构造演化分为5个阶段:自垩纪挤压阶段、古新世-早渐新世伸展断陷阶段、早渐新世末期抬升剥蚀阶段、晚渐新世-中新世快速的裂后沉降阶段、晚中新世以来断块升降阶段.认为下地壳高速层是促使早渐新世末期抬升剥蚀的重要因素,而...     

Determination of phospholipid fatty acid structures and stable carbon isotope compositions of deep-sea sediments of the Northwest Pacific, ODP site 1179

Sediment samples ranging from 0.05 to 278 m below sea floor (mbsf) at a Northwest Pacific deep-water (5564 mbsl) site (ODP Leg 191, Site 1179) were analyzed for phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). Total PLFA concentrations decreased by a factor of three over the first meter of sediment and then decreased at a slower rate to approximately 30 mbsf. The sharp decrease over the first meter corresponds to the depth of nitrate and Mn(IV) reduction as indicated by pore water chemistry. PLFA-based cell numbers at site 1179 had a similar depth profile as that for Acridine orange direct cell counts previously made on ODP site 1149 sediments which have a similar water depth and lithology. The mole percentage of straight chain saturated PLFAs increases with depth, with a large shift between the 0.95 and 3.95 mbsf samples. PLFA stable carbon isotope ratios were determined for sediments from 0.05 to 4.53 mbsf and showed a general trend toward more depleted δ¹³C values with depth. Both of these observations may indicate a shift in the bacterial community with depth across the different redox zones inferred from pore water chemistry data. The PLFA 10me16:0, which has been attributed to the bacterial genera Desulfobacter in many marine sediments, showed the greatest isotopic depletion, decreasing from − 20 to − 35‰ over the first meter of sediment. Pore water chemistry suggested that sulfate reduction was absent or minimal over this same sediment interval. However, 10me16:0 has been shown to be produced by recently discovered anaerobic ammonium oxidizing (anammox) bacteria which are known chemoautotrophs. The increasing depletion in δ¹³C of 10me16:0 with the unusually lower concentration of ammonium and linear decrease of nitrate concentration is consistent with a scenario of anammox bacteria mediating the oxidation of ammonium via nitrite, an intermediate of nitrate reduction.     

Spatial and temporal variations of subsidence of the East Pacific Rise (0–23°S)

The distributions of crustal depths as a function of age have been analysed for the southeast Pacific region, along the East Pacific Rise, between the Equator and the Easter microplate (23°S). Using age data and a new compilation of bathymetric data, subsidence rates (for both eastern and western flanks), asymmetry of subsidence and zero-age depths, are computed within flow-line corridors on the Nazca and Pacific plates. Variations of subsidence rates, axial depths and subsidence asymmetry are examined both in space (within corridors) and time (within several age intervals). The variability in these parameters along the strike of the East Pacific Rise is systematic and serves to define several orders of ridge segmentation. The largest variations of these parameters are correlated with the large-scale segmentation of the ridge axis (i.e. transform faults and very large overlapping spreading centres) and are interpreted as related to variations in mantle heterogeneities mainly dependent upon temperature. Smaller variations of subsidence parameters are correlated with second- (and sometimes third-) order segmentation of the ridge axis, which could be related to variations in axial magmatic supply. Across-strike variations of subsidence suggest the existence of small lateral temperature and density variations in the mantle. When analysing the slope of the distribution of depth versus square root of age within corridors, we have observed the existence of changes in the slope which occur at specific age limits. We have estimated the subsidence over different age ranges in order to determine the temporal evolution of subsidence parameters (rates and asymmetry). Such an analysis may inform on the past axial segmentation and on the persistence of axial discontinuities in time. A linear relationship between subsidence rates and axial depths is determined for each age range and suggests that shallower segments subside faster than deeper segments. Although a similar, statistically defined linear relationship exists for any mid-ocean spreading ridge (both for intermediate or fast–ultrafast spreading), the resultant slopes of this relationship vary from ocean to ocean and show that this relationship is not universal over all oceans.     

东太平洋海隆深海热液区沉积物古菌多样性分析

采用PCR-RFLP方法对东太平洋海隆深海热液区3个站位沉积物中的古菌多样性进行了初步研究.结果显示,从古菌16S rRNA基因文库中随机挑取的296个阳性克隆分属奇古菌门（Thaumarchaeota,47.64%）、广古菌门（Euryarchaeota,44.93%）、泉古菌门（Crenarchaeota,6.77%）和未分类古菌（0.68%）,其中优势菌群为奇古菌门的亚硝化侏儒菌属（Nitrosopumilus,35.47%）和广古菌门的热原体纲（Thermoplasmata,27.03%）,DHVE3、DHVE5、DHVE6、MBGB和MBGE类群在沉积物样品中也均有发现.另外,3个站位沉积物中古菌类群组成存在差异,S5-TVG1站位样品文库的97个古菌克隆分属奇古菌门（49.48%）、广古菌门（49.48%）和泉古菌门（1.03%）,S14-TVG10站位样品文库的103个古菌克隆由奇古菌门（84.47%）和广古菌门（15.53%）组成,S16-TVG12站位样品文库的96个古菌克隆包括广古菌门（71.88%）、泉古菌门（19.79%）、奇古菌门（6.25%）和未分类古菌（2.08%）.研究结果表明,东太平洋海隆深海热液区沉积物中古菌多样性丰富,存在着许多新的古菌菌群;不同站位古菌菌群结构以及多样性存在差异,这与其所处环境的热液活动密切相关.     

Principal faults in the Shatsky Rise and their influence upon the evolution of the geological structure in the East Black Sea Region

A fault was traced along the southwestern margin of the Shatsky Rise. It extends to land where it crosses the Mountainous Crimea. Interpretation and analysis of marine seismic and magnetic survey data, as well as geological data on land, allow stating that the fault originated during the rift evolution stage of the East Black Sea Basin. Currently, the fault is in the sea and is a channel for migrating hydrocarbon fluids. Another fault was traced from the West Caucasus into the sea, where it separates the Shatsky Rise into two structural units.     

Provenance and Magmatic-Metamorphic Evolution of a Variscan Island-Arc Complex: Constraints from U-Pb Dating, Petrology, and Geospeedometry of the Kyffhauser Crystalline Complex, Central Germany

The Kyffhäuser Crystalline Complex, Central Germany, formspart of the Mid-German Crystalline Rise, which is assumed torepresent the Variscan collision zone between the East Avalonianterrane and the Armorican terrane assemblage. High-precisionU–Pb zircon and monazite dating indicates that sedimentaryrocks of the Kyffhäuser Crystalline Complex are youngerthan c. 470 Ma and were intruded by gabbros and diorites between345 ± 4 and 340 ± 1 Ma. These intrusions had magmatictemperatures between 850 and 900°C, and caused a contactmetamorphic overprint of the sediments at P–T conditionsof 690–750°C and 5–7 kbar, corresponding toan intrusion depth of 19–25 km. At 337 ± 1 Ma themagmatic–metamorphic suite was intruded by granites, syenitesand diorites at a shallow crustal level of some 7–11 km.This is inferred from a diorite, and conforms to P–T pathsobtained from the metasediments, indicating a nearly isothermaldecompression from 5–7 to 2–4 kbar at 690–750°C.Subsequently, the metamorphic–magmatic sequence underwentaccelerated cooling to below 400°C, as constrained by garnetgeospeedometry and a previously published K–Ar muscoviteage of 333 ± 7 Ma. With respect to P–T–D–tdata from surrounding units, rapid exhumation of the KCC canbe interpreted to result from NW-directed crustal shorteningduring the Viséan. KEY WORDS: contact metamorphism; U–Pb dating; hornblende; garnet; Mid-German Crystalline Rise; P–T pseudosection