The connection of geodynamics with seismicity patterns

When a study is to be made of seismic risks, the present-day geodynamic conditions are of fundamental importance: Earthquakes do not happen by themselves, they do have a cause. The cause of earthquakes is that the tectonic stresses exceed a critical limit. The build-up of these stresses is conditioned by the geodynamic processes occurring in the region in question. A knowledge of the geodynamics characteristic of a region is therefore fundamental for seismic risk studies. The general methodology for making such a geodynamic study is based on the entire set of manifestations of the plate-tectonic conditions of that region: these include the mechanism of earthquakes, the stresses observed in mines, the orientation of surface joints and even the direction of river valleys. Examples of geodynamic studies and their bearing on seismic risks are shown from various areas of the world, notably from China, India, and Colombia.     

A geomorphology‐based integrated stream–aquifer interaction model for semi‐gauged catchments

Many of the existing stream–aquifer interaction models available in the literature are very complex with limited applicability in semi‐gauged and ungauged catchments. In this study, to estimate the influent and effluent subsurface water fluxes under limited geo‐hydrometeorological data availability conditions, a simple stream–aquifer interaction model, namely, the variable parameter McCarthy–Muskingum (VPMM) hillslope‐storage Boussinesq (hsB) model, has been developed. This novel model couples the VPMM streamflow transport with the hsB groundwater flow transport modules in online mode. In this integrated model, the surface water–groundwater flux exchange process is modelled by the Darcian approach with the variable hydraulic heads between the river stage and groundwater table accounting for the rainfall forcing. Considering the exchange fluxes in the hyporheic zone and lateral overland flow contribution, this approach is field tested in a typical 48‐km stretch of the Brahmani River in eastern India to simulate the streamflow and its depth with the minimum Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency of 94% and 88%; the maximum root mean square error of 134 m³/s and 0.35 m; and the minimum index of agreement of 98% and 97%, respectively. This modelling approach could be very well utilized in data‐scarce world‐river basins to estimate the stream–aquifer exchange flux due to rainfall forcings.     

Collision leading to multiple-stage large-scale extrusion in the Qinling orogen: Insights from the Mianlue suture

The geologic framework of the Phanerozoic Qinling–Dabie orogen was built up through two major suturing events of three blocks. From north to south these include the North China craton (including the north Qinling block), the Qinling–Dabie microblock, and the South China craton (including the Bikou block), separated by the Shangdan and Mianlue sutures. The Mianlue suture zone contains evidence for Mesozoic extrusion tectonics in the form of major strike–slip border faults surrounding basement blocks, a Late Paleozoic ophiolite and a ca. 240–200 Ma thrust belt that reformed by 200–150 Ma thrusts during A-type (intracontinental) subduction. The regional map pattern shows that the blocks are surrounded by complexly deformed Devonian to Early Triassic metasandstones and metapelites, forming a regional-scale block-in-matrix mélange fabric. Five distinct tectonic units have been recognized in the belt: (1) basement blocks including two types of Precambrian basement, crystalline and transitional; (2) continental margin slices including Early Paleozoic strata, and Late Paleozoic fluviodeltaic sedimentary rocks, proximal and distal fan clastics, reflecting the development of a north-facing rift margin on the edge of the South China plate; (3) out of sequence oceanic crustal slices including strongly deformed postrift, deep-water sedimentary rocks, sheeted dikes, basalts, and mafic–ultramafic cumulates of a Late Paleozoic ophiolite suite, developing independent of the rift margin in a separate basin; (4) out-of-sequence island-arc slices; (5) accretionary wedge slices. All the tectonic units were deformed during three geometrically distinct deformation episodes (D₁, D₂ and D₃ during 240–200 Ma). Units 2–4 involved southward thrusting and vertical then southward extrusion of about 20 km of horizontal displacement above the autochthonous basement during the D₁ episode. Thrust slices 20 km south of the Mianlue suture are related to this vertical extrusion due to the same rock assemblages, ages and kinematics. The D₂ and D₃ episodes folded all the units in a thick-skinned style about east–west (D₂) and west–northwest (D₃) axes in the Mianlue suture zone. An early foreland propagating sequence of accretion of Late Paleozoic rocks deposited above the Yangtze craton is not involved in D₁ deformation but is temporally equivalent to the D₂ and D₃ deformation in the Mianlue suture. Two stages of strike–slip faulting mainly occurred at the end of D₂ and D₃, respectively. During D₂ deformation, the Bikou block was obliquely indented to the ESE into the Mianlue suture, rather than being thrust over the Mianlue suture from the north as a part of the Qinling–Dabie microblock. During D₃ deformation, however, the Bikou block was bounded by the south boundary fault of the Mianlue suture, and the Yangpingguan fault on the south. These faults are coeval strike–slip faults, but of opposite senses, and accommodated minor southwestward extrusion of the Bikou block into Songpan–Ganze orogen. The other basement blocks north of the Mianlue suture were extruded eastward by about 20 km of lateral displacement, based on the offset of the Wudang dome, during the D₃ episode due to the northeastward indentation of the Hannan complex of the South China craton. Post-D₃ emplacement of granite, cutting across the strike–slip faults such as the Mianlue suture, provides a minimum age of 200 Ma for D₃ deformation. Therefore, based on insights from the evolution of the Mianlue suture, the D₂ and D₃ episodes in the Mianlue suture and its neighbors are not responsible for and associated with the two-stage extrusion of the Dabie UHP-HP terranes from the Foping dome to the present erosional surface (more than 350 km).     

准噶尔盆地古隆起的分布与基本特征

准噶尔盆地外侧三大边界动力体系的作用及基底结构的差异性导致准噶尔盆地在不同地质时期发育不同性质的隆起构造。石炭纪晚期东北侧的造山作用形成了盆地北部隆起,晚二叠世北部隆起分异为陆梁隆起与乌伦古坳陷;早二叠世西北侧的造山作用形成了车排子隆起,随后的冲断作用形成了克拉玛依——夏子街断裂带。燕山期的压扭作用形成了沉积盖层中的车排子——莫索湾隆起。新生代北天山向北的冲断作用导致准噶尔盆地南部地区急剧挠曲沉降,盆地向南掀斜,隆起向北迁移。据基底的性质、形成时间、活动方式、地质结构与保存状态等特点将准噶尔盆地的隆起划分为继承型、间断型、掀斜型与冲断带型等4种基本类型。     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111000594

A new model is suggested for the history of the Baikal Rift,in deviation from the classic two-stage evolution scenario,based on a synthesis of the available data from the Baikal Basin and revised correlation between tectonic-lithological-stratigraphic complexes(TLSC) in sedimentary sections around Lake Baikal and seismic stratigraphic sequences(SSS) in the lake sediments.Unlike the previous models,the revised model places the onset of rifting during Late Cretaceous and comprises three major stages which are subdivided into several substages.The stages and the substages are separated by events of tectonic activity and stress reversal when additional compression produced folds and shear structures.The events that mark the stage boundaries show up as gaps,unconformities,and deformation features in the deposition patterns. The earliest Late Cretaceous-Oligocene stage began long before the India-Eurasia collision in a setting of diffuse extension that acted over a large territory of Asia.The NW-SE far-field pure extension produced an NE-striking half-graben oriented along an old zone of weakness at the edge of the Siberian craton.That was already the onset of rift evolution recorded in weathered lacustrine deposits on the Baikal shore and in a wedge-shaped acoustically transparent seismic unit in the lake sediments.The second stage spanning Late Oligocene-Early Pliocene time began with a stress change when the effect from the Eocene India-Eurasia collision had reached the region and became a major control of its geodynamics.The EW and NE transpression and shear from the collisional front transformed the Late Cretaceous half-graben into a U-shaped one which accumulated a deformed layered sequence of sediments.Rifting at the latest stage was driven by extension from a local source associated with hot mantle material rising to the base of the rifted crust.The asthenospheric upwarp first induced the growth of the Baikal dome and the related change from finer to coarser molasse deposition.With time,the upwarp became a more powerful stress source than the collision,and the stress vector returned to the previous NW-SE extension that changed the rift geometry back to a half-graben. The layered Late Pliocene-Quaternary subaerial tectonic-lithological-stratigraphic and the Quaternary submarine seismic stratigraphic units filling the latest half-graben remained almost undeformed.The rifting mechanisms were thus passive during two earlier stages and active during the third stage. The three-stage model of the rift history does not rule out the previous division into two major stages but rather extends its limits back into time as far as the Maastrichtian.Our model is consistent with geological, stratigraphic,structural,and geophysical data and provides further insights into the understanding of rifting in the Baikal region in particular and continental rifting in general.     

Seismic sequence stratigraphy of Miocene deposits related to eustatic,tectonic and climatic events,Cap Bon Peninsula,northeastern Tunisia

The Cap Bon Peninsula, belonging to northeastern Tunisia, is located in the Maghrebian Alpine foreland and in the North of the Pelagian block. By its paleoposition, during the Cenozoic, in the edge of the southern Tethyan margin, this peninsula constitutes a geological entity that fossilized the eustatic, tectonic and climatic interactions. Surface and subsurface study carried out in the Cap Bon onshore area and surrounding offshore of Hammamet interests the Miocene deposits from the Langhian-to-Messinian interval time. Related to the basin and the platform positions, sequence and seismic stratigraphy studies have been conducted to identify seven third-order seismic sequences in subsurface (SM1-SM7), six depositional sequences on the Zinnia-1 petroleum well (SDM1-SDM6), and five depositional sequences on the El Oudiane section of the Jebel Abderrahmane (SDM1–SDM5). Each sequence shows a succession of high-frequency systems tract and parasequences. These sequences are separated by remarkable sequence boundaries and maximum flooding surfaces (SB and MFS) that have been correlated to the eustatic cycles and supercycles of the Global Sea Level Chart of Haq et al. (1987). The sequences have been also correlated with Sequence Chronostratigraphic Chart of Hardenbol et al. (1998), related to European basins, allows us to arise some major differences in number and in size. The major discontinuities, which limit the sequences resulted from the interplay between tectonic and climatic phenomena. It thus appears very judicious to bring back these chronological surfaces to eustatic and/or local tectonic activity and global eustatic and climatic controls.     

塔里木板块东北缘坡北杂岩体矿物成分和铂族元素特征:对硫化物熔离和构造环境的约束

坡北杂岩体位于塔里木板块东北缘北山裂谷带,主要由橄榄岩相、单辉辉石岩相、二辉岩相、辉长岩相、苏长岩相和辉长苏长岩相组成。坡一岩体中硫化物矿体赋存于超镁铁质岩中,而坡东岩体中硫化物矿体赋存于辉长苏长岩相中。坡一和坡东岩体不同岩相中单斜辉石的MgO和CaO含量、斜长石的An值和SiO_2含量连续变化且呈负相关,说明二者可能是同一原始岩浆分离结晶的产物。根据前人计算的原始岩浆成分,我们利用MELTS软件模拟了坡北杂岩体的分离结晶过程。结果表明矿物结晶顺序为:橄榄石→橄榄石+单斜辉石→橄榄石+单斜辉石+斜长石→单斜辉石+斜长石+斜方辉石,与岩相观察一致。坡北杂岩体原始岩浆经过20%分离结晶达到S饱和而发生早期硫化物熔离,形成坡一岩体中矿体。因此,在利用具有最高Fo值(90.9mol%)的橄榄石成分进行的模拟中,坡一岩体早期结晶的纯橄榄岩中橄榄石成分与分离结晶趋势线一致,而斜长橄榄岩中橄榄石成分低于趋势线,可能形成于早期硫化物熔离之后。随后岩浆中S再一次不饱和,但坡一岩体橄榄单辉辉石岩和辉长岩中橄榄石Fo和Ni含量在分离结晶趋势线之下,同时坡东岩体不含矿岩石中铂族元素总量主要在8.9×10~(-9)～29.0×10~(-9)之间,且相对于Ni和Cu明显亏损,说明在岩浆分离结晶晚期再次发生硫化物熔离,而且可能是地壳混染引起的,并形成了坡东岩体中的硫化物矿体。坡东岩体橄榄二辉岩和橄榄辉长苏长岩中橄榄石Fo值(74.5mol%～81.0mol%)较低,但变化范围较大,且Fo和Ni呈负相关关系,这可能是由于橄榄石和硫化物熔体在不平衡状态下发生成分交换造成的。坡北杂岩体超镁铁质岩石中单斜辉石Ti O2含量为0.21%～0.83%,阳离子中呈四次配位的Al(AlZ)为0.8mol%～7.8mol%,与裂谷环境堆晶岩中单斜辉石成分相似。因此,坡北杂岩体可能形成于和塔里木二叠纪地幔柱活动相关的裂谷环境。然而,超镁铁质岩石全岩Nd同位素指示其来源于亏损地幔,并不是地幔柱物质熔融的直接产物。纯橄榄岩和异剥橄榄岩La/Sm,Sm/Yb和La/Yb比值指示其源区为尖晶石二辉橄榄岩地幔。因此,坡北杂岩体源区应为浅部以尖晶石二辉橄榄岩为主的亏损岩石圈地幔,地幔柱在源区部分熔融过程中提供了大量的热。     

江汉平原古生界构造结构特征及油气勘探方向

江汉平原古生界具有北西—南东向分为三块、北东—南西向分为三带及纵向上多层楼的构造结构特征。三个区块为当阳—京山构造区、荆州—仙桃构造区及鄂城—大冶构造区,每个区块均可划分出三个次级构造带,并在全区形成三个构造变形分带。这三个分带在变形强度、构造样式等方面具有特征性差异:北东侧的构造分带受东秦岭—大别山造山运动产生的挤压应力的直接作用,显示以逆冲推覆结构为主要特征;南西侧的构造分带在三个构造区有差别,在当阳—京山构造区形成斜坡稳定带,在另两个构造区则以推覆叠瓦构造为特征;中部构造分带一般显示前缘断褶或复合叠加构造。当阳—京山构造区东部和鄂城—大冶构造区应以逆冲推覆体为勘探对象;荆州—仙桃构造区的仙桃地区应以上古生界油气藏为勘探目标;当阳—京山构造区西部宜昌稳定带和荆州—仙桃构造区的珂理—簰洲地区则应以下古生界油气藏为勘探目标。     

Hydrostatic-system palsas at Toolik lake,Alaska: Field observations and simulation

Stratigraphic and chemical data from the ice core of an ‘anthropogenic palsa’ at Toolik Lake, Alaska, indicate that the mound formed as a consequence of hydrostatic pressure developed in an isolated hydrologic system within the active layer. Survey data for five palsas over a three-year period suggest that growth was essentially complete at the time of the initial survey; a net decrease of summit elevation is apparent in all five mounds, but complete degradation of the palsas would require several decades at observed rates. Because accurate field measurements of thermal and hydrologic evolution in such features are extremely difficult, simulation of the environmental conditions and events involved in palsa growth is an important supplement to field observation. Both analytic and finite-element models yield results that are in substantial agreement with inferences drawn from observational data.