Late Holocene great earthquakes and relative sea‐level change at Kenai,southern Alaska

Kenai, located on the west coast of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, subsided during the great earthquake of AD 1964. Regional land subsidence is recorded within the estuarine stratigraphy as peat overlain by tidal silt and clay. Reconstructions using quantitative diatom transfer functions estimate co‐seismic subsidence (relative sea‐level rise) between 0.28±0.28 m and 0.70±0.28 m followed by rapid post‐seismic recovery. Stratigraphy records an earlier co‐seismic event as a second peat‐silt couplet, dated to ～1500–1400 cal. yr BP with 1.14±0.28 m subsidence. Two decimetre‐scale relative sea‐level rises are more likely the result of glacio‐isostatic responses to late Holocene and Little Ice Age glacier expansions rather than to co‐seismic subsidence during great earthquakes. Comparison with other sites around Cook Inlet, at Girdwood and Ocean View, helps in constructing regional patterns of land‐level change associated with three great earthquakes, AD 1964, ～950–850 cal. yr BP and ～1500–1400 cal. yr BP. Each earthquake has a different spatial pattern of co‐seismic subsidence which indicates that assessment of seismic hazard in southern Alaska requires an understanding of multiple great earthquakes, not only the most recent. All three earthquakes show a pre‐seismic phase of gradual land subsidence that marked the end of relative land uplift caused by inter‐seismic strain accumulation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of heterogeneous strain in the development and preservation of a polymetamorphic record in high-P granulites, western Canadian Shield

Mafic rocks in the Chipman domain of the Athabasca granulite terrane, western Canadian Shield, provide the first well‐documented record of two distinct high‐P granulite facies events in the same domain in this region. Textural relations and the results of petrological modelling (NCFMASHT system) of mafic granulites are interpreted in terms of a three‐stage tectonometamorphic history. Stage 1 involved development of the assemblage Grt + Cpx + Qtz ± Pl (M₁) from a primary Opx‐bearing igneous precursor at conditions of 1.3 GPa, 850–900 °C. Field and microstructural observations suggest that M₁ developed synchronously with an early S₁ gneissic fabric. Stage 2 is characterized by heterogeneous deformation (D₂) and synkinematic partial retrogression of the peak assemblage to an amphibole‐bearing assemblage (M₂). Stage 3 involved a third phase of deformation and a return to granulite facies conditions marked by the prograde breakdown of amphibole (Amph₂) to produce matrix garnet (Grt_3a) and the coronitic assemblage Cpx_3b + Opx_3b + Ilm_3b + Pl_3b (M_3b) at 1.0 GPa, 800–900 °C. M₁ and M_3b are correlated with 2.55 and 1.9 Ga metamorphic generations of zircon, respectively, which were dated in a separate study. Heterogeneous strain played a crucial role in both the development and preservation of these rare examples of multiple granulite facies events within single samples. Without this fortuitous set of circumstances, the apparent reaction history could have incorrectly led to an interpretation involving a single‐cycle high‐grade event. The detailed P–T–t–D history constructed for these rocks provides the best evidence to date that much of the east Lake Athabasca region experienced long‐term lower crustal residence from 2.55 to 1.9 Ga, and thus the region represents a rare window into the reactivation and ultimate stabilization processes of cratonic lithosphere.     

沿海地区城市发展及地面沉降的系统控制

本文运用系统工程原理,系统论述了地下水合理开发、管理和地面沉降系统控制,这对沿海地区地面沉降控制起到重要的作用。     

全站仪交汇法在高速公路路面沉降监测中的应用

文章介绍了全站仪交会法沉降监测,方便简洁地解决了测量人员不能进入的高速公路等特殊位置的测量问题,并通过对该方法的精度分析,论证了其可行性和有效性,对以后类似的测量工作提供经验和依据。     

Mesozoic transtensional basin history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombian Andes: Inferences from tectonic models

Backstripping analysis and forward modeling of 162 stratigraphic columns and wells of the Eastern Cordillera (EC), Llanos, and Magdalena Valley shows the Mesozoic Colombian Basin is marked by five lithosphere stretching pulses. Three stretching events are suggested during the Triassic–Jurassic, but additional biostratigraphical data are needed to identify them precisely. The spatial distribution of lithosphere stretching values suggests that small, narrow (<150 km), asymmetric graben basins were located on opposite sides of the paleo-Magdalena–La Salina fault system, which probably was active as a master transtensional or strike-slip fault system. Paleomagnetic data suggesting a significant (at least 10°) northward translation of terranes west of the Bucaramanga fault during the Early Jurassic, and the similarity between the early Mesozoic stratigraphy and tectonic setting of the Payandé terrane with the Late Permian transtensional rift of the Eastern Cordillera of Peru and Bolivia indicate that the areas were adjacent in early Mesozoic times. New geochronological, petrological, stratigraphic, and structural research is necessary to test this hypothesis, including additional paleomagnetic investigations to determine the paleolatitudinal position of the Central Cordillera and adjacent tectonic terranes during the Triassic–Jurassic. Two stretching events are suggested for the Cretaceous: Berriasian–Hauterivian (144–127 Ma) and Aptian–Albian (121–102 Ma). During the Early Cretaceous, marine facies accumulated on an extensional basin system. Shallow-marine sedimentation ended at the end of the Cretaceous due to the accretion of oceanic terranes of the Western Cordillera. In Berriasian–Hauterivian subsidence curves, isopach maps and paleomagnetic data imply a (>180 km) wide, asymmetrical, transtensional half-rift basin existed, divided by the Santander Floresta horst or high. The location of small mafic intrusions coincides with areas of thin crust (crustal stretching factors >1.4) and maximum stretching of the subcrustal lithosphere. During the Aptian–early Albian, the basin extended toward the south in the Upper Magdalena Valley. Differences between crustal and subcrustal stretching values suggest some lowermost crustal decoupling between the crust and subcrustal lithosphere or that increased thermal thinning affected the mantle lithosphere. Late Cretaceous subsidence was mainly driven by lithospheric cooling, water loading, and horizontal compressional stresses generated by collision of oceanic terranes in western Colombia. Triassic transtensional basins were narrow and increased in width during the Triassic and Jurassic. Cretaceous transtensional basins were wider than Triassic–Jurassic basins. During the Mesozoic, the strike-slip component gradually decreased at the expense of the increase of the extensional component, as suggested by paleomagnetic data and lithosphere stretching values. During the Berriasian–Hauterivian, the eastern side of the extensional basin may have developed by reactivation of an older Paleozoic rift system associated with the Guaicáramo fault system. The western side probably developed through reactivation of an earlier normal fault system developed during Triassic–Jurassic transtension. Alternatively, the eastern and western margins of the graben may have developed along older strike-slip faults, which were the boundaries of the accretion of terranes west of the Guaicáramo fault during the Late Triassic and Jurassic. The increasing width of the graben system likely was the result of progressive tensional reactivation of preexisting upper crustal weakness zones. Lateral changes in Mesozoic sediment thickness suggest the reverse or thrust faults that now define the eastern and western borders of the EC were originally normal faults with a strike-slip component that inverted during the Cenozoic Andean orogeny. Thus, the Guaicáramo, La Salina, Bitúima, Magdalena, and Boyacá originally were transtensional faults. Their oblique orientation relative to the Mesozoic magmatic arc of the Central Cordillera may be the result of oblique slip extension during the Cretaceous or inherited from the pre-Mesozoic structural grains. However, not all Mesozoic transtensional faults were inverted.     

Preservation/exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure subduction complexes

Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic terranes reflect subduction of continental crust to depths of 90–140 km in Phanerozoic contractional orogens. Rocks are intensely overprinted by lower pressure mineral assemblages; traces of relict UHP phases are preserved only under kinetically inhibiting circumstances. Most UHP complexes present in the upper crust are thin, imbricate sheets consisting chiefly of felsic units ± serpentinites; dense mafic and peridotitic rocks make up less than  10% of each exhumed subduction complex. Roundtrip prograde–retrograde P–T paths are completed in 10–20 Myr, and rates of ascent to mid-crustal levels approximate descent velocities. Late-stage domical uplifts typify many UHP complexes.

Sialic crust may be deeply subducted, reflecting profound underflow of an oceanic plate prior to collisional suturing. Exhumation involves decompression through the P–T stability fields of lower pressure metamorphic facies. Scattered UHP relics are retained in strong, refractory, watertight host minerals (e.g., zircon, pyroxene, garnet) typified by low rates of intracrystalline diffusion. Isolation of such inclusions from the recrystallizing rock matrix impedes back reaction. Thin-aspect ratio, ductile-deformed nappes are formed in the subduction zone; heat is conducted away from UHP complexes as they rise along the subduction channel. The low aggregate density of continental crust is much less than that of the mantle it displaces during underflow; its rapid ascent to mid-crustal levels is driven by buoyancy. Return to shallow levels does not require removal of the overlying mantle wedge. Late-stage underplating, structural contraction, tectonic aneurysms and/or plate shallowing convey mid-crustal UHP décollements surfaceward in domical uplifts where they are exposed by erosion. Unless these situations are mutually satisfied, UHP complexes are completely transformed to low-pressure assemblages, obliterating all evidence of profound subduction.     

Subsidence due to peat oxidation and impact on drainage infrastructures in a farmland catchment south of the Venice Lagoon

Large agricultural areas reclaimed in the past century, south of the Venice Lagoon, have experienced significant land subsidence due to oxidation of peat organic soils. This has exposed the region to flood hazard particularly during severe storms and has contributed to increase the marginal management cost of the infrastructures (ditches, levees, pumping stations) designed to operate the drainage system. Direct measurements and indirect evidence from the channel network suggest a land settlement between 1.5 and 2 m over the past 70 years. This paper provides an overview of the problem with important information on its most recent evolution.     

The geological and geodynamic evolution of the eastern Black Sea basin: insights from 2-D and 3-D tectonic modelling

Subsidence mechanisms that may have controlled the evolution of the eastern Black Sea have been studied and simulated using a numerical model that integrates structural, thermal, isostatic and surface processes in both two- (2-D) and three-dimensions (3-D). The model enables the forward modelling of extensional basin evolution followed by deformation due to subsequent extensional and compressional events. Seismic data show that the eastern Black Sea has evolved via a sequence of interrelated tectonic events that began with early Tertiary rifting followed by several phases of compression, mainly confined to the edges of the basin. A large magnitude (approximately 12 km) of regional subsidence also occurred in the central basin throughout the Tertiary. Models that simulate the magnitude of observed fault controlled extension (β=1.13) do not reproduce the total depth of the basin. Similarly, the modelling of compressional deformation around the edges of the basin does little to enhance subsidence in the central basin. A modelling approach that quantifies lithosphere extension according to the amount of observed crustal thinning and thickening across the basin provides the closest match to overall subsidence. The modelling also shows that deep crustal and mantle–lithosphere processes can significantly influence the rate and magnitude of syn- to post-rift subsidence and shows that such mechanisms may have played an important role in forming the anomalously thin syn-rift and thick Miocene–Quaternary sequences observed in the basin. It is also suggested that extension of a 40–45 km thick pre-rift crust is required to generate the observed magnitude of total subsidence when considering a realistic bathymetry.     

Post-mid-Cretaceous eastern North Sea evolution inferred from 3D thermo-mechanical modelling

The Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic evolution of the eastern North Sea region is investigated by 3D thermo-mechanical modelling. The model quantifies the integrated effects on basin evolution of large-scale lithospheric processes, rheology, strength heterogeneities, tectonics, eustasy, sedimentation and erosion.

The evolution of the area is influenced by a number of factors: (1) thermal subsidence centred in the central North Sea providing accommodation space for thick sediment deposits; (2) 250-m eustatic fall from the Late Cretaceous to present, which causes exhumation of the North Sea Basin margins; (3) varying sediment supply; (4) isostatic adjustments following erosion and sedimentation; (5) Late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic Alpine compressional phases causing tectonic inversion of the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone (STZ) and other weak zones.

The stress field and the lateral variations in lithospheric strength control lithospheric deformation under compression. The lithosphere is relatively weak in areas where Moho is deep and the upper mantle warm and weak. In these areas the lithosphere is thickened during compression producing surface uplift and erosion (e.g., at the Ringkøbing–Fyn High and in the southern part of Sweden). Observed late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic shallow water depths at the Ringkøbing–Fyn High as well as Cenozoic surface uplift in southern Sweden (the South Swedish Dome (SSD)) are explained by this mechanism.

The STZ is a prominent crustal structural weakness zone. Under compression, this zone is inverted and its surface uplifted and eroded. Contemporaneously, marginal depositional troughs develop. Post-compressional relaxation causes a regional uplift of this zone.

The model predicts sediment distributions and paleo-water depths in accordance with observations. Sediment truncation and exhumation at the North Sea Basin margins are explained by fall in global sea level, isostatic adjustments to exhumation, and uplift of the inverted STZ. This underlines the importance of the mechanisms dealt with in this paper for the evolution of intra-cratonic sedimentary basins.     

The tectonic regime in Italy inferred from borehole breakout data

In Italy, the horizontal stress directions are well constrained in many regions, but the tectonic regime is not well known because the stress magnitudes are unknown. Our intention is to improve the knowledge of crustal stress in Italy, both at shallow depth and in low seismicity areas. Therefore, we inferred the tectonic regime from the comparison between the depth of breakout occurrence and the physical properties of the rocks in 20 boreholes. The critical value of the maximum horizontal stress, for which the effective tangential stress at the borehole wall overcomes the rock strength to form breakouts, could be computed from rock strength and density. Comparing the theoretical stress distributions for different tectonic regimes with the depth distribution of breakout occurrence, it is possible to infer the tectonic regime that fits best to the breakout depth distribution. We investigated boreholes up to 6 km deep located in different tectonic environments over the Italian peninsula: the Po Plain, the Apenninic chain, the Adriatic foredeep and the Tyrrhenian Quaternary volcanic region. These wells are characterised by breakout data of good quality (A, B and C, according to World Stress Map quality ranking system). The results are in general agreement with the style of faulting derived from earthquake focal mechanisms and other stress indicators. Our results show a predominance of a normal faulting (NF) regime in the inner Apennines and both normal faulting and strike–slip faulting (SS) style in the surrounding regions, possibly also associated with changes in the tectonic regime with depth.