time resolved seismic tomography detects magma intrusions at mount etna the continuous volcanic and seismic activity at mount etna makes this volcano an important laboratory for seismological and geophysical studies we used repeated three dimensional tomography to detect variations in elastic parameters during different volcanic cycles before and during the october 2002 january 2003 flank eruption well defined anomalous low p to s wave velocity ratio volumes were revealed absent during the pre eruptive period the anomalies trace the intrusion of volatile rich 4 weight percent basaltic magma most of which rose up only a few months before the onset of eruption the observed time changes of velocity anomalies suggest that four dimensional tomography provides a basis for more efficient volcano monitoring and short and midterm eruption forecasting of explosive activity

shallow intrusive processes during 2002 2004 and current volcanic activity on mt etna 1 the understanding of shallow intrusive processes during 2002 2004 as well as the causes of the volcano tectonic seismicity has been improved at mt etna by comparing the inversion results from gps data with accurate 3d hypocentral locations our findings indicate that short periods of deflation about six months were followed by recharging phases after the end of both the 2001 and 2002 2003 flank eruptions during the last recharging phase june 2003 august 2004 modeling results and seismic observations suggest a composite mechanism of re injection of magma into the rift zones s and ne similar to that leading to the 2002 2003 flank eruption which could have triggered the summit eruption started on september 7 2004

high precision locations of the microseismicity preceding the 2002 2003 mt etna eruption 1 to recognize possible signals of intrusive processes leading to the last 2002 2003 flank eruption at mt etna we analyzed the spatial pattern of microseismicity between august 2001 and october 2002 and calculated 23 fault plane solutions fpss for shocks with magnitude greater than 2 5 by applying the double difference approach of waldhauser and ellsworth 2000 on 3d locations we found that most of the scattered epicentral locations further collapse in roughly linear features high precision locations evidenced a distribution of earthquakes along two main alignments oriented ne sw to ene wsw and nw se matching well both with the known tectonic and volcanic lineaments of etna and fpss results moreover microseismicity and swarms located along the nnw sse volcano genetic trend suggest together with geodetic data and volcanological evidence that progressive magma refilling has occurred since february 2002

ground deformation patterns on mount etna 1992 to 1994 inferred from gps data in this paper ground deformation that occurred on mount etna from 1992 1994 is studied using gps data first problems relating to data processing of the 1993 and 1994 surveys carried out on the whole of the mount etna gps network are considered care has been paid to the network adjustment step particularly in evaluating effects of the reference frame stability in finding final solutions comparison between survey results allows us to invert the strain tensor and to compute displacement vectors the latter when fully constrained solutions are available the comparisons lead to the conclusion that during the 1992 1994 period at least two sources were active the first was related to a shallow dyke that produced the 1991 1993 eruptive fissures the second deeper source was depleted during the 1991 1993 eruption and recharged between 1993 and 1994 local ground movements correlate spatially and temporally with seismic phenomena

chemical weathering river geochemistry and atmospheric carbon fluxes from volcanic and ultramafic regions on luzon island the philippines abstract we investigated rates of chemical weathering of volcanic and ophiolitic rocks on luzon island the philippines luzon has a tropical climate and is volcanically and tectonically very active all factors that should enhance chemical weathering seventy five rivers and streams 10 draining ophiolites 65 draining volcanic bedrock and two volcanic hot springs were sampled and analyzed for major elements alkalinity and 87sr 86sr cationic fluxes from the volcanic basins are dominated by ca2 and mg2 and dissolved silica concentrations are high 500 1900 m silica concentrations in streams draining ophiolites are lower 400 900 m and the cationic charge is mostly mg2 the areally weighted average co2 export flux from our study area is 3 89 0 21 106 mol km2 yr or 5 99 0 64 106 mol km2 yr from ophiolites and 3 58 0 23 106 mol km2 yr from volcanic areas uncertainty given as 1 standard error s e this is 6 10 times higher than the current best estimate of areally averaged global co2 export by basalt chemical weathering and 2 3 times higher than the current best estimate of co2 export by basalt chemical weathering in the tropics extrapolating our findings to all tropical arcs we estimate that around one tenth of all atmospheric carbon exported via silicate weathering to the oceans annually is processed in these environments which amount to 1 of the global exorheic drainage area chemical weathering of volcanic terranes in the tropics appears to make a disproportionately large impact on the long term carbon cycle

the angat ophiolite luzon philippines lithology structure and problems in age interpretation abstract the angat ophiolite is an incompletely unroofed and structurally dissected ophiolitic mass consisting of layered and massive gabbros diabase sheeted dikes tonalites and pillow basalts mapping in the montalban quadrangle has revealed complex structural relationships between pillow basalts and overlying sediments which hinder an accurate determination of ophiolite age sparse radiolarian data suggest a cretaceous age but undifferentiated as to early or late cretaceous the structural deformation of the ophiolite is probably due in part to strike slip faulting during early to middle miocene time this date being constrained by deformed sediments in fault contact with the ophiolite initial geochemical data from sheeted dikes and pillow lavas clearly related to the ophiolite show unusually high silica contents and trace element discrimination suggests that different magma types may have been associated with the ophiolite pillow basalts that are probably genetically unrelated to ophiolite were also mapped close to the angat ophiolite ages and tectonic settings determined from sedimentary rocks overlying these basalts should not be used to constrain age and paleotectonic interpretations of the ophiolite

recent dyke induced large scale block movement at mount etna and potential slope failure here we report the results of a geodetic survey undertaken on mount etna between 1981 and 1988 observed horizontal ground movements in the vicinity of the valle del bove caldera demonstrate that dyke emplacement during 1983 and 1985 resulted in the 2 8 m eastward displacement of a block of western caldera rim a history of past instability and collapse along the rim is indicated by the presence of large back rotated blocks of prehistoric volcanics1 furthermore the unusually linear form of the present western rim indicates past slope failure along north south aligned surfaces and therefore that dyke induced collapse may have been an important agent in caldera enlargement we suggest a self sustaining mechanism whereby the stress regime generated as a consequence of the caldera s existence results in the repeated injection of north south orientated dykes adjacent to the western rim2 3 dilation associated with magma intrusion leads in turn to periodic phases of slope instability and failure of the cliff wall causing a progressive westward migration of the western rim

coupled magma chamber inflation and sector collapse slip observed with synthetic aperture radar interferometry on mt etna volcano 1 volcanoes deform dynamically due to changes in both their magmatic system and instability of their edifice mt etna features vigorous and almost continuous eruptive activity from its summit craters and periodic flank eruptions even though its shape is that of a large stratovolcano its structure features two rift systems and a flank collapse structure similar to hawaiian shield volcanoes we analyze european remote sensing ers satellite differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar data 1993 1996 for mt etna spanning its quiescence from 1993 through the initiation of renewed eruptive activity in late 1995 we use synthetic aperture radar sar data from both ascending and descending ers satellite tracks comparison of independent interferograms covering the first 2 years of the inflationary period shows a pattern consistent with inflation of the volcano calculation of the tropospheric path delay based on meteorological data does not change this interpretation interferograms from late summer 1995 1996 show no significant deformation joint inversion of interferograms from ascending and descending satellite tracks require both inflation from a spheroidal magmatic source located beneath the summit at 5 km below sea level and displacement of the east flank of etna along a basal decollement both sources of deformation were contemporaneous within the resolution of our data and suggest that inflation of the central magma chamber acted to trigger slip of etna s eastern flank these results demonstrate that flank instability and recharge of a volcano s magma system must both be considered toward understanding how volcanoes work and in their hazard evaluation

age relations among oslo rift magmatic rocks implications for tectonic and magmatic modelling abstract this paper presents a compilation of 67 published and unpublished radiometric age determinations by the rb sr method on magmatic rocks in the continental oslo rift in southeast norway the data include most major rock types and structural units in the subaerial part of the rift the implications of these data with respect to the tectonomagmatic evolution of the rift and processes in the mantle and crust are discussed the oslo rift was active for about 60 million years the earliest recorded magmatic activity was the intrusion of basaltic and syenitic sills in the pre rift lower paleozoic sediments at about 300 ma extrusion of plateau lavas of basaltic and intermediate composition rhomb porphyries started about 295 ma and lasted to about 275 ma with largest magma volumes and highest extrusion rate from 295 to 285 ma in the vestfold graben segment gs one flow per 250 000 years and 0 30 km3 per 103 years the main faulting activity and graben formation occurred during this period the plateau volcanism was succeeded by a stage of bimodal central volcanoes most of which later underwent caldera collapses ring dykes and central intrusions in these calderas give ages in the range 268 266 ma in the vestfold and 266 243 ma in the akershus gs large composite intrusive complexes were emplaced in the periods 27 268 and 273 241 ma in the vestfold and akershus gs respectively a rate of propagation of the rift from ssw towards the nne has been estimated to 1 2 cm y 1 on the basis of 87 sr 86 sr initial ratios and type of magmatic products we estimate magmas to have been emplaced into the crust only during the first 20 25 ma of the magmatic period some of the magmatism appears to be initiated by movement along precambrian fault zones which were reactivated during the oslo rifting event

aftershock sequence and statistics of the 2017 mw 5 5 pohang south korea earthquake implications of fault heterogeneity and postseismic relaxation

multiple large earthquakes in the past 1500 years on a fault in metropolitan manila the philippines the first 14 c based paleoseismic study of an active fault in the philippines shows that a right lateral fault on the northeast edge of metropolitan manila poses a greater seismic hazard than previously thought faulted hillslope colluvium stream channel alluvium and debris flow deposits exposed in trenches across the northern part of the west marikina valley fault record two or three surface faulting events three eroded clay rich soil b horizons suggest thousands of years between surface faulting events whereas 14 c ages on detrital charcoal constrain the entire stratigraphic sequence to the past 1300 1700 years we rely on the 14 c ages to infer faulting recurrence of hundreds rather than thousands of years minimal soil development and modern 14 c ages from colluvium overlying a faulted debris flow deposit in a nearby stream exposure point to a historic age for a probable third or fourth most recent faulting event

intrusive mechanisms at mt etna forerunning the july august 2001 eruption from seismic and ground deformation data in this work we present seismological and ground deformation evidence for the phase preparing the july 18 to august 9 2001 flank eruption at etna the analysis performed through data from the permanent seismic and ground deformation networks highlighted a strong relationship between seismic strain release at depth and surface deformation this joint analysis provided strong constraints on the magma rising mechanisms we show that in the last ten years after the 1991 1993 eruption an overall accumulation of tension has affected the volcano then we investigate the months preceding the 2001 eruption in particular we analyse the strong seismic swarm on april 20 24 2001 comprising more than 200 events mmax 3 6 with prevalent dextral shear fault mechanisms in the western flank the swarm showed a ca ne sw earthquake alignment which in agreement with previous cases can be interpreted as the response of the medium to an intrusive process along the approximately nnw sse volcano genetic trend these mechanisms leading to the july 18 to august 9 2001 flank eruption are analogous to ones observed some months before the 1991 1993 flank eruption and more recently in january 1998 before the february november 1999 summit eruption

tomographic images and 3d earthquake locations of the seismic swarm preceding the 2001 mt etna eruption evidence for a dyke intrusion 1 on july 12 2001 mt etna experienced a sudden increase of seismic activity heralding one of the most intense eruptions of the past 30 years between july 12 and july 18 when the eruption started thousands of small magnitude earthquakes occurred and were recorded by a dense seismic network run by the istituto nazionale di geofisica e vulcanologia sezione di catania ingv ct hypocentral depths of earthquakes were very shallow mostly located above 3 km b s l and clustered near the summit area the high quality seismic dataset gives us the unique opportunity to study the process of magma migration before the eruption in this study we present the three dimensional earthquake locations and the velocity structure obtained by a tomographic inversion the shallowness of seismicity allowed us to enhance the details of the structure beneath the summit craters in a volume poorly defined by previous tomographic studies the presence of a high vp body previously observed at mt etna is confirmed at shallow depth beneath the southeastern part of the summit area the earthquakes preceding the eruption onset concentrated at its western border a low vp vs anomaly is found at 0 1 km depth just at the top of the volume where the magma intruded before the eruption this anomalous zone can be considered as molten material wealthy in gas the relocated seismicity occurs in a cylinder below the vents activated along the fracture system and exhibited an upward migration until the eruption all these results show evidence for the emplacement of a near vertical dyke striking about n s and a few kilometres south of the summit craters

recent seismicity and tomographic modeling of the mount etna plumbing system the monitoring of seismic activity in eastern sicily southern italy has been recently improved in the framework of the poseidon project to investigate both tectonics and volcanic processes of mount etna this effort has produced a homogeneous and complete data set which we use to image the deep structure of the volcano and to define the space and time distribution of the recent seismicity encompassing the 1995 eruption diffuse eruptions between 1995 and 1997 a further magma intrusion started in 1997 and an increase of volcanic activity in july 1998 we inverted p wave arrival times from 307 selected local earthquakes to obtain a three dimensional velocity model of the volcano with a simultaneous inversion for hypocenters and velocity parameters the new tomographic images permit us to define the structure beneath the volcano from the surface down to 18 km depth the main structural feature revealed by our inversion is a high velocity body located beneath the central craters whose lateral extent increases from 6 km between 18 and 9 km depth to 12 km between 9 and 3 km depth near the surface the fast anomaly branches in two separate high vp regions which are located below the summit craters and the eastern flank valle del bove respectively the high velocity features are interpreted as high density cumulates of solidified magma that intruded the shallow crust we hypothesize that magma ascends the crust within the relatively small high velocity conduit below 9 km depth and is stored at depth shallower than 9 km within the broad high velocity region as also suggested by petrological data a sharp increase of seismicity in 1997 with earthquakes occurring at the border of the high velocity body suggests that mount etna sustained recent episodes of intrusions which possibly herald future eruptions no large low velocity anomaly interpretable as a melted magma chamber is imaged in the upper 18 km of the crust while a broad low velocity anomaly in the uppermost mantle revealed by regional seismic data possibly indicates the magma source region at depth earthquake occurrence from the deep source to the shallow intrusive area helps to trace the magma migration and the feeding of the volcanic system

seismicity of the askja and barðarbunga volcanic systems of iceland 2009 2015 abstract a large seismic network deployed in the icelandic highlands recorded 100 000 earthquakes from 2009 to 2015 we develop a local magnitude scale appropriate for use in central iceland which is similar to the scale used by the iceland meteorological office using this large catalogue of earthquakes we analyze the spatial and temporal changes in seismicity rates and b values in microearthquakes recorded from the usually ductile lower crust we find that b values are high reflecting the presence of high thermal gradients and low stresses driving seismicity associated with the movement of melt in contrast b values in the upper crust are variable low b values indicative of a high stress environment are observed during seismic swarms such as those around mt her ubrei and around bar arbunga caldera a persistently seismically active area around a geothermal area within askja caldera has a b value around 1 but has a strong annual cycle of seismicity we attribute the annual cycle to varying load from the snow cover modulating the seismicity seismicity driven by the intrusion of a large dyke has a b value well above 1 driven by the high pore fluid pressures and thermal gradients around the dyke

seismic heterogeneity of mt etna structure and activity a dense seismic array maintained temporarily for 7 weeks provides an approach to deducing the 3 d heterogeneity of the structure of the upper crust beneath mt etna volcano from the inversion of p and s wave arrivals of local earthquakes independent data from a different source array geometry using waves generated by distant shots at sea confirm a main lateral variation a high velocity body underlies part of the volcano its contrast with the surrounding thick sedimentary pile and its location extending from the present summit to the southeast suggests that it may have been built by the development and migration of past eruptive centres followed by caldera collapse local low velocity anomalies near its sharp western edge may be associated with presently active features

composite ground deformation pattern forerunning the 2004 2005 mount etna eruption 1 after the end of the 2002 2003 eruption mount etna activity was characterized only by gentle degassing at the summit craters and some earthquake swarms suddenly an eruption started on 7 september 2004 in complete absence of summit crater volcanic activity seismicity or seismic tremor and ground deformation this is the first time that magma poured out passively without preeruptive and coeruptive volcanic and or geophysical phenomena the primary key to understanding this event is represented by the ground deformation pattern recorded through gps measurements during the year before the eruption the ground deformation shows inflation superimposed by a predominant eastward movement of the eastern sector at a rate never observed before in a noneruptive period the images from satellite radar interferometry confirmed this pattern the deformation field clearly shows that the maximum tension in the eastern sector of the volcano caused the opening of the eruptive fracture which favored the silent pouring out of already resident magma

early magmatic phase in the oslo rift and its related stress regime abstract the earliest magmatic rocks in the oslo graben consist of a complex of sills and dykes intermediate to felsic syenites termed maenaites and basic camptonites intruded into cambrian and lower ordovician pre rift sediments no volcanism appears to be associated with this intrusive phase the sill intrusions are regional in extent and can be found in all parts of the oslo graben except in the north samples from six maenaite sill occurrences dated by the rb sr method yielded late carboniferous ages ranging from 304 to 294 ma these ages place the sill intrusions in the same evolution phase as the proto rift asker group sediments interpreting the sill complex as a paleostress indicator and applying the tectonic model for the sill forming mechanism the deviatoric stress in the crust at the time of intrusion is found to be compressive at the level of the sills and shallower in contrast the succeeding evolution of the oslo graben was dominated by tensile deviatoric stress the timing of the incipient magmatic event in the oslo graben and its state of deviatoric compressive stress support the concept that the oslo rift developed initially in response to the build up foreland compressional stresses in conjunction with the hercynian orogeny there is no evidence for an early pre rift crustal doming stage

sr nd and pb isotope geochemistry of the oslo rift igneous province southeast norway abstract sr nd and pb isotopic compositions are presented for a series of 290 to 250 ma old basaltic to granitic rocks from the oslo rift southeast norway a large group of basalts larvikites and rhomb porphyry lavas cluster within a restricted range of initial isotope ratios tsr 3 to 16 tnd 3 3 to 4 2 206 pb 204 pb i 18 9 to 19 3 207 pb 204 pb i 15 59 to 15 66 208 pb 204 pb i 38 6 to 39 1 the remainder of the rocks trend towards higher initial sr and lower initial nd and pb isotopic ratios data are tested against mantle crust mixing models the oslo rift magmatic rocks originated from a somewhat heterogeneous mildly depleted source located in the subcrustal lithosphere the isotopic character of this source has been inherited by the rocks showing uniform isotopic ratios which have thus not suffered significant crustal contamination the rest of the mafic to intermediate rocks and the syenites were contaminated in the intermediate to lower crust which increased slightly their sr but decreased their nd and pb isotopic ratios as much as 40 50 contamination is suggested for some of the samples strong increases in radiogenic sr seen primarily in the granites are attributed to contamination in the upper crust the mildly depleted mantle proposed as the source for the oslo rift mafic rocks has an isotopic character which can only be explained in terms of a multistage history which included periods of relatively high u pb and th pb ratios resulting from a relatively short depletion history in the subcontinental lithosphere and metasomatic enrichment of the mantle in selected elements

on varying b values with depth results from computer intensive tests for southern california summary the gutenberg richter b value is thought to reflect the stress conditions in the crust therefore spatial and or temporal variations of the b value can provide important information regarding crustal tectonics we investigate the variation of b value with depth in seven selected areas of southern california a previous study provided a detailed mapping of the variations of b with depth in california our study is less systematic than this study our approach is more similar to the regional one used by mori abercrombie in comparison to these previous studies our investigation indicates that the variability of b is often not statistically significant and that the decrease of b with depth should be interpreted with caution the seismic catalogues used are subsets of a set of about 100 000 seismic events recorded by the southern california seismic network scsn and relocated by richards dinger shearer we study the performance of utsu s test compared to bootstrap tests for comparison of b values the results of our investigation also raise the question of the relevancy of utsu s test when comparing b values both simulations and real cases show that the utsu s test is biased towards rejection of the null hypothesis in favour of the hypothesis that b values are significantly different

paleomagnetic results from luzon and the central philippines samples were collected from 86 paleomagnetic sites from the islands of luzon marinduque mindoro panay negros cebu and mindanao in the philippine arc the sampling sites range in age from pleistocene to jurassic characteristic directions of magnetization of the samples were determined by the use of vector plots curie temperature determinations thin section studies and hysteresis studies showed that remanence of these samples is carried by fine grained pseudo single domain magnetite positive fold tests from miocene data from panay jurassic data from mindoro and cretaceous data from cebu suggest that the magnetization of these regions was acquired prior to folding rotations reported below are measured with respect to the axial goecentric dipole field the plio pleistocene data set shows no resolvable rotation for the 22 sites this data set suggests that the various terranes that make up the philippine arc have behaved as a single unit during the past 5 m y or that deformation has been below the limits of resolution the inclination data from the plio pleistocene sites have anomalously shallow inclination and are consistent with other plio pleistocene data from vietnam taiwan and the marianas these data support earlier suggestions for a late neogene offset dipole effect the late miocene sites fall into two separate groups ten sites from western luzon show evidence for around 20 of clockwise rotation in contrast to this late miocene samples from the bicol region negros marinduque and mindanao are not rotated the cause of the postlate miocene clockwise rotation of luzon is unknown but a pliocene collision of the north luzon arc with taiwan is suggested early neogene results also separate into two different populations the population from marinduque shows evidence for a large counterclockwise rotation the second early neogene population comes from panay cebu and mindanao and clearly shows evidence for a clockwise rotation the validity of this rotation is further supported by a fold test and a reversal test these early neogene data sets are consistent with a middle to late miocene collision of the palawan continental terrane and the central philippine arc data from six dikes of possible oligocene age from the zambales ophiolite are highly discordant from the present field being rotated approximately 60 clockwise the directions from these dikes are similar to a direction reported earlier from late oligocene sediments also from the zambales region these two data sets support the interpretation that the eocene direction from zambales is recording a large clockwise rotation of the region data from the mesozoic sites are from two regions data from the cretaceous pandan formation of cebu are discordant with data from the upper jurassic from mindoro the presence of a fold test from each region and a reversal test from mindoro supports the interpretation that each of these data sets is reliable the vgp of mindoro is displaced southward from the late jurassic vgp of south china suggesting a post jurassic southward migration of mindoro

analysis of temporal and spatial heterogeneity of magnitude frequency distribution inferred from earthquake catalogues summary statistical models are introduced for the simultaneous estimation of the changes of the b value and detection rate of earthquakes in a catalogue which develops in time or varies in space the three characteristic parameters including b for the magnitude frequency distribution of detected earthquakes are represented by respective three b spline functions of time or location in a space an objective bayesian method is adopted for the optimal estimate of such functions with many unknown coefficients the present procedure is applied to earthquake catalogues for japanese seismic activity

mapping the b value anomaly at 100 km depth in the alaska and new zealand subduction zones a positive anomaly in the frequency magnitude distribution b value is detected at approximately 90 100 km depth in two subduction zones the b value in this anomalous zone is 40 higher than in adjacent volumes we use regional catalogs with a magnitude of completeness of 2 6 central alaska and cook inlet 2 0 shumagin islands and 3 5 new zealand to resolve the b value as a function of space in more detail we project all earthquakes onto planes perpendicular to the strike of the slab these cross section views of the b value distribution locate the high b value anomalies at a depth of 90 100 km on the upper surface of the wadati benioff zone at these depths slab dehydration may increase pore pressure thus lowering the effective stress and increasing the b value increased pore pressure would also lower the liquidus in the overlying asthenosphere giving rise to the volcanism that occurs directly above this zone

the three dimensional attenuation structures beneath the philippine archipelago based on seismic intensity data inversion abstract attenuation structures were determined for the philippine archipelago by inversion of earthquake intensity data set from 1957 to 1992 the intensity data based on the adapted rossi forel intensity scale were translated into acceleration values using a modified acceleration intensity equation a damped least squares method was used in our inversion we correlated the inversion results with other data such as observed anomalous intensity distribution present seismicity and the location of trenches and volcanic centers our results strongly indicate the association of low attenuation values with subducted slabs along the known location of trenches in the philippines for example the configuration of the philippine trench is suggested by the concentration of low attenuation values along the east side of central and southern philippines while on the western side of luzon island a low attenuation structure is consistent with the location of the manila trench the extent and depth of low attenuation values are also apparent along the eastern side of luzon in southern luzon through negros island in the central philippines the site where anomalous intensity distribution was observed coincided with the location of a noticeable low attenuation structure determined in this study moreover possible locations of an upwelling magmatic body along the numerous areas in the philippines are also indicated by the concentration of high attenuation values furthermore a possible aseismic slab which probably represents a structure that connects the manila trench with the negros trench was also inferred in eastern mindoro however it is also possible that these low attenuating values are due to the presence of continental material in this area on the basis of these initial results we suggest some modifications of the configuration of tectonic structures in several portions of the archipelago

temporal and three dimensional spatial analyses of the frequency magnitude distribution near long valley caldera california summary the 3 d distribution of the b value of the frequency magnitude distribution is analysed in the seismically active parts of the crust near long valley caldera california the seismicity is sampled in spherical volumes containing n 150 earthquakes and centred at nodes of a grid separated by 0 3 km significant variations in the b value are detected with b ranging from b 0 6 to b 2 0 high b value volumes are located near the resurgent dome and at depths below 5 km at mammoth mountain b values are found to be much lower south of the long valley caldera we interpret this to indicate that an active magma body has advanced from depths below 8 km to depths of 4 to 5 km beneath mammoth mountain in 1989 and that anomalous crust either highly fractured or containing unusually high pore pressure such as is the case in the vicinity of active magma bodies exists north of the seismically active area beneath the resurgent dome at all depths we also investigate the spatial distribution of temporal variations of the frequency magnitude distribution by introducing diverential b value maps b values increased from b 0 8 to b 1 5 underneath mammoth mountain at the onset of the 1989 earthquake swarm and remained high thereafter this suggests that an intrusion permanently altered the average distribution of cracks at 5 10 km depth or that the pore pressure permanently increased we propose that high b values are a necessary but not suycient condition near a magmatic body and therefore spatial b value mapping can be used to aid in the identification of active magma bodies

compositional variations among gabbroic intrusions in the oslo rift magmatic activity associated with the formation of the oslo rift south norway in permo carboniferous time includes formation of a series of gabbroic intrusions of minor volume the rock types in these intrusions range from pyroxenite and gabbro to monzonite and anorthosite the mafic units bear evidence of the crystallization order ol cpx opx plag whereas the more evolved rock types have crystallized olivine and plagioclase before clinopyroxene amphibole occasionlly represents an early phase major and trace element data imply that removal of clinopyroxene has dominated the early crystallization history of all these rocks this is also true for rocks which give petrographic evidence of crystallization of cpx after plag rb sr isotope data define a whole rock age of 265 11 for the snaukollen and a mineral age of 266 5 ma for the dignes intrusion whole rock samples from the other intrusions however do not define isochrons but cover a range of 87sr86sr ratios from 0 70395 to 0 71187 it is concluded that the gabbroic oslo rift rocks are produced through a two stage crystallization history combined with crustal contamination 1 1 mafic magmas ascending from some melt region in the mantle were retained in the lower crust where they crystallized olivine and clinopyroxene 2 2 at different stages of evolution residual magmas rose to their present position in the upper crust depending on composition the crystallization sequence there was ol cpx plag or ol plag cpx 3 3 during the final stage of evolution the magmas were to different degrees contaminated by precambrian amphibolite facies and cambro silurian carbonaceous country rock early crystallization of amphibole combined with interstitial calcite in some rocks and highly variable fe3 contents in clinopyroxene imply significant variations in the volatile phase of the magmas which gave rise to the gabbroic rocks these differences may have been introduced through the contamination however the possibility of primary compositional contrasts cannot be excluded

arc and backarc geochemical signatures of the proto philippine sea plate insights from the petrography and geochemistry of the samar ophiolite volcanic section abstract remnants of a cretaceous lithosphere are found at the peripheries of the west philippine basin these mesozoic fragments preserve arc affinity and include the amami plateau the east halmahera ophiolite and the ophiolites along the eastern margin of the philippine archipelago the eastern margin of the philippines is composed of early to late cretaceous ophiolites and ophiolitic complexes that exhibit strong subduction imprints the early late cretaceous samar ophiolite in the central philippines forms part of this eastern belt recent surveys in southern samar revealed the presence of peridotites gabbros and massive and pillowed flows of the samar ophiolite major trace and rare earth element signatures of the volcanic rock samples indicate moderate to strong subduction related influences and formation in an island arc setting in contrast to other similarly aged ophiolites along the eastern margin of the archipelago those to the north of samar island exhibit weak to almost mid oceanic ridge characteristics these differences in the geochemical signatures of the ophiolites and ophiolitic complexes along eastern philippines require a re evaluation of a previous model suggesting that these ophiolites originated from a single oceanic lithosphere possibly the proto philippine sea plate

variations in the frequency magnitude distribution with depth in two volcanic areas mount st helens washington and mt spurr alaska the frequency magnitude distribution of earthquakes characterized using the b value is examined as a function of space beneath mount st helens 1988 1996 and mt spurr 1991 1995 at mount st helens two volumes of anomalously high b b 1 3 can be observed at depths of 2 6 3 6 km below the crater floor and below 6 4 km these anomalies coincide with 1 the depth of vesiculation of ascending magma and 2 the suggested location of a magma chamber at mount st helens study of mt spurr reveals an area of high b value b 1 3 at a depth of about 2 3 4 5 km below the crater floor of the active vent crater peak we propose that the higher material heterogeneity in the vicinity of a magma chamber or conduit due to vesiculation of the ascending magma is the main cause of the increased b value at shallow depths alternatively interaction of magma with groundwater may have increased pore pressure and lowered the effective stress the deeper anomaly at mount st helens is likely caused by high thermal stress gradients in the vicinity of the magma chamber our results indicate that detailed mapping of the frequency magnitude distribution can be used as a tool to trace vesiculation and locate active magma chambers

driving magma to the surface the 2011 2012 el hierro volcanic eruption we reanalyzed the seismic and deformation data corresponding to the pre eruptive unrest on el hierro canary islands in 2011 we considered new information about the internal structure of the island we updated the seismic catalogue to estimate the full evolution of the released seismic energy and demonstrate the importance of non located earthquakes using seismic data and gps displacements we characterized the shear tensile type of the predominant fracturing and modelled the strain and stress fields for different time periods this enabled us to identify a prolonged first phase characterized by hydraulic tensile fracturing which we interpret as being related to the emplacement of new magma below the volcanic edifice on el hierro this was followed by post injection unidirectional migration probably controlled by the stress field and the distribution of the structural discontinuities we identified the effects of energetic magmatic pulses occurring a few days before the eruption that induced shear seismicity on pre existing faults within the volcano and raised the coulomb stress over the whole crust we suggest that these magmatic pulses reflect the crossing of the moho discontinuity as well as changes in the path geometry of the dyke migration towards the surface the final phase involved magma ascent through a pre fractured crust

seismicity patterns associated with the september 10th 2008 qeshm earthquake south iran the b value of the gutenberg richter relation and the standard deviate z were calculated to investigate the temporal and spatial variations in seismicity patterns associated with the september 10th 2008 mw 6 1 qeshm earthquake the temporal variations of b value illustrate a distinct dramatic drop preceding the qeshm earthquake and the spatial changes in b value highlight a zone with an abnormally low b value around the epicenter of this event the cumulative number and z value as a function of time show a precursory seismic quiescence preceding the 2008 qeshm earthquake that observed for 1 year in a circle with r 50 km around its epicenter the spatial distribution map of the standard deviate z also exhibits an obvious precursory seismic quiescence region before the 2008 qeshm event around the epicenter of this event interestingly the precursory seismic quiescence region is approximately consistent with low b value anomaly region and both have e w to ne sw trend these two precursory anomalies took place in relatively large regions which were possibly relevant to the preparation zone of the 2008 qeshm event

melt inclusion record of the conditions of ascent degassing and extrusion of volatile rich alkali basalt during the powerful 2002 flank eruption of mount etna italy 1 two unusual highly explosive flank eruptions succeeded on mount etna in july august 2001 and in october 2002 to january 2003 raising the possibility of changing magmatic conditions here we decipher the origin and mechanisms of the second eruption from the composition and volatile h2o co2 s cl content of olivine hosted melt inclusions in explosive products from its south flank vents our results demonstrate that powerful lava fountains and ash columns at the eruption onset were sustained by closed system ascent of a batch of primitive volatile rich 4 wt basaltic magma that rose from 10 km depth below sea level bsl and suddenly extruded through 2001 fractures maintained opened by eastward flank spreading this magma the most primitive for 240 years probably represents the alkali rich parental end member responsible for etna lavas evolution since the early 1970s few of it was directly extruded at the eruption onset but its input likely pressurized the shallow plumbing system several weeks before the eruption this latter was subsequently fed by the extrusion and degassing of larger amounts of the same but slightly more evolved magma that were ponding at 6 4 km bsl in agreement with seismic data and with the lack of preeruptive so2 accumulation above the initial depth of sulphur exsolution 3 km bsl we find that while ponding this magma was flushed and dehydrated by a co2 rich gas phase of deeper derivation a process that may commonly affect the plumbing system of etna and other alkali basaltic volcanoes

anomalously high b values in the south flank of kilauea volcano hawaii evidence for the distribution of magma below kilauea s east rift zone abstract the pattern of b value of the frequency magnitude relation or mean magnitude varies little in the kaoiki hilea area of hawaii and the b values are normal with b 0 8 in the top 10 km and somewhat lower values below that depth we interpret the kaoiki hilea area as relatively stable normal hawaiian crust in contrast the b values beneath kilauea s south flank are anomalously high b 1 3 1 7 at depths between 4 and 8 km with the highest values near the east rift zone but extending 5 8 km away from the rift also the anomalously high b values vary along strike parallel to the rift zone the highest b values are observed near hiiaka and pauahi craters at the bend in the rift the next highest are near makaopuhi and also near puu kaliu the mildest anomalies occur adjacent to the central section of the rift the locations of the three major and two minor b value anomalies correspond to places where shallow magma reservoirs have been proposed based on analyses of seismicity geodetic data and differentiated lava chemistry the existence of the magma reservoirs is also supported by magnetic anomalies which may be areas of dike concentration and self potential anomalies which are areas of thermal upwelling above a hot source the simplest explanation of these anomalously high b values is that they are due to the presence of active magma bodies beneath the east rift zone at depths down to 8 km in other volcanoes anomalously high b values correlate with volumes adjacent to active magma chambers this supports a model of a magma body beneath the east rift zone which may widen and thin along strike and which may reach 8 km depth and extend from kilauea s summit to a distance of at least 40 km down rift the anomalously high b values at the center of the south flank several kilometers away from the rift may be explained by unusually high pore pressure throughout the south flank or by anomalously strong heterogeneity due to extensive cracking or by both phenomena the major b value anomalies are located sse of their parent reservoirs in the direction of motion of the flank suggesting that magma reservoirs leave an imprint in the mobile flank we hypothesize that the extensive cracking may have been acquired when the anomalous parts of the south flank now several kilometers distant from the rift zone were generated at the rift zone near persistent reservoirs since their generation these volumes may have moved seaward away from the rift but earthquakes occurring in them still use the preexisting complex crack distribution along the decollement plane at 10 km depth the b values are exceptionally low b 0 5 suggesting faulting in a more homogeneous medium

etna 2002 eruption imaged from continuous tilt and gps data 1 on the night of october 26 2002 intense explosive activity and lava effusion began suddenly on the southern flank of mt etna at an altitude of 2750 m during the 27 and 28 october a long field of eruptive fractures propagated radially along the north eastern flank of the volcano ground deformation changes recorded between 26 and 27 october from gps and tilt data collected at the permanent geodetic network of mt etna were modeled to infer the positions and dimensions of the two dikes the observed deformation pattern was consistent with a response of the edifice to a composite mechanism consisting of a vertical uprising dike in the upper southern flank and a lateral intrusion propagating along the north eastern sector the first dike which triggered the eruption crossed the volcano edifice in a few hours and was located in the same area as the 2001 eruption while the second lateral dike which crossed the ne flank was the primary cause of the recorded deformation pattern

deflation of mount etna monitored by spaceborne radar interferometry ground based measurements of volcano deformation can be used to assess eruptive hazard but require the costly and often hazardous installation and maintenance of an instrument network here we show that spaceborne radar interferometry which has already shown its utility in mapping earthquake related deformation1 can be used to monitor long term volcano deformation two families of synthetic aperture radar images acquired from ascending and descending orbits by the satellite ers 1 and looking at mount etna from opposite sides cover the time period from 17 may 1992 to 24 october 1993 and include the second half of etna s most recent eruption despite artefacts of the interferometric technique we can observe a volcano wide deflation which is an expected consequence of the eruption but which had not previously been appreciated we quantify it using a simple model based on the change of pressure in a sphere located in an elastic half space the modelled deformation increases linearly with time until the end of the eruption our results show that it will be possible to use this technique to detect the inflation of volcanic edifices that usually precedes eruptions

role of strike slip faulting in the evolution of allochthonous terranes in the philippines concepts of allochthonous terrane transport and emplacement are dominated by the assumption that most terranes originate on the subducting plate collide with the upper plate and are emplaced there movement of terranes along the convergent margin is recognized but is generally attributed to postcollision slip in the northern philippines allochthonous terranes originate primarily within the arc system have been translated along it by strike slip faults and were emplaced by cessation of that slip the authors suggest that in the philippines some originally vertical strike slip boundaries may have evolved into shallow dipping sutures marked by fold and thrust systems this mode of terrane evolution may be more common than generally appreciated particularly in orogenic belts developed in response to oblique convergence

spatial variations in the frequency magnitude distribution of earthquakes at mount pinatubo volcano the frequency magnitude distribution of earthquakes measured by the b value is mapped in two and three dimensions at mount pinatubo philippines to a depth of 14 km below the summit we analyzed 1406 well located earthquakes with magnitudes m d 0 73 recorded from late june through august 1991 using the maximum likelihood method we found that b values are higher than normal b 1 0 and range between b 1 0 and b 1 8 the computed b values are lower in the areas adjacent to and west southwest of the vent whereas two prominent regions of anomalously high b values b 1 7 are resolved one located 2 km northeast of the vent between 0 and 4 km depth and a second located 5 km southeast of the vent below 8 km depth the statistical differences between selected regions of low and high b values are established at the 99 confidence level the high b value anomalies are spatially well correlated with low velocity anomalies derived from earlier p wave travel time tomography studies our dataset was not suitable for analyzing changes in b values as a function of time we infer that the high b value anomalies around mount pinatubo are regions of increased crack density and or high pore pressure related to the presence of nearby magma bodies manuscript received 16 december 2002

contrasting triggering mechanisms of the 2001 and 2002 2003 eruptions of mount etna italy abstract mount etna produced two significant eruptions in 2001 and 2002 2003 which we have analysed using geological seismic and deformation data these eruptions showed some similarities such as the activating of two magmatic plumbing systems central lateral and eccentric but they differed in their triggering mechanisms while the 2001 eruption was largely the result of the emplacement of a n s eccentric dike independent from the central conduits consistent with e w regional extension the 2002 2003 eruption occurred in response to a major flank slip on the eastern and southeastern sides of the volcano this is demonstrated by the spatial and temporal distribution of seismicity and deformation preceding and accompanying the two eruptions during the months prior to the 2001 eruption most epicenters were concentrated on the southern flank at depths of 5 15 km below sea level during the 4 days before the eruption earthquake hypocenters migrated to shallower levels from 5 km bsl upward indicating the emplacement of the eccentric dike this is confirmed by the patterns of ground fracturing observed in the field and deformation documented by electronic distance measurements edm in contrast the months before the 2002 2003 eruption were characterised by shallower seismicity mainly concentrated along the active faults bordering the slipping flank sector flank slip accelerated in september 2002 and a second more vigorous acceleration of flank slip occurred on 26 27 october 2002 accompanying the opening of eruptive vents the very short 2 h seismic crisis preceding the onset of eruptive activity stands in neat contrast with the 4 days of intense seismicity before the 2001 eruption subsequently flank slip deformation extended all over the eastern and southeastern flanks of the volcano causing serious damage in this sector the events of 2001 2003 can be seen as a continuous chain of intimately interacting processes including regional tectonics magma accumulation and eruption and flank instability in this scenario the 2001 eruption led to increased flank instability that subsequently accelerated and culminated with the massive flank slip which in turn facilitated the 2002 2003 eruption this sequence of events points to a long term feedback mechanism between magmatism and flank instability at etna

new insights on volcanic and tectonic structures of the southern tyrrhenian italy from marine and land seismic data 1 we present results from the first crustal seismic tomography for the southern tyrrhenian area which includes ocean bottom seismometer obs data and a bathymetry correction this area comprises mt etna the aeolian islands and many volcanic seamounts including the marsili seamount the seismicity distribution in the area depends on the complex interaction between tectonics and volcanism the 3 d velocity model presented in this study is obtained by the inversion of p wave arrival times from crustal earthquakes we integrate travel time data recorded by an obs network tyrrhenian deep sea experiment the sn 1 seafloor observatory and the land network our model shows a high correlation between the p wave anomaly distribution and seismic and volcanic structures two main low velocity anomalies underlie the central aeolian islands and mt etna the two volumes which are related to the well known active volcanism are separated and located at different depths this finding in agreement with structural petrography and gps data from literature confirms the independence of the two systems the strongest negative anomaly is found below mt etna at the base of the crust and we associate it with the deep feeding system of the volcano we infer that most of the seismicity is generated in brittle rock volumes that are affected by the action of hot fluids under high pressure due to the active volcanism in the area lateral changes of velocity are related to a transition from the western to the central aeolian islands and to the passage from continental crust to the tyrrhenian oceanic uppermost mantle

the dyke swarm of mount calanna etna italy an example of the uppermost portion of a volcanic plumbing system a new multidisciplinary study combining geology petrography and geochemistry on the rocks of the isolated hill of mount calanna mount etna italy has provided evidence for the existence of a dyke swarm formed by more than 200 dykes distributed over an area of 0 7 km2 with an intensity of intrusion up to 40 all bodies are deeply altered and the geological and mesostructural surveying of 132 dykes revealed that they intruded in e w direction with an average dip of 60 the faults affecting the outcrop have in general an e w strike and dip of 55 these have all normal motion and have been interpreted as coeval with the dykes this interpretation contrasts with the previous hypothesis that considered mount calanna as a thrust resulting from compressive deformation resulting from the gravitational spreading of the volcanic edifice mount calanna is here interpreted as the uppermost portion of a vertically extensive magmatic plexus that fed the eruptive activity of one or more eruptive center s sited in the valle del bove area measurements of the apparent densities on 23 dykes and host rock samples give an average value of 2 420 kg m3 for the entire complex 15 lower than the density expected for hawaiitic magma placing an important constraint on the geophysical identification of similar structures considering that mount etna is not an old eroded edifice but an active and growing volcano the exposure of this subvolcanic structure can be regarded as exceptional its geometry and physical characteristics can be thus regarded as an interesting example of the present day shallow plumbing system of mount etna as well as of other basaltic volcanoes

etna 2004 2005 an archetype for geodynamically controlled effusive eruptions 1 the 2004 05 eruption of etna was characterised by outpouring of degassed lava from two vents within valle del bove after three months of eruption lava volumes were estimated to be between 18 5 and 32 106 m3 with eruption rate between 2 3 and 4 1 m3 s petrological analyses show that magma is resident in the shallow plumbing system emplaced during the last south east crater activity so2 flux data show no increase at the onset of the eruption and so2 hcl ratios in gas emitted from the eruptive fissure are consistent with a degassed magma no seismic activity was recorded prior to eruption unlike eruptions observed since the 1980 s the purely effusive nature of this eruption fed by a degassed resident magma and the fracture dynamics suggest that magmatic overpressure played a limited role in this eruption rather lateral spreading of etna s eastern flank combined with general inflation of the edifice triggered a geodynamically controlled eruption

mapping active magma chambers by b values beneath the off ito volcano japan the b value of the frequency magnitude relation and thus the mean magnitude in the off ito volcanic area is not uniform based on detailed b value tomography using about 10 000 events in an area of 10 km radius and in the upper 15 km of the crust a high b value anomaly b 15 below 7 km depth and with a radius of about 2 km located below the coast southeast of ito contrasts with lower values of typically b 0 7 north of it and at shallower depths on the basis of surface deformations a tensile crack dislocation source was located above 7 km depth thus we surmise that the magma chamber in the off ito area was located below 7 km depth the correlation of a high b value anomaly with this model supports our hypothesis that active magma chambers may be mapped by high b value anomalies the magma body may be described as consisting of two parts a lower well established chamber below 11 km depth and a shallower part 11 7 km depth the b value in the volume surrounding the magma chamber increased from 0 7 during the 1980s to 1 5 during the earthquake swarms of the 1990s this may reflect a trend of increasing crack density due to the intrusion activity

magma uprising and flank dynamics on mount etna volcano studied using gps data 1994 1995 1 ground deformation occurring on mount etna from 1994 to 1995 is analyzed in this paper this period was characterized by intense volcanic activity at the four summit craters with frequent strombolian activity fire fountains and emplacement of several new lava flows four gps surveys were carried out during this time two as routinely planned each year and an additional two in 1995 to acquire more data to follow the activity at the ne crater the comparisons between gps surveys are reported in terms of horizontal and vertical displacements of each station and in terms of areal dilatation and principal strain axes during the period considered in this work a trend of increasing areal dilatation of the volcano at a rate of about 5 strain yr was recognized it was briefly interrupted by a small contraction about 2 strain in the autumn of 1995 when volcanic activity at the summit craters began in detail the strain distribution of the network is analyzed it allows the detection of areas showing anomalous behavior such as the summit zone or the pernicana fault inversions of the ground displacement vectors have been performed by appropriately combining numerical and analytical approaches results of the inversions suggest structures defining an eastward and southward sliding of the eastern and southeastern sectors of mount etna

dynamic inversion of ground deformation data for modelling volcanic sources etna 1991 93 the 1991 93 etna eruption that represented the most important recent eruptive event both in terms of duration 472 days and total volume of erupted lava ca 250 106 m caused marked ground deformation measured by using different geodetic techniques such as edm gps levelling and tiltmetry an inversion termed dynamic because it took into account the sequence of events considering both the separate and cumulative effects of two sources a shallow tensile crack and a deeper ellipsoidal deflating source was performed it was based on 163 data collected by the different techniques plus 2 geometrical conditions for constraining the geometry of the crack on the surface the final solution furnished a good fit for all measurements defining a shallow tensile crack located inside the volcanic edifice which represents the effect of the intrusion and a depressuring body with centre at ca 3000 m b s l which could represent the centre of a generalized and more complex deflation of the volcanic edifice during the course of the eruption

minimum magnitude of completeness in earthquake catalogs examples from alaska the western united states and japan we mapped the minimum magnitude of complete reporting m c for alaska the western united states and for the junec earthquake catalog of japan mc was estimated based on its departure from the linear frequency magnitude relation of the 250 closest earthquakes to grid nodes spaced 10 km apart in all catalogs studied mc was strongly heterogeneous in offshore areas the mc was typically one unit of magnitude higher than onshore on land also mc can vary by one order of magnitude over distance less than 50 km we recommend that seismicity studies that depend on complete sets of small earthquakes should be limited to areas with similar mc or the minimum magnitude for the analysis has to be raised to the highest com mon value of mc we believe that the data quality as reflected by the mc level should be used to define the spatial extent of seismicity studies where mc plays a role the method we use calculates the goodness of fit between a power law fit to the data and the observed frequency magnitude distribution as a function of a lower cutoff of the magnitude data mc is defined as the magnitude at which 90 of the data can be modeled by a power law fit mc in the 1990s is approximately 1 2 0 4 in most parts of california 1 8 0 4 in most of alaska aleutians and panhandle excluded and at a higher level in the junec catalog for japan various sources such as ex plosions and earthquake families beneath volcanoes can lead to distributions that cannot be fit well by power laws for the hokkaido region we demonstrate how neglecting the spatial variability of m c can lead to erroneous assumptions about deviations from self similarity of earthquake scaling

source model for the 2001 flank eruption of mt etna volcano 1 using interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar we constrain the deformation sources for the july august 2001 flank eruption of mt etna volcano italy insar data from ascending and descending passes of the ers2 satellite reveal a pattern of deformation that cannot be explained by a dike intrusion alone in addition to a vertical dike beneath the south rift zone the spatially large 10 km scale 15 20 cm in range negative range displacement lobes across the western descending data and eastern ascending data flanks require a nearly symmetric set of shallowly dipping normal faults to each side of the central dike complexity in the observed insar surface displacements constrains an additional dike intrusion beneath its ne flank long term deformation of etna s eastern and southern flanks is well established through field and insar observations therefore the relative symmetry of motion beneath both the western and eastern flanks during the 2001 eruption is surprising our model of symmetric flank motion suggests that on the short time scales of a large dike intrusion volcanoes can deform differently from their long term deformation

related spatio temporal changes in hypocenters and the b value in the 2017 kagoshima bay swarm activity indicating a rise of hot fluids abstract spatio temporal characteristics of the b value in relation to changes in hypocentral distribution and the occurrence rate of swarm earthquakes in the 2017 kagoshima bay activity were investigated noting stepwise changes in the area as well as the occurrence rate of swarm events we divided the activity from december 2016 to october 2017 into six stages characteristics of the activity in each stage were clearly grasped when swarm area was divided into several rectangular zones in a nnw sse direction and when hypocenters and the b value in each zone were examined in detail after the largest shock with a magnitude m of 5 3 on july 11 2017 the swarm area expanded conspicuously however the dominant factor that played a leading role in the development of swarm activity was not the occurrence of the m 5 3 shock but activity in the zone zone b just to the west of the focal region the number of events in zone b was more than two times the whole number of events that occurred in the entire swarm area except for zone b the hypocentral distribution in zone b was relatively shallow from early stages but the most notable feature was the abrupt diffusion of events to a shallower layer at the time of the m 4 4 shock on august 24 2017 the b value in the central part of zone b was noticeably high from earlier stages but remarkably high for the shallow events of the burst like activity after the m 4 4 shock from these spatio temporal characteristics of hypocenters and the b value we propose that hot fluids that had existed beneath the central part of zone b ascended at the time of the m 4 4 shock moreover hot fluids were the major cause of the 2017 kagoshima bay swarm activity

zircon u pb geochronology of the zambales and angat ophiolites luzon philippines evidence for an eocene arc back arc pair two basement terranes the zambales ophiolite in the west and the angat ophiolite in the east are exposed on the island of luzon separated by a circa 10 km thick and circa 100 km wide sedimentary basin the structural and age relationships between the two ophiolitic blocks are central to understanding the geologic and tectonic development of the northern philippines and evaluating models of terrane evolution proposed for this area of the western pacific we analyzed zircons from the zambales and angat terranes to better constrain their origin two zircon fractions from tonalite in the acoje block of the zambales ophiolite give concordant u pb ages at 44 2 0 9 ma two zircon fractions from plagiogranite and one fraction from diorite in the coto block of the zambales ophiolite give concordant u pb ages of 45 1 0 6 ma these results provide a middle eocene age for the zambales ophiolite in agreement with the minimum late eocene age of the overlying aksitero formation no age difference is discerned between the arc like acoje block and morb like coto block of the zambales ophiolite four zircon fractions from two sample sites in the angat ophiolite give concordant ages of 48 1 0 5 ma this age is considerably younger than the late cretaceous age based on radiolarian fauna derived from a sheeted dike pillow lava sediment sequence south southeast of the main ophiolite the small age difference between the zambales and angat ophiolites suggests a common origin and obviates the need for a major structural discontinuity west of the southern sierra madre beneath the central valley of luzon the cretaceous biostratigraphic ages of the ophiolitic rocks southeast of the eocene angat ophiolite implies that there are two ophiolitic basements exposed in the southern sierra madre the relationship between the two ophiolites is constrained by the overlying stratigraphic relations which indicate that an eocene volcanic arc and associated volcaniclastic apron was built on both the eocene and cretaceous ophiolitic basement this suggests that the zambales angat ophiolite represents a preserved eocene back arc basin that opened behind an eocene arc that developed within cretaceous oceanic basement in this model the zambales angat ophiolites are therefore not allochthonous terranes but part of a single plate generated in situ forming part of the autochthonous basement of luzon

mount etna dense array local earthquake p and s tomography and implications for volcanic plumbing inversion for the three dimensional velocity structure of mount etna is performed with a data set of arrival times of p and s waves of local earthquakes from temporary dense arrays of three component seismographs a high v p body revealed by the original tomography without nearby stations is confirmed and its image is sharpened using new velocity constraints provided by refraction data synthetic tests of v p and v p v s and comparison with an independent artificial source tomography with a fundamentally different geometry consistently calibrate the significance threshold of the resolution indicators the trustworthy part of the image shows a high v p body centered under the southern part of valle del bove above the 6 km below sea level deep basement which extends towards sea level and may be rooted in or through the crust it has a large contrast of over 1 km s with the surrounding sediments and sharp lateral limits and can thus be regarded as made of intrusive material of magmatic origin the massive high v p body is heterogeneous in v p v s the regions inside it where v s is relatively low can then be suspected of containing a proportion of melt or be fractured and act as pressure links or transport zones such features may be structurally linked and appear to be activated in eruptive phenomena by taking into account the heterogeneities in structure and physical state retrieved by seismic tomography a succession of seismic events deformational episodes and geochemical variation in lavas can be discussed with respect to the well observed eruptions

regional stress influence on the opening direction of crater amphitheaters in southeast asian volcanoes abstract holocene volcanoes in the philippines and indonesia were studied to determine the possible relationship between the regional maximum horizontal stress hmax and the opening direction of volcanic amphitheatre craters the study was conducted using publicly available shuttle radar topographic mission srtm images and the world stress map wsm the results corroborate findings in similar research on japanese and indonesian volcanoes indicating that opening of craters occur at an acute angle relative to the hmax direction further investigation of volcanoes in southwest and southeast luzon philippines regions where fault structures and their kinematics are better constrained reveal a promising tectonic stress related rationale for crater opening direction several volcanoes in these regions of the philippines appear to have amphitheatre craters open in the direction related to the fault underlying the volcano these observations are consistent with those derived from analogue models of volcanic cones deformed by basal strike slip faulting these findings can be useful in advancing our understanding of volcanic flank failure and for hazards preparedness against such catastrophic events

attenuation and source parameters of shallow microearthquakes at mt etna volcano italy we estimated the attenuation laws of high frequency seismic waves in the shallow crust depth 5 km and earthquake source parameters by using a se lected data set of 320 shallow events 2 6 md 4 2 recorded at mt etna volcano during the last two flank eruptions occurring in 2001 and 2002 2003 the quality factor q was estimated from spectra of p and s waves for 24 stations of the local permanent network by applying a spectral ratio technique the results show varia tions in both qp and qs as a function of frequency according to the power law q q0f n with n ranging between 0 3 and 1 3 for p waves and between 0 2 and 0 9 for s waves as typical of volcanic environments strong azimuthal variations of qp were also found suggesting the presence of local strong lateral heterogeneities and or of fluid filled cracked volumes after correction for attenuation we estimated the source parameters seismic moment source radius and stress drop of a subset of 66 shallow events under the assumption of a circular dislocation the estimated seismic moments m0 range from 10 13 to 10 15 n m the source radii r are confined between 100 and 1000 m and stress drop dr ranges between 0 2 mpa and about 4 mpa combining the source parameters obtained in this study with those calculated by pataneet al 1997 for an old data set of smaller microearthquakes 10 9 m0 10 14 n m recorded in the same area we re evaluated the scaling relationship between seismic moment m 0 and corner frequency f c for the earthquakes with m 0 ranging between 10 13 and 10 15 n m we confirm that microearthquakes at mt etna seem not to obey a

skagerrak graben the offshore continuation of the oslo graben abstract new seismic mapping of skagerrak reveals eight structural provinces in particular the skagerrak graben appears to be the continuation of the oslo graben the skagerrak graben is defined by two major late paleozoic faults trending northeast southwest connecting with the faults bounding the oslo graben extensive rotated block faulting is observed within the graben and a thickness of more than 2 s twt of lower paleozoic sediments has been preserved along the boundary faults sediments of probable late paleozoic age have been deposited as erosional products from the fault scarps and a central uplifted area a substantial part of these sediments may have a volcaniclastic origin the skagerrak graben continues to the north as a province of igneous rocks exposed at the sea floor with precambrian basement on either side the skagerrak graben is flanked by small half grabens containing probable early paleozoic sediments indicating that a wider area was involved in the rift process the formation of the skagerrak graben is related to the dextral strike slip movements along the sorgenfrei tornquist zone in late paleozoic time the kimmerian extensional movements along this zone indicate however a decoupling of the skagerrak graben at this time only minor inversion in the southwestern part of the skagerrak graben reflects the major inversion tectonism along the sorgenfrei tornquist zone in late cretaceous early tertiary times

petrogenesis of a tholeiite boninite sequence from ayios mamas troodos ophiolite evidence for splitting of a volcanic arc lavas and intrusives from ayios mamas at the western end of the limassol forest complex south of the arakapas fault belt troodos comprise three groups a a basal sequence of pillow lavas intruded by dikes and sills with the phenocryst assemblage plag cpx mt ol b a middle sequence of pillows and massive flows cpx plag ol and c an upper sequence mostly of pillows and breccia ol opx cpx sp the lower group is tholeiitic and the upper two groups boninitic group c whole rock and glass mg numbers exceed 72 and range up to 78 with corresponding olivine compositions of fo92 they are strongly depleted in high field strength elements and on the basis of cr y variation and major element mass balances are interpreted to reflect partial melting of a basalt depleted cpx harzburgite source group a tholeiites in contrast are interpreted to derive from a more fertile lherzolite source magmaphile and compatible trace element variation is best modelled after an open magma system involving periodic replenishment tapping and fractionation although neither tholeiites nor boninites represent steady state compositions the boninites belong to a cao rich sio2 poor variant resembling those from guam but contrasting with those from bonin and cape vogel morb normalized enrichment of low field strength elements k sr ba and rb in all groups indicates subduction derived source contamination it is proposed that the ayios mamas section reflects splitting of a volcanic arc prior to back arc spreading in an environment analogous to that of the present day andaman sea

spatiotemporal variations in the b value of earthquake magnitude frequency distributions classification and causes abstract interpretation of the b value of earthquake frequency magnitude distributions has received considerable attention in recent decades this paper provides a comprehensive review of previous investigations of spatial and temporal variations in b value including their classification and possible causes based on least squares regression of seismicity data compiled from the neic iris and isc catalogs we find an average value of 1 02 0 03 for the whole earth and its two hemispheres consistent with the general view that in seismically active regions the long term average value is close to unity nevertheless wide ranging b variations 0 3 b 2 5 have been reported in the literature this variability has been interpreted to arise from one or more of the following factors prevailing stress state crustal heterogeneity focal depth pore pressure geothermal gradient tectonic setting petrological environmental geophysical characteristics clustering of events incomplete catalog data and or method of calculation excluding the latter all of these factors appear to be linked directly or indirectly with the effective state of stress although time dependent changes in b value are well documented conflicting observations reveal either a precursory increase or decrease in b value before major earthquakes our compilation of published analyses suggests that statistically significant b variations occur globally on various timescales including annual monthly and perhaps diurnal taken together our review suggests that b variations are most plausibly linked with changes in effective stress

the west philippine basin an eocene to early oligocene back arc basin opened between two opposed subduction zones 1 based on geological and geophysical data collected from the west philippine basin and its boundaries we propose a comprehensive cenozoic history of the basin our model shows that it is a back arc basin that developed between two opposed subduction zones rifting started around 55 ma and spreading ended at 33 30 ma the initial spreading axis was parallel to the paleo philippine arc but became inactive when a new spreading ridge propagated from the eastern part of the basin reaching the former one at an r r r triple junction spreading occurred mainly from this second axis with a quasi continuous counter clockwise rotation of the spreading direction the gagua and palau kyushu ridges acted as transform margins accommodating the opening arc volcanism occurred along the palau kyushu ridge eastern margin during the whole opening of the basin whereas the paleo philippine arc decreased its activity between 43 and 36 ma the western margin underwent a compressive event in late eocene early oligocene time leading to the rising of the gagua ridge and to a short subduction episode along eastern luzon in the western part of the basin the spreading system was highly disorganized due to the presence of a mantle plume overlapping spreading centers and ridge jumps occurred toward the hot region and a microplate developed shortly after the end of the spreading a late stage of amagmatic extension occurred between 30 and 26 ma in the central part of the basin being responsible for the deep rift valley that cut across the older spreading fabric

magma and sediment i emplacement mechanism of late carboniferous tholeiite sills in northern britain president s anniversary address 1981 like other great tholeiite sheets of the world the midland valley sill and whin sill were emplaced in thick accumulations of sediments which at the time of intrusion were not much older nor had been orogenically deformed however the carboniferous sediments of northern britain had been deposited under the influence of continuous differential subsidence so that they were already disposed in syn sedimentary basins and swells when intrusion began by drawing palinspastic contours of the sills relative to a late westphalian marine band approximating to the surface at the time of emplacement it is established that the dolerites mainly follow bedding planes dipping at angles of as much as 5 down to the bottoms of the basins isopachs of the sills indicate a further relationship for the intrusions are thickest at the bottoms of the basins these facts are not explained by any intrusion mechanism previously postulated though there seems to be broad agreement as to the processes which have given rise to thinning and en echelon lensing at leading edges as well as to step and stair transgression of sediment bedding it is proposed that emplacement must have been controlled in part by gravitational flow down dip from feeder dykes which extended to between 0 5 and 1 0 km below the contemporary surface thereafter hydrostatic equilibrium was attained first by accumulation at the bottom of the basins and then by further advance up dip under pressure of head the sheets are so similar in aspect to flood basalts that it must be assumed that the sediments offered only low frictional resistance to splitting and flow

palaeo stress fields in the variscan foreland during the carboniferous from microstructural analysis in the british isles abstract north of the variscan front the carboniferous series of the british isles is affected by mainly n s trending folds which are almost perpendicular to this e w oriented front flat and unconformable overlying permian strata demonstrate a variscan age for the deformation a microtectonic survey made in dinantian and to a lesser extent namurian calcareous layers has revealed two successive events according to chronological criteria the first event maximum stress e w trending led to the formation of n s folds with local reorientation in the vicinity of major pre existing faults this compression may have been active since the namurian it pre dates a second compressional event orientated n s which is related to the final emplacement of the variscan nappes

geodynamic evolution of the taiwan luzon mindoro belt since the late eocene abstract the structural framework of the taiwan luzon mindoro belt or festoon is described following three major transects the luzon transect with active subduction and active island arc the taiwan transect with active collision the mindoro transect with active subduction and inactive collision based on this geological study and on available geophysical data a model for the geodynamic evolution of this portion of the philippine sea and eurasia plates boundary is proposed in a succession of reconstructions between the late eocene and the present the major geodynamic events are 1 1 beginning of the opening of the south china sea s c s in lower oligocene times contemporaneous with obduction of the zambales and angat ophiolites on luzon 2 2 subduction of a mesozoic oceanic basin along the proto manila trench from the upper oligocene to the lower miocene 3 3 obduction of the south china sea oceanic crust onto the chinese and reed bank calamian passive margins in middle miocene time 14 15 ma related to a major kinematic reorganization end of opening of the s c s 4 4 beginning of collision between the luzon microblock and the two margins of the s c s in the upper miocene 7 ma collision is still active in taiwan whereas it stopped in mindoro during the pliocene

physical characteristics and evolutionary trends of continental rifts rifts may be defined as zones beneath which the entire lithosphere has ruptured in extension they are widespread and occur in a variety of tectonic settings and range up to 2 600 m y in age the object of this review is to highlight characteristic features of modern and ancient rifts to emphasize differences and similarities in order to help characterize evolutionary trends to identify physical conditions favorable for initiation as well as termination of rifting and to provide constraints for future modeling studies of rifting rifts are characterized on the basis of their structural geomorphic magmatic and geophysical features and the diverse character of these features and their evolutionary trends through time are discussed mechanisms of rifting are critically examined in terms of the physical characteristics and evolutionary trends of rifts and it is concluded that while simple models can give valuable insight into specific processes of rifting individual rifts can rarely if ever be characterized by well defined trends predicted by these models more data are required to clearly define evolutionary trends and the models require development to incorporate the effects of lithospheric heterogeneities and complex geologic histories

imaging composite dike propagation etna 2002 case 1 late on the night of 26 october 2002 a dike intrusion started suddenly at mount etna producing intense explosive activity and lava effusion on the southern flank five to six hours afterward a long field of eruptive fractures propagated radially along the northeastern flank of the volcano producing marked variations at the permanent tilt network the dike propagation velocity was inferred by the associated seismicity we modeled the temporal evolution of the continuously recorded tilt data both during the vertical dike propagation on the high south flank on 26 october and during the radial propagation along the northeast flank between 27 and 28 october the reproduction of the recorded tilt signal allowed us to describe the geometry and characteristics of the two dikes in greater detail than the previous static inversion we deduced that the eruption was characterized by an unusual composite mechanism clearly showing a transition from a nearly pure opening mode displacement to a mechanism characterized by an equally strong normal dip slip component and a smaller left lateral strike slip component in this study we demonstrate the interaction between the final segment of the dike and a preexisting structure that was reactivated in response to the intrusion we show that tilt and its modeling represent a powerful tool to verify and constrain dike intrusions in detail

are volcanic seismic b values high and if so when abstract the gutenberg richter exponent b is a measure of the relative proportion of large and small earthquakes it is commonly used to infer material properties such as heterogeneity or mechanical properties such as the state of stress from earthquake populations it is well known that the b value tends to be high or very high for volcanic earthquake populations relative to b 1 for those of tectonic earthquakes and that b varies significantly with time during periods of unrest we first review the supporting evidence from 34 case studies and identify weaknesses in this argument due predominantly to small sample size the narrow bandwidth of magnitude scales available variability in the methods used to assess the minimum or cutoff magnitude m c and to infer b informed by this we use synthetic realisations to quantify the effect of choice of the cutoff magnitude on maximum likelihood estimates of b and suggest a new work flow for this choice we present the first quantitative estimate of the error in b introduced by uncertainties in estimating m c as a function of the number of events and the b value itself this error can significantly exceed the commonly quoted statistical error in the estimated b value especially for the case that the underlying b value is high we apply the new methods to data sets from recent periods of unrest in el hierro and mount etna for el hierro we confirm significantly high b values of 1 5 2 5 prior to the 10 october 2011 eruption for mount etna the b values are indistinguishable from b 1 within error except during the flank eruptions at mount etna in 2001 2003 when 1 5 b b 1 our results confirm that these volcano tectonic earthquake populations can have systematically high b values especially when associated with eruptions at other times they can be indistinguishable from those of tectonic earthquakes within the total error the results have significant implications for operational forecasting informed by b value variability in particular in assessing the significance of b value variations identified by sample sizes with fewer than 200 events above the completeness threshold

spatial variation of seismic b values beneath makushin volcano unalaska island alaska abstract the frequency magnitude distribution was spatially mapped beneath makushin volcano unalaska island alaska using an earthquake catalog of 491 events that occurred between july 2001 and april 2005 an area of high seismic b values 2 0 is found 4 km east of makushin s main vent at a depth between 4 and 7 km the anomaly is statistically significant based on utsu s p test t utsu on seismicity in report of the joint research institute for statistical mathematics tokyo 1992 139 157 and is not data processing method or parameter dependent interestingly a recent insar interferometric study z lu j a power v s mcconnell c wicks jr d dzurism preeruptive inflation and surface interferometric coherence characteristics by satellite radar interferometry at makushin volcano alaska 1993 2000 j geophys res 107 2002 2266 doi 10 1029 2001jb000970 inferred a surface uplift of about 7 cm during the two year period prior to october 1995 centered approximately in the area with the observed anomalous b values the uplift was caused by the volume increase of an inferred magma chamber at a depth of about 7 km the close correspondence of the seismic and insar observations suggests that the heterogeneous area associated with the observed high b values is most likely the result of increased crack density associated with the magma chamber this study demonstrates the effectiveness of combining insar and seismological observations in locating magma chambers and areas of high heterogeneity in the crust

propagating rifts crustal extension during continental rifting propagating rifts may not be incompatible with plate tectonic tenets which are considered at the appropriate scale propagation of a rift is a natural consequence of relative motion about a pole of rotation it is not necessarily valid that 1 rifts propagate in one direction or 2 crustal stretching increases with progressive propagation of a rift

gravity and magma induced spreading of mount etna volcano revealed by satellite radar interferometry 1 mount etna underwent a cycle of eruptive activity over the past ten years here we compute ground displacement maps and deformation time series from more than 400 radar interferograms to reveal mount etna s average and time varying surface deformation from 1992 to 2001 we find that during this time interval it experienced magmatic inflation and radial spreading to the west south and east steady relative motion between the west and south flanks and between the east and north flanks during this time interval suggests they are related to gravitational spreading of the volcanic edifice time series analysis shows that growth of a southeastern basal anticline began with the end of magma recharge in 1995 thus showing a direct link between deep seated magma intrusions and edifice spreading these observations support a complex mode of radial gravitational collapse underlain by deeper magma driven basal spreading although ultimately the two must be related

dynamics of mount etna volcano inferred from static and kinematic gps measurements 1 ground deformations measured on mount etna from late 1995 to mid 1998 using gps observations are analyzed four gps surveys were carried out during the considered period in 1995 the gps network consisted of 18 stations on the volcanic edifice and 6 stations around it during the 1996 survey 22 new monuments were added along a n s profile crossing the summit craters area this profile was surveyed by a semikinematic method allowing greater spatial detail to be achieved on the uppermost part of the volcano the comparisons between the gps surveys are reported here in terms of horizontal and vertical displacements for each station and also in terms of areal dilatation and strain distribution this last parameter continues its ascending trend at a rate of 5 strain yr 1 already shown in the previous period after the end of the 1991 1993 flank eruption inversion of the ground deformation patterns permits investigation of the evolution of both the position and dynamics of magma reservoirs beneath the volcano consistently associated with a general eastward sliding of its eastern sector this study allows us to define the nonuniqueness of ground deformation sources through the investigated period suggesting that the plumbing system of the volcano is made up of a complex system of single intrusions occurring at different times

source parameters of microearthquakes in southeastern sicily italy we computed the source parameters of 135 local earthquakes that occurred in southeastern sicily italy between 1994 and 2001 magnitudes ranged from 0 6 to 2 5 the source parameters were determined from the spectral analysis of p waves after corrections for attenuation and site effects p wave quality qp and site s factors are known in the two frequency ranges 3 9 hz and 16 27 hz giampiccolo et al 2003 because the correction for qp and s over the whole spectrum could not be performed a new approach to estimate spectral parameters was applied we defined the new notion of holed spectrum to specify a spectrum lacking corrected spectral amplitude values within a certain frequency range whereas we referred to a whole spectrum to specify when the entire analyzed frequency band was used a detailed statistical analysis showed that dealing with the holed spectrum did not lead to significant differences in the estimate of spectral parameters displacement holed spectra corrected by the attenuation and site response were then used to estimate source parameters seismic moments ranged from 1017 to 1020 dyne cm and source dimensions from 150 to 500 m in general the stress drop values obtained analyzing p wave spectra were very low because they mainly span the range of 0 05 5 bars

mapping of the b value anomalies beneath mt etna italy during july august 2001 lateral eruption 1 the pattern of b value of the frequency magnitude relation or mean magnitude has been analyzed as function of space beneath mt etna during the intense lateral eruption of july august 2001 the data used august 1999 august 2001 subdivided in the pre eruptive and eruption period show significant space variations in the b value for each of the two periods a volume of anomalously high b value can be observed in the southeastern flank of the volcano the anomalies located at 3 1 km b 1 84 0 20 and at about 1 1 km b 2 11 0 29 depth are interpreted as two different steps of a magma migration process ended with the july august 2001 eruption all the available geophysical evidences such as geodetic deformation measurements focal mechanism and tomographic studies support this interpretation

magma ascent and the pressurization of mount etna s volcanic system after a period of deflation during the 1991 1993 flank eruption mount etna underwent a rapid inflation seismicity and ground deformation show that since 1994 a huge volume of magma intruded beneath the volcano producing from 1998 onward a series of eruptions at the summit and on the flank of the volcano the last of these started on 27 october 2002 is still in progress and can be considered one of the most explosive eruptions of the volcano in recent times here we show how geodetic data and seismic deformation between 1994 and 2001 indicate a radial compression around an axial intrusion consistent with a repressurization of mount etna s plumbing system at a depth of 6 to 15 kilometers which triggered most of the seismicity and provoked the dilatation of the volcano and the recent explosive eruptive activity

spatial mapping of the b value at mount etna italy using earthquake data recorded from 1999 to 2005 1 the spatial pattern of the b value of the frequency magnitude relation has been analyzed using gridding techniques beneath mount etna italy a regional data set of 2900 events with md duration magnitude 1 5 up to 15 km depth occurring between august 1999 and december 2005 has been used two regions with an abnormally high b value have been found one centered beneath the southern part of the valle del bove above the 6 km below sea level bsl deep basement and the other beneath the summit region 2 km bsl east of the central craters we can infer that these high b value anomalies are regions of increased crack density and or high pore pressure related to the presence of nearby magma storage this interpretation is supported by all the available geophysical evidence such as tomographic studies and geodetic deformation measurements the data set has also been subdivided into five periods corresponding to different phases of volcanic activity 2001 preeruption 2001 eruptive 2002 2003 preeruption 2002 2003 eruptive and 2002 2003 posteruption the minimum magnitude of completeness mc and the b value were computed for each period a volume of anomalously high b values can be observed in each of these periods except for the 2002 2003 preeruption interval this approach has allowed the detection of the transient presence of magmatic intrusions during the various periods evaluated

source parameters of microearthquakes at mount st helens usa summary we estimate the source parameters for a selection of microearthquakes that occurred at mount st helens in the period 1995 1998 excluding the activity of 2004 september this time period includes the most intense episode of earthquake activity since the last dome building eruption in 1986 october 200 seismograms were processed to obtain seismic moments source radii stress drops and average fault slip the source parameters were determined from the spectral analysis of p waves after correction for attenuation and site effects in particular p wave quality qp and site s factors have been previously calculated in the frequency ranges 2 7 hz and 18 30 hz because it was impossible to perform corrections for qp and s over the whole spectrum we applied a new approach based on the notion of holed spectrum to estimate spectral parameters the term holed spectrum indicates a spectrum lacking corrected spectral amplitude values at certain frequencies we carried out a statistical study to verify that dealing with the holed spectrum does not lead to significant differences in the estimates of spectral parameters we also investigated the dependence of spectral parameters low frequency level corner frequency and high frequency decay on the bandwidth of spectral hole and defined the threshold values for three different spectral models displacement holed spectra corrected by attenuation and site response are then used to determine spectral parameters in order to calculate seismic source parameters seismic moments range from 1017 to 1019 dyne cm source dimensions from 100 to 350 m and average fault slip from 0 003 to 0 1 cm self similarity seems to break down in that stress drops are very low 0 1 1 bars we postulate that seismicity is associated with a brittle shear failure mechanism occurring in a highly heterogeneous material under a relatively low stress regime

multiple ophiolite generation preserved in the northern philippines and the growth of an island arc complex abstract although all oceanic arcs grow through the addition of subduction generated magmas the geology of the northern philippines demonstrates that a major contribution to arc crustal growth can come from repeated episodic intra arc back arc and or fore arc oceanic crust generation with subsequent preservation of the basic ultrabasic units in the arc complex at least five episodes of oceanic crust generation are represented in the northern philippines by preserved ophiolitic sequences and recent intra arc seafloor spreading each episode is distinct in age as confirmed by modern dating techniques with the ages ranging from pre jurassic to quaternary although the philippines is widely regarded as an amalgamation of allochthonous terranes a review of the available data shows that there is currently no compelling evidence that these ophiolites are of exotic origin and that they have been tectonically accreted to the philippine arc complex rather the evidence suggests that most and possibly all of the ophiolites were generated as back arc fore arc or intra arc crust within the philippine arc complex hence there is a close spatial association of several ophiolitic terranes of diverse ages spanning 150 myr that formed as part of the arc complex such an association may have arisen from episodic generation of oceanic crust during periods of local extension in a suprasubduction zone setting which has experienced changing and possibly overlapping subduction from the east and west sides in the current reference frame disruption of the ophiolitic basement terranes has been and continues to be effected primarily by wrench faulting this style of arc growth has implications for the paleotectonic interpretation of ancient ophiolite arc terranes in continents and the petrologic evolution of island arcs

shear response to an intrusive episode at mt etna volcano january 1998 inferred through seismic and tilt data abstract the space time evolution of a seismic swarm m d max 3 7 occurring on 9 14 january 1998 at mt etna volcano is analysed the hypocentral pattern and most reliable focal mechanisms indicate that seismic activity during 10 14 january mainly occurred within a fault zone located in the volcano s western flank the fault showed an approximately ne sw overall trend and shallow rupture mode of right lateral strike slip type it is noteworthy that earthquakes occurring during the initial phase 9 january of the swarm showed prevalent dip slip rupture mechanisms which are consistent with tensile opening of an approximately nnw sse trending fault zone this nnw sse structural lineament belongs to a regional lithospheric structure which has also been identified as a main volcano genic structural trend of mt etna the observed continuous tilt data are not explainable by the seismic slip associated with strain released along the ne sw structure however an intrusive source would be compatible with the rupture mechanisms observed during the initial phase of the swarm and could explain the observed tilt therefore we evidence that an intrusive episode occurred along the nnw sse structure starting 9 january and during the following days it forced the ne sw fault system to work in a right lateral mode these mechanisms leading to the february november 1999 summit eruption are analogous to the ones observed before the 1991 93 eruption

accreted terranes in the northern part of the philippine archipelago the philippine archipelago consists of a complex array of ophiolites continental fragments and island arc elements that can be identified as accreted terranes similar to those increasingly recognized as components of orogenic zones the northern philippines including luzon mindoro and nearby smaller islands can be divided into at least six of these tectonic elements from west to east across central luzon there are the neogene accretionary prism of the west luzon arc the eocene zambales ophiolite the cretaceous angat ophiolite and a late cretaceous early paleogene volcanic arc built on an older metamorphic basement this arc terrane is repeated by offset along the philippine fault to the south the western luzon terranes are juxtaposed against the metamorphic basement block of mindoro which itself is colliding with the north palawan microcontinental fragment the ophiolites appear to have originated in back arc basins rather than in oceanic plateaus and the metamorphic belts have protoliths indicating deformation along active margins perhaps deep within accretionary prisms the philippine terranes are interpreted as fragments that originated within the complex pacific eurasian plate boundary rather than as intra pacific basin units these terranes have been assembling at least since the oligocene by strike slip and convergent displacements strike slip displacement either along transcurrent faults or as a component of convergence played a very important if not dominant role in this assembly most terranes identified in the northern philippine appear to be plate fragments with attached crust and upper mantle their characteristics contrast with those usually interpreted for terranes in the north american cordillera where near orthogonal convergence and shallow dipping terrane sutures are favored

crustal heterogeneity highlighted by spatial b value map in the wellington region of new zealand summary we map the b value in the subduction zone of the wellington region new zealand using a high quality earthquake catalogue relocated with a 3 d seismic velocity model consisting of 50 314 events that occurred between 1990 and 2005 in order to investigate heterogeneity in the crust of the overlying plate and in the upper plane of the wadati benioff zone wbz we analyse a series of cross sections perpendicular to the strike of the subduction zone we calculate the b values selecting events with magnitude of completeness 2 4 and depth 65 km and projecting the seismicity within 20 km on each side of the cross sectional planes we observe areas of high b value 1 7 near the plate interface and regions of low b value anomalies are detected both in the wbz in the northwest region below 40 km depth and in the overlying plate in the northern south island at 10 km depth the anomalies are statistically significant based on utsu s p test and the bootstrap method and are not data processing method or parameter dependent we compare the b value distribution with previously determined 3 d distributions of vp vp vs and qp from seismic tomography this comparison suggests that material inhomogeneity caused by fluid filled cracks resulting from dehydration of the subducted slab and subducted sediments is the predominant cause of b value variation in the shallow part of this subduction zone our observations are consistent with a previously proposed conceptual model that fluid distribution in the shallow part of this subduction zone is controlled by the permeability of geological terranes in the overlying plate

reconstructing the mesozoic early cenozoic evolution of northern philippines clues from palaeomagnetic studies on the ophiolitic basement of the central cordillera summary the first reliable palaeomagnetic data from the cretaceous to eocene ophiolitic basement rocks in the philippines are presented a total of 12 drill core sites from five localities in the central cordillera in northern luzon philippines were sampled eight drill core sites were from pillow basalts and four were from diabase feeder dykes combining the characteristic remanent magnetization direction from these sites gives a mean in situ direction of dec 162 2 i nc 21 4 95 17 0 k 21 1 and a tilt corrected direction of dec 159 3 inc 12 5 95 6 0 k 162 5 along with other lines of palaeomagnetic evidence this clustering suggests that the magnetization is primary and that the ophiolitic basement rocks of the central cordillera formed at subequatorial latitudes 6 3 n 3 1 this information

structural variety and tectonic evolution of strike slip basins related to the philippine fault system northern luzon philippines the northern part of the philippine fault zone in luzon corresponds to a complex braided system of left lateral strike slip faults the nw oriented main active branch which emerges from the philippine sea splits into an array of north striking splays responsible for the tectonic evolution of the central cordillera this complex fault pattern has favored local stress field variations strike slip basins have evolved in this framework along or in the vicinity of the main splays of the philippine fault apart from the classical pull apart tectonics on a releasing fault termination overlap or bend we describe other mechanisms such as the strike slip tilting or the warping of a strip limited by two strike slip faults the strike slip basins are good recorders of the evolution of the philippine fault system those located along the north striking cordilleran faults individualized in late early pliocene to pleistocene time when the present day philippine fault initiated but their main control is the fault shape acquired in upper middle miocene time the recent tectonic evolution of the fault system is best recorded in central luzon where the active basins trace an asymmetrical v shape with the longest branch trending ne parallel to the east luzon trough and the shortest one trending nw related to the philippine fault both the fault pattern and the basin distribution demonstrate the influence of the benham rise in the tectonic evolution of luzon the structural setting is interpreted as the result of an early miocene collision event between the benham rise and the eastern margin of luzon and subsequent inception of the nw striking strand of the philippine fault the present locations of the basins result from the interaction between the structural heritage and the present day regional plate motion