distribution and mechanism of neogene to present day vertical axis rotations pacific australian plate boundary zone south island new zealand remarkably little knowledge exists about mechanisms of vertical axis rotation in continental crust steeply dipping basement rocks in south island new zealand provide an opportunity to map the distribution of rotations across the pacific australian plate boundary zone and to delineate boundaries of rotated blocks in unusual detail we synthesize new structural data with new and existing paleomagnetic data with geodetic data and with patterns of neogene quaternary faulting in the strike slip marlborough fault system for the past 20 m y vertical axis rotations have been hinged about two crustal scale boundaries near the east coast the ne hinge accommodated 50 of early middle miocene clockwise rotation which caused deformation of the eastern ends of the alpine wairau and clarence strike slip faults the sw hinge has accommodated a further 30 50 of finite clockwise rotation since 4 ma and deflects active fault traces the locus of rotation has shifted southwestward astride a subduction margin that is lengthening in that direction rotating rocks are pinned to the south against a locked collision zone where the continental chatham rise impinges against the margin slip on inland strike slip faults is transformed seaward across a zone of fault termination into rigid body rotation of a large continental block that has been thrust eastward over the downgoing subducted slab of the pacific plate the rotation mechanism is a migrating hinge which resembles a flexed telephone book strike slip faults are translated through a brecciated hinge region that does not coincide with a fixed material line in the rock

the 1994 sefidabeh earthquakes in eastern iran blind thrusting and bedding plane slip on a growing anticline and active tectonics of the sistan suture zone summary in 1994 a sequence of five earthquakes with mw 5 5 6 2 occurred in the sistan belt of eastern iran all of them involving motion on blind thrusts with centroid depths of 5 10 km coseismic ruptures at the surface involved bedding plane slip on a growing hanging wall anticline displaying geomorphological evidence of uplift and lateral propagation the 1994 earthquakes were associated with a nw trending thrust system that splays off the northern termination of a major n s right lateral strike slip fault elevation changes along the anticline ridge suggest that displacement on the underlying thrust dies out to the nw away from its intersection with the strike slip fault this is a common fault configuration in eastern iran and accommodates oblique ne sw shortening across the n s deforming zone probably by anticlockwise rotations about a vertical axis this style of fault kinematics may be transitional to a more evolved state that involves partitioning of the strike slip and convergent motion onto separate subparallel faults

glacial cirques and the relationship between equilibrium line altitudes and mountain range height a global gis and literature based analysis of the altitude and relief of more than 14 000 ice free glacial cirques in 56 study areas ranging from 69 n to 77 s shows that average cirque floor altitudes vary with latitude in a zone centered on the quaternary average equilibrium line altitude qa ela in addition relief above cirque floors averages 346 107 m and is rarely 600 m in regions where ice free cirques are abundant cirque relief is independent of modern precipitation rates tectonic regime and relative peak height limiting peaks to within a fixed distance above the qa ela and thus causing them to also parallel the ela we propose a physical process model where under suitable geologic and tectonic conditions climate exerts a first order control on mountain range height in this model glacial erosion excavates a zone of cirques with floors centered on the qa ela while climate driven weathering processes on adjacent slopes limit the peaks to within a few hundred meters above this zone

climate tectonics and the morphology of the andes large scale topographic analyses show that hemisphere scale climate variations are a first order control on the morphology of the andes zonal atmospheric circulation in the southern hemisphere creates strong latitudinal precipitation gradients that when incorporated in a generalized index of erosion intensity predict strong gradients in erosion rates both along and across the andes cross range asymmetry width hypsometry and maximum elevation reflect gradients in both the erosion index and the relative dominance of fluvial glacial and tectonic processes and show that major morphologic features correlate with climatic regimes latitudinal gradients in inferred crustal thickening and structural shortening correspond to variations in predicted erosion potential indicating that like tectonics nonuniform erosion due to large scale climate patterns is a first order control on the topographic evolution of the andes

neogene recent extension on the eastern flank of mount olympus greece abstract the olympus massif of ne greece comprises metamorphosed and deformed triassic and cretaceous eocene carbonates considered to represent part of the passive southwestern margin of neotethys which separated the apulia plate of mainland greece from southern europe in the mesozoic ocean closure in the early tertiary led to subduction of this passive margin as a result of which the olympus carbonates were tectonically overridden in the eocene by a series of thrust sheets consisting of locally high p t blueschist metamorphosed continental margin sediments basement granitoid gneisses and ophiolitic rocks following collision uplift of the olympus carbonates by 6 8 km was accomplished by early neogene ductile and late neogene recent brittle normal faulting which exposed the carbonates in the form of a structural window through the overriding thrust stack the focus of this exhumation occurred on the eastern flank of the massif where a thick calc mylonite with down to the east sense of shear indicators and a prominent zone of nnw to nw trending brittle normal faults separate the carbonates from telescoped structurally overlying units published 40 ar 39 ar microcline ages that indicate a thermal perturbation close to the contact zone in excess of 100 150 c at 16 23 ma early miocene are taken to date the onset of ductile extension and imply long term uplift rates of 0 4 to 1 km m y degradation of pleistocene glacial features on the olympus massif and the presence on its eastern piedmont of deeply incised streams erosional terraces and fault scarps that offset the sedimentary deposits of three cycles of pleistocene glacial deposition units 1 3 testify to its continuing uplift a prominent frontal fault offsets unit 2 by 150 m and several subsidiary nw trending normal faults with a cumulative displacement of 130 m offset a paleosol developed on unit 1 kinematic indicators indicate normal dip slip movement cumulative fault displacement for unit 1 exceeds 277 m yielding a minimum uplift rate of 1 3 mm yr given the oxygen isotope stage 7 mindel riss age of 210 ka proposed for the unit 1 paleosol cumulative offset of 196 m for the paleosol developed on unit 2 yields an uplift rate of 1 6 mm yr given its proposed isotope stage 5e riss wurm age of 125 ka this estimate is supported by longitudinal valley profile data that document 200 m of stream incision since unit 2 deposition and show the offset as reflecting uplift of the olympus massif rather than subsidence of the adjacent gulf of thermaikos assuming 1 8 ma for the base of the pleistocene these rates yield a total uplift range for the quaternary of 2 3 4 1 km consistent with the present 2 6 km height of olympus above the exposed frontal fault neogene uplift of olympus was likely facilitated by extension accompanying the opening of the aegean back arc basin during the miocene as a result of the southward retreat of the hellenic subduction zone for the pliocene recent uplift was likely facilitated by extension linked to the termination of dextral motion at the western end of the north anatolian fault associated with the westward tectonic escape of anatolia

geological controls on pleistocene glaciation and cirque form in greece limestone and ophiolite rocks are common across the eastern mediterranean and many of the highest mountains are formed in these rock types in northwest greece pleistocene glacial erosion was much more effective on limestone terrain where pronounced glacial incision and subglacial glacio karst processes produced locally complex topography this enabled pleistocene glaciers to form on a range of slope orientations in contrast to ophiolite terrains where glaciers were strongly controlled by aspect on limestone terrains the largest ice masses formed on south facing slopes whereas in neighbouring higher mountains formed in ophiolite glaciers were much more restricted and predominantly formed on north and east facing slopes

structural decoupling in a convergent forearc setting southern crete eastern mediterranean a multidisciplinary approach is used to investigate the structure of the southern cretan margin which is located in one of the most seismically active forearc regions in europe bathymetric seismic reflection and fault plane solution data were used to identify the main tectonic features on the margin correlating their evolution with the main sedimentary sequences recognized on crete in contrast to the majority of forearc settings in the pacific and indian oceans southern crete is a region of predominantly oblique movement above well defined detachment zones north dipping thrust faults identified on seismic reflection profiles reveal significant crustal shortening during the miocene due to the westward propagation of the hellenic fold and thrust system in addition east dipping thrust faults rooted on top of pre neogene strata were also identified but only a few of these thrusts affect neogene to holocene strata small scale domes derived from evaporitic messinian intrusions deform pliocene quaternary strata west and east dipping normal faults were also recognized within the mesozoic and cenozoic successions and these are related to regional extension during forearc convergence in such a setting the fault bounded continental slope of crete effectively separates a region of uplift crete from subsiding troughs to the south our work shows that structural segmentation at depth is complex with multiple crustal levels recording contrasting styles of deformation and distinct moment tensor solutions this complexity derives from the oblique style of convergence recorded south of crete which reactivates distinct crustal levels depending on their rheology and relative degree of metamorphism inherited during alpine compression as a result a strong correlation between seafloor morphology and transtensional movements is recorded in the upper 10 15 km of the crust while transpression prevailed after the serravallian below these depths

response of glacial landscapes to spatial variations in rock uplift rate 1 the response of glaciated landscapes to rapid rock uplift driven by tectonic convergence is an important often neglected aspect of proposed interactions between plate tectonic processes and climate change rivers typically respond to more rapid rock uplift in part through increasing channel gradients in contrast the glacial buzzsaw hypothesis suggests that glaciers can erode as quickly as the fastest rock uplift rates 6 10 mm yr without any increase in mean elevations however it has not been established how this is achieved we examined moving window maps swath and longitudinal profiles hillslope relief and hypsometry for glacierized and formerly glacierized basins in areas of spatially variable rock uplift rate in the southern alps new zealand and around nanga parbat pakistan to determine whether glaciers have a specific response to rapid rock uplift the response of these glaciated landscapes to rapid rock uplift 6 10 mm yr comprises 1 modest steepening of the longitudinal profiles in smaller glaciated basins 2 maintenance of shallow downvalley slopes in larger glaciated basins 30 km2 southern alps 100 km2 nanga parbat 3 development of tall headwalls and 4 steepening of the basin as a whole dominated by hillslope lengthening around nanga parbat headwalls several kilometers high constitute 50 of the basin relief at rapid rock uplift rates although glaciers can incise the valley floor swiftly they cannot prevent headwalls from reaching exceptional heights the associated increase in mean distance between cirque heads i e a decrease in drainage density causes regional mean elevation to rise with increasing rock uplift rate however this is much less than the changes in elevation expected in unglaciated ranges

glacial history of mt chelmos peloponnesus greece mt chelmos in the peloponnesus was glaciated by a plateau ice field during the most extensive pleistocene glaciation valley glaciers radiated out from an ice field over the central plateau of the massif the largest glaciations are likely to be middle pleistocene in age smaller valley and cirque glaciers formed later and boulders on the moraines of these glacial phases have been dated using 36cl terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating these ages indicate a late pleistocene age with glacier advance stabilization at 40 30 ka glacier retreat at 23 21 ka and advance stabilization at 13 10 ka this indicates that the glacial maximum of the last cold stage occurred during marine isotope stage 3 several thousand years before the global last glacial maximum marine isotope stage 2 the last phase of moraine building occurred at the end of the pleistocene possibly during the younger dryas

drainage network geometry versus tectonics in the argentera massif french italian alps abstract the argentera massif french italian alps with its uniform lithology was selected to evaluate how known plio pleistocene tectonics have conditioned the drainage network geometry the drainage network was automatically derived and ordered from a 10 m resolution dem on hillshade images alignments of morphological features were identified the massif was subdivided into 22 domains of 50 km 2 within which the directions of every river channel segment and the direction of the aligned morphological features were compared and contrasted with the strike of tectonic structures measured in the field results suggest that the argentera drainage system is variously controlled by recent tectonics depending on the massif sector taken into account in the nw sector the vertical uplift is less because the strain has been accommodated in an oblique direction along a lateral thrust in the se sector strain in a predominantly vertical direction along a frontal thrust has resulted in a major vertical displacement accordingly the nw sector is characterized by i a strong geometric relationship between the main tectonic structures and the directions of river channels ii longitudinal main rivers bordering the massif and iii a general trellis pattern within the domains in the se sector the prolonged uplift has forced an original longitudinal drainage system to develop as a transverse system this change has occurred by means of fluvial captures that have been identified by the presence of windgaps fluvial elbows and knickpoints at the domain scale intense uplift of the se sector has prompted the drainage pattern to evolve as a dendritic type with no clear influence of structure in the channel orientations

very long baseline interferometry and active rotations of crustal blocks in the western transverse ranges california changes in baseline vectors between very long baseline interferometry vlbi receiving stations in the western transverse ranges imply that east west blocks of crust in this region rotate clockwise about vertical axes with respect to the pacific and north american plates minimum apparent rotations given by the ratios between components of velocity perpendicular to baseline vectors and the lengths of the baselines imply minimum current rotation rates of a few degrees per million years the relevant vlbi receivers lie on different crustal blocks that are separated by major active faults both geologic and other geodetic observations imply north south convergence between such blocks at several millimeters per year corrections to perpendicular components of velocity for such relative movements between blocks yield likely clockwise rotation rates of 6 m y 2 m y which are indistinguishable from the average rate inferred from paleomagnetic declinations of rocks in the western transverse ranges with ages less than 15 m y thus rotation seems to have occurred continuously and apparently with only small variations in rate during a period when the tectonics of southern california changed dramatically this apparent independence of the rotation rate on the changing surface kinematics is consistent 1 with such rotation being a manifestation of continuous deformation at depth in the lower crust and upper mantle 2 with weak faults separating upper crustal blocks and 3 with the important resistance to continental deformation lying in the upper mantle and or lower crust

tectonics climate and mountain topography 1 by regressing simple independent variables that describe climate and tectonic processes against measures of topography and relief of 69 mountain ranges worldwide we quantify the relative importance of these processes in shaping observed landscapes climate variables include latitude as a surrogate for mean annual temperature and insolation but most importantly for the likelihood of glaciation and mean annual precipitation to quantify tectonics we use shortening rates across each range as a measure of topography we use mean and maximum elevations and relief calculated over different length scales we show that the combination of climate negative correlation and tectonics positive correlation explain substantial fractions 25 but 50 of mean and maximum elevations of mountain ranges but that shortening rates account for smaller portions 25 of the variance in most measures of topography and relief i e with low correlations and large scatter relief is insensitive to mean annual precipitation but does depend on latitude especially for relief calculated over small 1 km length scales which we infer to reflect the importance of glacial erosion larger scale averaged over length scales of 10 km relief however correlates positively with tectonic shortening rate moreover the ratio between small scale and large scale relief as well as the relative relief the relief normalized by the mean elevation of the region varies most strongly with latitude strong positive correlation therefore the location of a mountain range on earth with its corresponding climatic conditions not just tectonic forcing appears to be a key factor in determining its shape and size in any case the combination of tectonics and climate as quantified here can account for approximately half of the variance in these measures of topography the failure of present day shortening rates to account for more than 25 of most measures of relief raises the question is active tectonics overrated in attempts to account for present day relief and exhumation rates of high terrain

drainage systems and the development of normal faults an example from pleasant valley nevada abstract drainage systems in regions of active extension contain information about fault zone structure and development and particularly about the lateral growth of individual fault segments that is difficult to obtain by more conventional means such as the dating of sedimentary material we investigate drainage fault interaction in pleasant valley nevada where a large normal faulting earthquake occurred in 1915 we find geomorphological evidence for a propagation increase in length of several km at both ends of one of the 1915 fault segments at one end we estimate the propagation rate to be about 50 m per earthquake this estimate is uncertain but is within the range predicted by theoretical models of fault growth drainage along the axes of half graben in this region may be influenced by the spacing of tilted fault blocks the highest valleys are also the narrowest whether the axial streams succeed in reaching lower neighbouring sinks depends on whether sedimentation rates are able to keep basins filled to the levels of the basement highs that separate half graben of opposite polarity a knowledge of modern drainage fault interactions may help predict drainage systems and the position of potential syn rift reservoir sediments in older extensional terrains where fault configurations but not facies distributions are known from seismic reflection surveys

cirque form and development in romania allometry and the buzzsaw hypothesis abstract a complete inventory of the 631 glacial cirques in romania and adjacent ukraine shows that they are scale specific and develop allometrically extending in length more rapidly than they deepen shape changes with size horizontal dimensions are around 700 m vertical around 300 m on each quantitative measure they form a single unimodal population with limited variation in size on a logarithmic scale cirque axial gradients 15 33 are appropriate to occupation by rotationally flowing glaciers lake basins are more common 26 on granitic rocks compared with 10 6 of all cirques geology also affects vertical dimensions and gradients the relation between subjective five grades and objective measures of cirque development is shown by an r 2 of 62 when grade is predicted from maximum gradient minimum gradient and plan closure cirques larger in horizontal dimensions have better grades cirque floors cover around 28 of cirque map area larger cirques and nested inner and outer cirques are common in ranges that rose well above the snowline and are associated with more extensive more symmetrical glaciation and more cols in size and shape romanian cirques are similar to those in england and wales they are similar in some respects to those in part of the british columbia coast mountains except for smaller vertical dimensions they may have developed only in the last few glaciations mountain ranges can be ranked by degree of glacial modification and symmetry of glaciations the buzzsaw hypothesis is applicable only in the cores of the higher ranges elsewhere summit surfaces that are essentially preglacial survive

three dimensional seismo tectonic imaging an example from the southern california transverse ranges abstract we present a new technique to image deformation 3d seismo tectonic imaging which juxtaposes instantaneous and accumulated deformation by combining earthquake and structural geology data we test the technique using three independent data sets we find concordance between the predicted finite deformation field and related instantaneous deformation surfaces inferred from aftershock and background seismicity data as well as structure imaged by seismic reflection data these results indicate that 1 the 1994 northridge event ruptured a transverse high angle reverse fault linking two ew striking listric thrust systems the pico and oak ridge the rupture terminated on the thrusts and was capped by a north dipping forward breaking imbricate of the santa susana fault 2 the los angeles seismic zone is a region of thrusting associated with the development of a new mountain front forming south of the present one represented by the santa monica anticline the thrust is rooted on a mid crustal ramp forming beneath the los angeles basin we conclude that seismo tectonic imaging by linking earthquake data to an empirically based quantitative description of the finite deformation field provides a new and fruitful method for integrating geological and seismological data

glacial effects limiting mountain height the height of mountain ranges reflects the balance between tectonic rock uplift crustal strength and surface denudation tectonic deformation and surface denudation are interdependent however and feedback mechanisms in particular the potential link to climate are subjects of intense debate spatial variations in fluvial denudation rate caused by precipitation gradients are known to provide first order controls on mountain range width crustal deformation rates and rock uplift moreover limits to crustal strength are thought to constrain the maximum elevation of large continental plateaus such as those in tibet and the central andes there are indications that the general height of mountain ranges is also directly influenced by the extent of glaciation through an efficient denudation mechanism known as the glacial buzzsaw here we use a global analysis of topography and show that variations in maximum mountain height correlate closely with climate controlled gradients in snowline altitude for many high mountain ranges across orogenic ages and tectonic styles with the aid of a numerical model we further demonstrate how a combination of erosional destruction of topography above the snowline by glacier sliding and commensurate isostatic landscape uplift caused by erosional unloading can explain observations of maximum mountain height by driving elevations towards an altitude window just below the snowline the model thereby self consistently produces the hypsometric signature of the glacial buzzsaw and suggests that differences in the height of mountain ranges mainly reflect variations in local climate rather than tectonic forces

using vertical rock uplift patterns to constrain the three dimensional fault configuration in the los angeles basin comparison of geologic uplift patterns with results of three dimensional mechanical models provides constraints on the fault geometry compiled by the south ern california earthquake center community fault model in the northern los angeles basin california the modeled uplift matches well the geologic pattern of uplift as sociated with the santa fe springs and coyote hills segments of the puente hills thrust fault but does not match structures to the west of the san gabriel river to better match the geologic patterns in this area alternative fault configurations were tested the best match to geologic uplift is attained with a model incorporating 1 a steep blind thrust fault at the location of the los angeles segment of the puente hills thrust system following interpretations of the las cienegas fault geometry at this location 2 removal of an inferred linking fault between the raymond and holly wood faults and 3 lateral continuation of the lower elysian park fault a blind low angle detachment at 10 km depth along strike to the northwest these geometric revisions alter the connectivity of northern los angeles basin faults and significantly improve the match of model uplift pattern to geologic data model results suggest that fault connectivity may be more important in governing fault slip rate than are fault dip and fault area the preferred model alters slip rates by 0 2 mm yr for the upper elysian park hollywood lower elysian park raymond sierra madre west and verdugo faults additionally the preferred model alters the surface area of several faults in the northern los angeles basin such as the puente hills thrust and the lower elysian park fault which may have important implications for seismic hazard assess ment in the northern los angeles basin

glacial activity and catchment dynamics in northwest greece long term river behaviour and the slackwater sediment record for the last glacial to interglacial transition woodward j c hamlin r h b macklin m g hughes p d lewin j 2008 glacial activity and catchment dynamics in northwest greece long term river behaviour and the slackwater sediment record for the last glacial to interglacial transition geomorphology 101 1 2 44 67 sponsorship uk science and engineering research council woodward the school of geography at the university of leeds hamlin and the university of cambridge hughes the uk natural environment research council gr9 2916 and ip 754 0302 funded the bulk of the analyses reported here specialissue sp iss si

the continuity of active fault systems in greece summary evidence from geomorphology the distribution of large earthquakes and geodetic measurements suggests that the active faulting in mainland greece and the north aegean sea is concentrated into a small number of discrete linear zones that bound relatively rigid blocks on land the zones are most clearly identified where the faulting is associated with large escarpments particularly in hard footwall rocks the zones can become indistinct and diffuse near their ends sometimes because they enter high unstable topography where landsliding obscures the fault morphology but mostly because the extension rates decrease along strike as a consequence of the relative rotation of the blocks they bound the main graben systems of chalkidiki southern thessaly and the north gulf of evia all seem to connect with the strike slip faulting in the offshore aegean and to die out in the west a configuration related to clockwise rotations in east central greece by contrast the gulf of corinth which is the fastest opening graben system in greece opens more rapidly in the west than the east both these features of the gulf of corinth are consequences of the motion of the south aegean and peloponnese as a single block late pliocene and quaternary geology and geomorphology indicate that the boundaries of the rigid blocks in central greece have changed over that time with faulting migrating into the hanging walls sometimes changing in orientation these changes are probably related to the way faulting in the seismogenic layer adapts to block rotation so as to maintain the general features of a velocity field that is controlled by larger scale effects such as buoyancy forces and the seaward migration of the subducting slab beneath crete the image of greece as a mosaic of rigid blocks whose boundaries change with time is a useful framework for seismic hazard evaluation but we emphasize that some moderate sized earthquakes do occur away from the main fault zones within the relatively rigid blocks and especially near their diffuse ends

patterns of historical earthquake rupture in the iranian plateau the iranian plateau accommodates the 35 mrn yr convergence rate be tween the eurasian and arabian plates by strike slip and reverse faults with relatively low slip rates in a zone 1000 km across although these faults have only locally been the subject of paleoseismological studies a rich historical and archeological record spans several thousand years long enough to establish recurrence intervals of 1000 to 5000 yr on individual fault segments several clusters of earthquakes provide evidence of interaction among reverse and strike slip faults probably due to adjacent faults being loaded by individual earthquakes the dasht e bayaz sequence of 1936 to 1997 includes earthquakes on left lateral right lateral and reverse faults the neyshabur sequence of four earthquakes between 1209 and 1405 respected the seg ment boundary between the neyshabur and binalud reverse fault systems the two pairs of earthquakes may have ruptured different faults in each segment similar to the 1971 and 1994 san fernando california earthquakes the 1978 tabas reverse fault earthquake was preceded by the 1968 ferdows earthquake part of the dasht e bayaz sequence the north tabriz fault system ruptured from southeast to north west in three earthquakes from 1721 to 1786 a previous cluster may have struck this region in 855 to 958 the mosha fault north of tehran ruptured in three earthquakes in 958 1665 and 1830 five large earthquakes struck the tehran region from 743 to 1177 but only two that large have struck the area since 1177 other earthquakes occurred in pairs in the talesh mountains near the caspian sea 1863 1896 the iran turkey border 1840 1843 and the nayband gowk fault system both 1981 other historical events did not occur as parts of sequences the historic seismic moment release in iran accounts for only a small part of the plate convergence rate which may be due to aseismic slip or to the iranian historical record long as it is being too short to sample long term deformation across the plateau no historic earthquakes of m 8 have struck iran however several long straight strike slip faults doruneh west neh east neh and nayband have not sustained large historical earthquakes raising the possibility that these long faults could produce earthquakes of m 8 thereby removing at least part of the apparent slip deficit an increased understanding of iran s seismic hazard could be obtained by an extensive paleoseismology program and space geodetic arrays supplementing the abundant historical and archaeological record

relative sea level changes and regional tectonic evolution of seven coastal areas in nw greece since the mid holocene abstract this study presents relative sea level rsl curves for seven coastal areas in akarnania and the northwestern peloponnese nw greece since the mid holocene rsl fluctuations are deduced from 48 14c ams dated sedimentological sea level markers from 27 vibracores drilled in near coast geological archives as well as from six geoarchaeological sea level indicators of known ages seven palaeo sea level curves including uncertainty bands are reconstructed for a coastal zone spanning a distance of 150 km considerable intra regional differences in sea level evolution exist these differences are mainly due to tectonic reasons in general rsl in northwestern greece has never been higher than today rates of local sea level rise were highest until 5500 5000 cal bc up to 12 3 m ka and lowest during 4000 500 cal bc 0 2 1 4 m ka during the past 2500 or so years rsl has accelerated anew 0 7 2 7 m ka calculating differences between local mean sea level curves provides quantitative information on intra regional differences of tectonic activity the coastal plains of palairos and elis show signs of uplift whereas the mytikas and boukka plains are strongly subsiding compared to other areas of the eastern mediterranean northwestern greece has been subject to significant net long term subsidence regional tectonic events rtes were detected for the time around 4000 2500 500 and 250 cal bc as well as around 250 and 1250 cal ad rtes are characterized by changes of uplift subsidence rates or by the redirection of local tectonic movements the question if some of the rtes were of a supra regional nature is still open from a geodynamic point of view the results presented show that akarnania s southwestern fringe is being downwarped while the tectonic block as a whole is moving towards the southwest strongest subsidence rates are observed for central akarnania at akarnania s fringes subsidence is reduced by the influence of strong uplift of adjacent areas such as around preveza and the northern peloponnese

an uplift history of crete greece from inverse modeling of longitudinal river profiles we jointly invert cretan drainage networks to determine a temporal and spatial history of regional uplift our model assumes that longitudinal river profiles are controlled by uplift rate history and moderated by the erosional process we have parameterized fluvial erosion using an advective diffusive formulation the inverse model recovers the smoothest uplift rate history that best fits a data set of 250 longitudinal river profiles residual misfit between theoretical and observed river profiles decreases from 18 to 4 during optimization results suggest that crete has been uplifted by 1 2 km during the last 4 ma the central iraklion ridge first became emergent at 4 ma with eastern and western ends of crete emerging 1 ma later maximum uplift rates of 1 1 2 mm yr occurred in central and western crete between 0 and 1 ma this calculated history of uplift is consistent with independent sedimentological stratigraphic and paleontological constraints

timing of glaciation in the mediterranean mountains during the last cold stage recent research in the mountains of the mediterranean has attempted to establish the timing of the maximum extent of glaciers during the last cold stage several dating methods have been utilised and new dating frameworks have emerged in key areas in several places multiple dating techniques radiocarbon optically stimulated luminescence u series applied to glacial and associ ated sediments suggest that local glacier maxima preceded the global last glacial maximum lgm ca 18 14 c ka bp 21 cal ka bp by at least several thousand years studies in spain the pyrenees the maritime alps and turkey utilising cosmogenic isotope analyses 10 be and 36 cl have yielded glacial geochronologies with maxima that correlate closely with the marine isotope record of ice volume and the global lgm in some cases the use of different geochronological techniques has led to conflicting evidence for the timing of the local last glacier maxima in the same area from a palaeoclimate perspective glacier climate reconstructions for the local last glacier maxima in the mountains of central italy northern greece and western turkey indicate that climate was wet and cold in italy and greece the local glacier maxima preceded the driest part of the last cold stage as indicated by palaeoecological records by several thousand years for western turkey however recent cosmo genic exposure ages combined with glacier modelling suggest a local last glacier maximum charac terised by cold and wet conditions coinciding with the global lgm the available evidence indicates that a dichotomy is emerging not only in our understanding of the timing of glaciation across the mediterranean but also in the palaeoclimatic interpretations derived from glacial and palaeoecolo gical records copyright 2008 john wiley sons ltd

local aspect asymmetry of mountain glaciation a global survey of consistency of favoured directions for glacier numbers and altitudes abstract understanding aspect effects on present day glaciers provides essential background to the palaeoclimatic interpretation of reconstructed former glaciers or glacial cirques several factors influencing glacier mass balance vary with slope aspect these give more glaciers lower glaciers and possibly larger glaciers on favoured aspects their effects can be measured by either vector analysis of the number of glaciers with each aspect or fourier regression of glacier altitude or size against aspect both approaches are applied here to large data sets from the world glacier inventory for all available regions favoured aspect is measured by direction of the resultant vector mean and by the direction of minimum glacier altitude for 51 regions with a total of 66 084 glaciers the two directions are broadly consistent in mid latitudes and in the tropics but large differences occur in the arctic and nepal poleward aspects dominate especially in mid latitudes radiation receipt is the major factor with strong wind effects limited to areas with only moderate relief strength of asymmetry is measured by vector strength from glacier numbers or by a combination of first fourier coefficients from glacier altitudes measuring two different facets of degree of asymmetry they are essentially unrelated the fourier measure is the best estimate of local climatic asymmetry as vector strength is more influenced by topography

cirque development in a steadily uplifting range rates of erosion and long term morphometric change in alpine cirques in the ben ohau range new zealand the intractable obstacle to understanding cirque evolution has been the lack of an independent timescale against which to measure morphometric change by using known rates of transport and uplift of the southern alps combined with the oxygen isotope record contained in marine sediments it is possible to estimate the duration of glacial occupancy of cirques in the ben ohau range the pattern is one of very limited glaciation of the southern range with glacial occupancy increasing northwards map based measurement of 18 morphometric properties in each of 92 cirques reveals systematic northward trends in cirque size form and altitude which are explained as reflections of increasing cirque age i e length of glacial occupancy thus the validity of space time substitution is demonstrated rather than assumed and morphometric trends define evolutionary stages of cirque development for cirques with up to c 750 ka occupancy rates of downcutting average 0 29 mma 1 and headwall retreat 0 44 mm a 1 there is no indication of attainment of an equilibrium form within this time both cirque size and form continue to evolve throughout with few parameters showing a convergence of value with cirque age some morphometric parameters perform much better than others the k coefficient of the long profile descriptor is the most powerful predictor of cirque age and simple measures correlate better than derived measures e g ratios of dimensions the trends identified concur with some previously published ideas but for the first time provide empirically quantified rates of change at an appropriate timescale copyright 2006 john wiley sons ltd

alpine landscape evolution dominated by cirque retreat despite the abundance in alpine terrain of glacially dissected landscapes the magnitude and geometry of glacial erosion can rarely be defined in the eastern kyrgyz range of central asia a widespread unconformity exhumed as a geomorphic surface provides a regional datum with which to calibrate erosion as tectonically driven surface uplift has progressively pushed this surface into the zone of ice accumulation glacial erosion has overprinted the landscape with as little as 500 m of incision into rocks underlying the unconformity distinctive glacial valleys display their deepest incision adjacent to cirque headwalls the expansion of north facing glacial cirques at the expense of south facing valleys has driven the drainage divide southward at rates of as much as two to three times the rate of valley incision glacial erosion rules based on ice flux incompletely explain this dominance of cirque retreat over valley incision local processes that either directly sap cirque headwalls or inhibit erosion down glacier appear to control at least initially alpine landscape evolution

evidence for the importance of small faults on block rotation field and earthquake data are presented which show that small faults can be important during block rotation small here means those faults which are at least an order of magnitude smaller than the largest faults at a particular scale of observation the nw se trending dextral faults of sw england have millimetres to kilometres of displacement the largest of these faults such as the sticklepath lustleigh fault do not appear to cause more than a few degrees of rotation from the general e w strike of beds tens of degrees of rotation are often visible however on faults with millimetres of displacement similarly the apparent rotation of beds in the badajoz cordoba shear zone spain increases as the resolution of the faults is increased the power law scaling relationship of earthquake magnitudes in the san andreas fault zone illustrates that small faults can also be important in regions of active block rotation small faults can allow deformation within rotating blocks and can allow high displacement gradients to occur on the block bounding faults this would reduce the need for void creation which is a requirement of rigid block rotation models a tentative model is presented which incorporates the concept that fault behaviour is fractal emphasising the contribution of small faults it is suggested that future studies of block rotation should rigorously test the contribution of small faults and that particular care is needed when comparing palaeomagnetic data with regional scale structures

quaternary evolution of the corinth rift and its implications for the late cenozoic evolution of the aegean summary we present geological and morphological observations at different scales to constrain rates of faulting and the distribution of deformation in the seismically active aegean region we focus first on the 130 km long corinth rift an asymmetric graben where a flight of terraces of marine origin are uplifted we show that the edges of the terraces lie in the footwall of the normal fault bounding the corinth rift and correspond to sea level highstands of laic pleistocene age using a detailed analysis of aerial and spot imagery supported by field observations we have mapped 10 terrace platforms and strandlines ranging in elevation from 10 to 400 m over distances of 2 to 20 km from the fault the elevation of the terraces inner edges was estimated at 172 sites with an error of 5m this data set contains a precise description of the uplift and flexure of 10 different palaeohorizontal lines with respect to the present sea level to date the deformation we correlate the corinth terraces with late pleistocene oxygen isotope stages of high sea level stands and with global sea level fluctuations using a thick elastic plate model consistent with our current understanding of the earthquake cycle and a boundary element technique we reproduce the geometry of the shorelines to constrain both mechanical parameters and the slip on the fault we show that the seismogenic layer behaves over the long term as if its elastic modulus were reduced by a factor of about 1000 all the terraces are fitted for fault slip increasing in proportion to terrace age and the component of regional uplift is found to be less than 0 3 mm yr 1 the best fits give a slip rate of 11 3 mm yr 1 on the main rift bounding fault over the last 350 kyr other geological and morphologic information allows us to estimate the total age of the main fault 1 ma and to examine the mechanical evolution of the corinth rift the minimum observed sediment thickness in the gulf places an extreme check on the results of the modelling and a lower bound on slip rate of 6 7 mm yr 1 40 per cent less than estimated with modelling even this slip rate is nearly 10 times higher than for comparable features in most of the aegean and elsewhere in the world at a larger scale the spacing and asymmetry of the rift systems in the aegean suggest strain localization in the upper mantle with slow extension starting 15 myr ago or earlier the more recent 1 myr rapid phase of rifting in corinth partly reactivated this earlier phase of extension the younger faulting in corinth appears to result from its present location in the inhomogeneous stress field process zone of the south westward propagating tip of the southern branch of the north anatolian fault we extend these relations to propose a mechanical model for the late cenozoic evolution of the aegean as the arabia europe collision progressed in eastern turkey it caused anatolia to move to the west and the north anatolian fault to propagate into the aegean where the early slow extension started to be modified about 5 ma ago the process of propagation dramatically increased the activity of some but not all of the earlier rifts the model we present is compatible with tectonic observations as well as with the seismicity the palaeomagnetic rotations and the displacement field now observed with gps and slr

quaternary glacial history of mount olympus greece erosional and depositional evidence on mount olympus greece and across the adjacent piedmont provides clear indication that the mountain was more extensively glaciated over a longer period of time than has been previously reported the stratigraphic record of pleistocene holocene events on mount olympus is most clearly documented on the eastern piedmont where three discrete sedimentary packages units 1 3 each capped by a distinctive soil reflect glacial and nonglacial activity in the mount olympus region a working stratigraphic framework for sediments and soils is proposed and is tentatively correlated with a dated alluvial succession south of mount olympus we suggest that the oldest sedimentary package unit 1 predates 200 ka isotope stage 8 lithologic and pedologic equivalents of the piedmont stratigraphy are found within major valleys draining mount olympus as well as within cirque basins and on the summit plateau surface these deposits can be clearly tied to three stages of cirque development on the upland and at valley heads taken together upland and piedmont glacial features and deposits indicate the following general scenario 1 earliest glaciation isotope stage 8 produced upland ice and valley glaciers that extended as piedmont lobes east north and west of mount olympus 2 nonglacial interglacial conditions isotope stage 7 were accompanied by extensive erosion and subsequent pedogenesis 3 a second glaciation isotope stage 6 involved production of upland ice and valley glaciers that did not reach the piedmont 4 interglacial interstadial conditions isotope stage 5 provided time for stream erosion and substantial pedogenesis 5 final glaciation isotope stages 4 2 was restricted to valley heads no upland ice and glaciers that extended to mid valley positions 6 nonglacial conditions isotope stage 1 were associated with additional pedogenesis and stream incision the largest cirque on the mountain megali kazania may contain depositional evidence for neoglaciation study of the neotectonic history of the mount olympus region indicates that uplift has persisted throughout the mid pleistocene and holocene at a rate of about 1 6 m k y the total uplift since deposition of unit 2 is approximately 200 m

middle pleistocene cold stage climates in the mediterranean new evidence from the glacial record abstract a major reduction in summer temperatures during a middle pleistocene glacial cycle caused the most extensive glaciation recorded in the mediterranean region glaciers in the mountains of greece formed during marine isotope stage mis 12 474 000 427 000 years bp under climatic conditions characterised by mean summer temperatures at least 11 c cooler than today and annual precipitation of 2300 mm at the equilibrium line altitude 1741 m a s l this represents the coldest mean summer temperatures recorded in greece during at least the last 430 000 years later pleistocene glaciations mis 6 and 5d 2 were characterised by warmer summer temperatures and higher annual precipitation

a diagnostic study of recurrent meteorological anomalies appearing in a 15 year simulation with a gfdl general circulation model abstract the spatial structure and temporal characteristics of prominent anomalies occurring in a 15 year simulation with a gfdl spectral general circulation model are examined using empirical orthogonal functions teleconnection patterns composite charts lagged correlation functions and frequency spectra despite the absence of any nonseasonal perturbation in the prescribed forcing such as sea surface temperature insolation and cloud cover the simulated circulation exhibits an appreciable degree of temporal variability on monthly time scales the standing oscillation in the northern hemisphere winter which accounts for the largest fraction of this variance has a coherent three dimensional structure in the middle and upper troposphere this preferred mode of oscillation is characterized by a wavelike pattern with multiple centers of action the corresponding anomaly pattern at the sea level is dominated by north south pressure seesaws over the north atlantic and north pacific the flow patterns assoc

the terraces of corinth gerrce a detailed record of eustatic sea level variations during the last 500 000 years abstract between corinth and xylokastro 20 marine terraces reflect the interaction of the northern peloponnese uplift and the global eustatic sea level fluctuations during the last 500 000 years correlation of the terraces with oxygen isotope records in deep sea cores allowed accurate dating of these fossilized transgressive shorelines curves of altitude versus age have been plotted they show a regular decrease of the uplift rate and a frequent return of the sea level very close to the present day one not only during the interglacial periods 5 7 9 11 13 but also during glacial periods 3 1 3 3 6 8 the alternative would be to suppose very complicated and highly improbable vertical movements of the substratum to explain the regularity of the curves the rhythm of these high sea levels is around 20 30 ka since at least 330 000 years ago

interpretations of a middle miocene and late quaternary steady dextral transpression in sw japan and the opening tectonics for the japan sea abstract an internal rotation hypothesis for the deformation of sw japan for middle miocene and recent times is studied rotations are known to have occurred from paleomagnetic data for the earlier case two geodetic flow field estimates as well as another tectonic study suggest that the rotations are also taking place at present a further examination of the geodetic flow models suggests that the rotations contained in these flow models are intrinsic to the deformation of sw japan which occurs in an e w dextral transpressive simultaneous pure and simple shear tectonic regime maps of rotation rates one half of vorticity and shear gradients the n s variation of the e w velocity field constructed from the geodetic flow models resemble one another in pattern the estimates of the directions of the principal strain rates from the geodetic models are on the whole n s contractional and or e w extensional which match the geodetic reference coordinate system used in the adjustment of the geodetic data these observations suggest that the vortical flow contained in the geodetic flow models is a frame independent shear induced vorticity as the material is rotating with respect to the principal directions of the strain rates and that the oblique motion of the philippine sea plate is partitioned between shear and arc normal convergence components the rotation rate is 10 12 ma furthermore the kinematical vorticity number estimates from the geodetic data correlate well with the first order tectonic fabric patterns in sw japan super simple shear deformation for large parts of sw japan where the median tectonic line and other large strike slip faults are found is also indicated in the internal kinematical vorticity number estimates a new model for the formation of the japan sea is proposed extrusion of japan due to the okhotsk eurasia collision this model agrees with the fundamental observations of the early middle miocene deformation in the region the application of an indentation extrusion model to the okhotsk eurasia collision results in a better agreement between the predicted and observed structures and leads to simpler more reasonable and coherent interpretations for the origin and development of the structures compared with the achievements of the previous models the nne trending early middle miocene rifts lying along the continental margin of western hokkaido formed as pull apart basins along a sinistral fault related to the collision of the okhotsk plate which segmented in a left handed sense because the collision was oblique the n s trending rifts and the normal faults found in the back arc domain of the ne honshu arc formed by eastward extrusion under the influence of the mariana type subduction in the japan trench these rift basins were subsequently left laterally displaced by movement along nw trending sinistral strike slip faults the shikoku basin opened from the east toward the west and dextral shear was imparted to the sw margin from the nankai trough leading to clockwise rotations in the middle miocene in sw japan the paleomagnetic rotations are accommodated as fully internal structural rotations in the new model for the origin of the japan sea the current episode of deformation in sw japan began 1 5 million years ago after a hiatus during a 15 5 ma interval and is likely a continuation of the middle miocene style of tectonics

the glacial history of the pindus mountains greece abstract geomorphological evidence for pleistocene glaciation has been mapped in the pindus mountains of northwest greece and the chronology of glaciation in this area has been established through soil profile analysis and u series dating of secondary carbonates calcite formed within glacial deposits three glacial stages are evident in the sedimentological and geomorphological records the earliest and most extensive recorded glaciation predates 350 000 yr b p and was characterized by extensive valley glaciers and ice fields a more recent glaciation occurred before the last interglacial and was characterized by glaciers that reached midvalley positions the last phase of glaciation in greece is recorded by small cirque glacier moraines and relict periglacial rock glaciers the glacial and periglacial sequence on mount tymphi has been used in conjunction with a reference parastratotype the long lacustrine sequence at ioannina to provide a chronostratigraphical framework for cold stage deposits in g

near surface geophysical analysis of the navamuno depression sierra de bejar iberian central system geometry sedimentary infill and genetic implications of tectonic and glacial footprint the geometric and genetic characterization of the navamuno depression peatland system iberian central system is presented here using results from a geophysical survey this depression is a 30 ha pseudo endorheic flat basin over granitic bedrock three geophysical techniques were used to map the subsurface geology and identify and describe the infill sequence shallow seismic refraction sr magnetic resonance sounding mrs and electrical resistivity measurements ves and ert the three main geoelectrical layers g1 g2 g3 identified in previous research have also been identified in the present work using the data obtained in this new research we have been able to analyse these three geological layers in detail and reinterpret them they can be grouped genetically into two sedimentary units an ancient sedimentary body g3 of unknown age and type beneath an upper pleistocene g2 and holocene g1 sedimentary infill the facies distribution and geometry of the upper pleistocene was examined using the sequence stratigraphy method revealing that the navamuno depression was an ice dammed in the last glacial cycle resulting in glaciolacustrine sedimentation a highly permeable sedimentary layer or regolith exists beneath the glaciolacustrine deposits below 40 m depth water content falls dramatically down to a depth of 80 m where unweathered bedrock may be present the information obtained from geophysical geological and geomorphological studies carried out in this research enabled us to consider various hypotheses as to the origin of this depression according to these data the navamuno depression may be explained as the result of a transtensional process from the puerto de navamuno strike slip fault during the reactivation of the iberian central system paleogene lower miocene alpine orogeny and can be correlated with the pull apart type basins described in these areas the neotectonic activity of this fault and the icedammed processes in these areas during the last glacial cycle mis2 were the main causes of recent sedimentary infill in this depression

environmental controls on alpine cirque size pleistocene alpine cirques are emblematic landforms of mountain scenery yet their deceptively simple template conceals complex controlling variables this comparative study presents a new database of 1071 cirques the largest of its kind located in the french eastern pyrenees it is embedded in a review of previous work on cirque morphometry and thus provides a perspective on a global scale first order cirque attributes of length width and amplitude were measured and their power as predictors of climatic and lithological variables and as proxies for the duration of glacier activity was tested using anova simple and multiple linear regression and their various post hoc tests conventional variables such as cirque aspect floor elevation and exposure with respect to regional precipitation bearing weather systems are shown to present some consistency in spatial patterns determined by solar radiation the morning afternoon effect and wind blown snow accumulation in the lee of ridgetops this confirms in greater detail the previously encountered links between landforms and climate a special focus on the influence of bedrock lithology a previously neglected nonclimatic variable highlights the potential for spurious relations in the use of cirque size as a proxy of past environmental conditions cirques are showcased as complex landforms resulting from the combination of many climatic and nonclimatic variables that remain difficult to rank by order of importance apart from a few statistically weak trends several combinations of different factors in different proportions are shown to produce similar morphometric outcomes suggesting a case of equifinality in landform development

offset on the main recent fault of nw iran and implications for the late cenozoic tectonics of the arabia eurasia collision zone summary we use drainage patterns geological markers and geomorphological features to determine a right lateral offset of 50 km and possibly as much as 70 km on the main recent fault in nw iran this fault trends nw se and forms the ne border of the zagros mountains it accommodates the strike slip component of the n s convergence between arabia and eurasia with the ne sw shortening component being accommodated in the zagros fold belt its 50 km strike slip offset implies a shortening of 50 km in the fold belt and 70 km total n s convergence accommodated in the nw zagros this is a substantial fraction of the 85 140 km overall arabia eurasia convergence expected over the last 3 5 ma if the main recent fault initiated at that time as seems likely from geological arguments it has a horizontal slip rate of at least 10 17 mm yr 1 and should be the source of frequent earthquakes of ms 6 7 as has been seen in the 20th century and the earlier historical record the similarity of the offsets and probable ages of the north anatolian and main recent faults suggests that they have been active as an almost continuous zone of right lateral shear on the north edge of the arabian and anatolian plates since the early pliocene

why are there no clockwise rotations along the north anatolian fault zone mechanical analysis of lithospheric deformation associated with an intracontinental transform fault suggests that it should be associated with a pattern of vertical axis rotations governed by the length of the fault its displacement and the mechanical properties of the lithosphere paleomagnetic results from two transects across the north anatolian fault zone indicate that there have been no measurable clockwise rotations on a regional scale associated with neogene dextral strike slip motion along the fault the data come from two groups of volcanic rocks that have been dated by k ar whole rock geochronology and have yielded ages ranging from 45 3 3 1 m y to 41 8 1 3 m y eocene and 21 7 1 5 m y to 7 5 0 2 m y miocene the absence of clockwise rotations suggests one of the following explanations 1 in contrast to the assumptions underlying current mechanical analyses deformation in the upper crust may not directly reflect the flow in the lithosphere and is localized along a single fault trace 2 deformation is distributed but rotations have been prevented by the presence of elongate fault blocks subparallel to the trace of the main fault 3 displacement along the north anatolian fault may be too small or the rheologic properties of the lithosphere such that rotations about vertical axes cannot be resolved instead of the predicted clockwise rotations measured declinations show that there has been approximately 30 of anticlockwise rotation of both the eocene and miocene volcanic rocks this suggests that no significant rotation occurred between eocene and miocene times and that the anticlockwise rotation occurred either immediately before or concurrent with the plio pleistocene slip on the north anatolian fault

contemporary kinematics of the western united states determined from earthquake moment tensors very long baseline interferometry and gps observations using moment tensors from earthquakes between 1850 and 1995 we determine the horizontal velocity gradient tensor field associated with the seismic deformation in the western u s plate boundary zone the velocity vectors obtained from the integration of the seismic strain rates across the entire plate boundary lie within 5 of the nuvel ia pacific north american plate motion direction the magnitude of the earthquake related velocity is 62 of the nuvel 1a total pacific north american plate motion if earthquake occurrence is a random poisson like process then the large formal errors associated with the model velocity estimates are an indication that the 144 year interval is too short to define the long term seismic moment release rate to within an uncertainty less than the deficit between the observed seismic moment release rate and the total long term moment release rate associated with both the seismic and aseismic deformation to spatially resolve the deficit of the earthquake moment release in the last 144 years we have also estimated the total long term horizontal velocity gradient tensor field using seismic strain rate tensors and recent geodetic velocities both with and without the nuvel 1a pacific north american rigid plate motion constraint we find a systematic difference between the southern california earthquake center scec geodetic velocity map and nuvel 1a north american reference frames with a pole at 38 8 n 124 2 w 0 33 m y 1 this difference is significant at the 99 confidence level and indicates that 4 7 mm yr of ne sw convergence is absorbed in offshore areas of southern california if both the scec velocity map and nuvel 1a correctly describe the relative motion between the pacific and north america plates deficit strain rates calculated from comparison of observed seismic strain rates over the last 144 years with long term model strain rate tensors are largest in areas east of san francisco bay in the transverse ranges and along the southern san andreas fault and san jacinto fault the deficit in each 100 by 50 km grid area within these regions is equivalent to an accumulation of strain in the last 144 years that would be released by an mw 7 earthquake elsewhere the accumulated strain in the last 144 years is small except in northern mojave desert along the garlock fault and in the region southwest of the southern san andreas san jacinto fault zone within each 100 by 50 km grid area in these regions the accumulated strain is equivalent to that released by an mw 6 5 7 0 earthquake

plate motions crustal and lithospheric mobility and paleomagnetism prospective viewpoint the shift in viewpoint from a static to a mobilistic solid earth as brought about by paleomagnetism opened many new directions of research that continue to be exciting today and hold prospects for an exciting future here five topics of current research on earth s mobilistic surface are reviewed and their future directions discussed first dividing earth s solid surface into two domains 1 nearly rigid plate interiors and 2 plate boundaries some of them very wide leads to a review and discussion of the kinematics of wide plate boundaries many more adjustable parameters will be needed to describe the complex kinematics of plate boundaries which cover 15 of earth surface than the few dozen parameters needed to describe the kinematics of plate interiors which cover 85 of earth s surface second the question of the degree of rigidity of plate interiors is discussed the integral of the velocity gradient across plates interiors is at least a few hundredths or tenths of millimeters per year and in several well determined cases less than 2 or 3 mm yr future investigations will no doubt be aimed at narrowing these limits and to expanding the area of earth s surface over which limits are known third space geodetic data mainly from very long baseline inter ferometry satellite laser ranging and the global positioning system have demonstrated a remarkable similarity of velocities of stable plate interiors averaged over a few to a dozen years with plate velocities averaged over a few million years already however significant differences of a few millimeters per year are emerging and the tectonic and dynamic significance of these differences need to be evaluated fourth despite more than two decades of investigation the question of how fast hotspots move relative to one another is still a contentious issue one group of researchers maintains that maximum speeds are 3 mm yr whereas another maintains that speeds are 10 20 mm yr or more the differences cannot be reconciled until the uncertainties in plate reconstructions relative to hotspots are systematically and properly incorporated into analyses of hotspot motion fifth paleomagnetists have estimated true polar wander over the past 200 myr by equating it with the apparent polar wander of hotspots however the possible motion among hotspots and the neglect of the uncertainties in reconstructions relative to the hotspots have left these analyses unconvincing further progress requires the incorporation of these uncertainties a possible exception is the apparent polar wander of the hotspots over the past 10 20 myr or less which requires only small adjustments for plate motion and has presumably smaller uncertainties due to plate reconstructions the cause of this apparently significant geologically recent shift of the pole is poorly understood compared with the rate and direction of the secular shift of the pole observed this century from the international latitude service and for 1976 to 1994 from space geodetic data the paleomagnetically observed shift is unlikely to be due to the removal of northern hemisphere midlatitude ice sheets which is the commonly accepted explanation for the shift observed over the past century i speculate instead that the apparently rapid uplift of the tibetan plateau sometime during the past 10 20 myr is at least partly responsible for the geologically recent shift of the pole finally i conclude that the theory of plate tectonics has provided a framework that leads naturally to further quantification of the kinematics and deformation of earth s solid surface chiefly because of the key assumption of the rigidity of plate interiors which permits specific predictions to be made this revolution in quantification still has far to go and holds exciting prospects for future tectonic studies

the glacial history of the dinaric alps montenegro abstract large areas of montenegro were glaciated during the pleistocene this paper presents evidence from the massifs of central montenegro including durmitor and sinjajevina moracke planine maganik prekornica and vojnik glacial deposits have been subdivided on the basis of morphostratigraphy and soil weathering and 31 u series ages from cemented tills provided a geochronological framework the largest glaciation occurred before 350 ka when a series of conjoined ice caps over the massifs of central montenegro covered a total area of nearly 1500 km 2 these formed during mis 12 and correspond with the largest skamnellian stage glaciations in greece to the south later middle pleistocene glaciations occurred during the penultimate glacial cycle correlating with the vlasian stage in greece mis 6 when ice caps covered an area of 720 km 2 over central montenegro there is also geochronological evidence of glacial deposits dating from the interval between mis 12 and mis 6 before the interglacial complex of mis 7 this glaciation appears to have been very similar in extent to that which occurred during mis 6 the last glacial cycle in central montenegro was characterised by valley and cirque glaciers covering a total area of 49 km 2 it is very likely that glaciers have been present in the mountains of central montenegro during every glacial cycle since a small glacier still survives today the smaller glaciers of the last glacial cycle are likely to have been associated with summer temperatures that were warmer than those of earlier cold stages the striking contrast in the extent and thickness of ice cover during the cold stages of the pleistocene has an important bearing on the geomorphological and biological evolution of the balkans

palaeoglacial and palaeoclimatic conditions in the nw pacific as revealed by a morphometric analysis of cirques upon the kamchatka peninsula abstract the distribution of glacial cirques upon the kamchatka peninsula far eastern russia is systematically mapped from satellite images and digital elevation model data a total of 3758 cirques are identified 238 of which are occupied by active glaciers the morphometry of the remaining 3520 cirques is analysed these cirques are found to show a very strong n bias in their azimuth orientation likely resulting from aspect related variations in insolation the strength of this n bias is considered to indicate that former glaciation upon the peninsula was often marginal and mainly of cirque type with peaks extending little above regional equilibrium line altitudes this is supported by the fact that s and se facing cirques are the highest in the dataset suggesting that glacier cover was rarely sufficient to allow s and se facing glaciers to develop at low altitudes the strength of these azimuth related variations in cirque altitude is thought to reflect comparatively cloud free conditions during former periods of glaciation it is suggested that these characteristics of marginal glaciation and comparatively cloud free conditions reflect the region s former aridity which was likely intensified at the global last glacial maximum and during earlier periods of ice advance as a result of the development of negative pressure anomalies over the north pacific driven by the growth of the laurentide ice sheet combined with other factors including an increase in the extent and duration of sea ice a reduction in global sea levels cooler sea surface temperatures and the localised growth of mountain glaciers there is published evidence to suggest extensive glaciation of the kamchatka peninsula at times during the late quaternary yet the data presented here appear to suggest that such phases were comparatively short lived and that smaller cirque type glaciers were generally more characteristic of the period

neotectonic and seismological data concerning major active faults and the stress regimes of northern greece northern greece is an intracontinental region behind the hellenic subduction zone with widespread seismic activity ranging from low to high with strong destructive earthquakes of mg6 0 in historical to recent times geological and seismological data indicate that recent seismic activity is mainly localized along large inherited fault zones which have transected northern greece since oligocene miocene times the main active fault zones in thrace and eastern and central macedonia strike approximately east west with lengths of 40 120 km fault segments strike wnw ese to ene wsw and range from 10 to 30 km in length in western macedonia the main active fault zones strike ne sw to ene wsw with lengths of 40 60 km and consist of 10 30 km segments the region s strong earthquakes are usually associated with reactivation of these fault segments and are estimated at m 5 6 6 5 focal mechanisms and fault slip data from the fault zones indicate a change in the trend of extension axes from nne ssw in eastern macedonia thrace to nnw sse in western macedonia thus neotectonic and seismological data suggest that variations in fault patterns as determined from the large inherited fault zones transecting northern greece are the major factor governing this change in the trend of maximum extension this interpretation is consistent with the long lived arcuate shape of the hellenic subduction zone of these the best known are the 1978 thessaloniki earthquake of m 6 5 papazachos et al 1979 and the 1995 kozani grevena earthquake pavlides et al 1995 mountrakis et al 1996c 1998 papazachos et al 1998a with the latter occurring in the low seismicity western macedonia region the rupture zones in northern greece need a thorough re examination in the light of recent advances in our understanding of active faulting and the new data provided by the aristotle university seismological network our aim is to identify the large active fault zones in northern greece from their geometric kinematic and seismotectonic features to define controlling stresses and to elucidate the continuity or extent of these zones the main aim is to better understand the active deformation of these areas and to determine whether fault deformation in northern greece is concentrated into relatively narrow bands or zones as one of the major issues in continental mechanics is how fault slips in the upper crust reflect more distributed flow in the lower lithosphere e g mckenzie jackson 1983 molnar gipson 1994 bourne et al 1998 information about active faulting and driving stresses in such areas is very useful brittle deformation within intracontinental regions is usually associated with distributed faulting and seismic activity however within such broad deforming regions some parts although transected by large faults are characterized by relatively less intense seismic activity and slip rates northern greece lies in the inner part of the continental collision region of nw greece and albania close to the intensely north south aegean extended sea this deformation is driven by the hellenic subduction zone and the westward extrusion of anatolia fig 1a in the older greek seismic code some large areas of macedonia e g western macedonia are classified as almost aseismic and other adjacent ones e g central macedonia as highly seismic recent instrumental data obtained from the regional seismological network of the aristotle university of thessaloniki after its installation in 1980 have confirmed the existence of significant seismicity in northern greece fig 1b particularly along narrow rupture zones papazachos et al 2001 furthermore large earthquakes have been reported in historical times papazachos papazachou 2003 and several strong and destructive ones have been recorded instrumentally during the last century 650 d mountrakis et al fig 1 a schematic map showing the position of northern greece in the broader eastern mediterranean geotectonic regime modified from papazachos papazachou 2003 b spatial distribution of instrumentally recorded earthquakes 1911 2004 with magnitudes mg3 0 for the broader study area ctf cephalonia transform fault rtf rhodes transform fault ptf paphos transform fault geology and seismotectonics of northern

flexural uplift of rift flanks in central greece uplifts with elevations of up to 2000 m and short wavelengths 30 35 km flank three major grabens in central greece the rio sparta and atalanti grabens they are bordered on their landward sides by narrow basins oriented parallel to the graben axes the manesi and trichonis basins at the rio graben and copais and istiea basins at the atalanti graben the flexural origin of these uplift profiles is investigated here by using thin broken plate models it is demonstrated that the observed topography of the graben flanks is consistent with the upward deflection of elastic and viscoelastic plates in response to upward directed forces applied at the graben flanks in order to evaluate to applicability of each model their predictions are checked against the observations the elastic predictive modeling fits well with the observed flexural wavelengths and the flanking seismicity however it fails to predict the graben widths and the inferred elastic layer thickness in contrast the viscoelastic model successfully explains the graben widths and the back basins as flexural hinterland basins and matches the seismological data and the time constraints of rifting it is therefore suggested that flexural uplift with viscoelastic relaxation accounts for the building of the graben flanks the invoked viscoelastic models constrain the effective elastic thickness of the plates at 10 km for the rio graben and 15 km for the sparta and atalanti grabens suggesting a low viscosity lower crust furthermore they predict low rates of tectonic uplift of the order of 0 1 mm a 1 for the atalanti graben intermediate rates of 0 24 0 37 mm a 1 for the rio graben and high rates of 0 7 0 9 mm a 1 for the sparta graben the latter are quite possibly overestimated since napping events capable of producing high local relief are traced normal to the modeled profiles

crustal velocity field near the big bend of california s san andreas fault we use geodetic data spanning the 1920 1992 interval to estimate the horizontal velocity field near the big bend segment of california s san andreas fault saf more specifically we estimate a horizontal velocity vector for each node of a two dimensional grid that has a 15 min by 15 min mesh and that extends between latitudes 34 0 n and 36 0 n and longitudes 117 5 w and 120 5 w for this estimation process we apply bilinear interpolation to transfer crustal deformation information from geodetic sites to the grid nodes the data include over a half century of triangulation measurements over two decades of repeated electronic distance measurements a decade of repeated very long baseline interferometry measurements and several years of global positioning system measurements magnitudes for our estimated velocity vectors have formal standard errors ranging from 0 7 to 6 8 mm yr our derived velocity field shows that 1 relative motion associated with the saf exceeds 30 mm yr and is distributed on the earth s surface across a band 100 km wide that is roughly centered on this fault 2 when velocities are expressed relative to a fixed north america plate the motion within our primary study region has a mean orientation of n44 w 2 and the surface trace of the saf is congruent in shape to nearby contours of constant speed yet this trace is oriented between 5 and 10 counterclockwise relative to these contours and 3 large strain rates shear rates 150 nrad yr and or areal dilatation rates 150 nstr yr exist near the garlock fault near the white wolf fault and in the ventura basin