effect of partial melting on rock deformation experimental and natural evidences on rocks of granitic compositions abstract deformation tests at constant strain rate 10 5 s 1 at 210 250 mpa confining pressure and at 560 900 c are performed on an aplite with varying water contents the mechanical behaviour is correlated with the microstructure after a stage of plastification depending on the temperature and on the water content the rock strength falls dramatically under such confining pressures before melting and before straining the pores of the wet rocks burst as the thermal expansion of water develops a local high pore pressure which causes cracking and fracturing in our opinion this pore bursting will increase the effects of thermal cracking due to the differential expansion of the minerals the rocks exhibit a uniform crack network with increasing temperature melting occurs in the cataclased rock the crack development and melting depend on the initial water content the loss of cohesion obtained either by cracking or by cracking and melting provokes a dramatic weakening axial shortening induces cracking parallel to 1 and melt transfer into extensional regions deformation is concentrated in dilatant shear bands at the highest temperature 900 c a melt film network is rapidly established and induces a very low flow stress melt effects in naturally deformed gneisses suggest that biotite breakdown furnishes a silicate fluid which induces hydraulic fracture and melt dispersion

short paper seismic reflection evidence for the location of the iapetus suture west of ireland a new deep seismic profile recorded west of ireland by the british institutions reflection profiling syndicate birps images prominent north dipping reflectors west of the shannon estuary qualitatively similar north dipping reflectors have been imaged on previous birps profiles recorded across the solway line both east and west of britain and have there been interpreted as structures related to the iapetus suture by analogy with these other north dipping reflectors and because the newly discovered reflectors lie close to previously hypothesized locations of the iapetus suture the structures seen on the new birps profile are here interpreted as representing part of the iapetus suture zone

electromagnetic methods for mapping freshwater lenses on micronesian atoll islands abstract the overall shape of freshwater lenses can be determined by applying electromagnetic methods and inverse layered earth modeling to the mapping of atoll island freshwater lenses conductivity profiles were run across the width of the inhabited islands at mwoakilloa pingelap and sapwuahfik atolls of the pohnpei state federated states of micronesia using a dual loop frequency domain electromagnetic profiling system six values of apparent conductivity were recorded at each sounding station and were used to interpret layer conductivities and or thicknesses a three layer model that includes the unsaturated freshwater and saltwater zones was used to simulate apparent conductivity data measured in the field interpreted results were compared with chloride concentration data from monitoring wells and indicate that the interface between freshwater and saltwater layers defined from electromagnetic data is located in the upper part of the transition zone where the chloride concentration profile shows a rapid increase with depth the electromagnetic method can be used to interpret the thickness of the freshwater between monitoring wells but can not be used to interpret the thickness of freshwater from monitoring wells to the margin of an island

intraplate extensional tectonics of the eastern basin range inferences on structural style from seismic reflection data regional tectonics and thermal mechanical models of brittle ductile deformation the general lack of a correlation between earthquakes and surface faulting in the interior of the western u s cordillera has motivated our efforts to evaluate the geometry structural style and mechanism of normal faulting characteristic of this region of intraplate extension to address the problem we have interpreted over 1500 km of seismic reflection data and constructed detailed cross sections of the upper crust rheological models of the continental crust were calculated to examine the possibility of shallow quasi plastic flow and its influence on faulting in the eastern basin range the western colorado plateau and the middle rocky mountains our data and interpretations have revealed the following styles of cenozoic deformation 1 steep to low angle dip normal faulting along the wasatch fault 2 low angle dip and listric normal faulting possibly associated with movement on preexisting thrusts 3 the occurrence of asymmetric mostly eastward tilted tertiary basins that are bounded by low to moderate dipping planar and listric faults and 4 at least three vertically stacked en echelon low angle reflections in the mid to upper crust that dip gently westward from 3 km beneath the wasatch plateau to over 15 km at the utah nevada border these reflections are interpreted as normal detachment faults the structural style of the pervasive low to moderate angle dipping faults cannot be easily reconciled with classic brittle failure theory but the interpreted termination of normal faults at or above the deeper low angle reflections suggests the presence of shallow zones of ductile deformation that may have accommodated slip an important observation based on interpretations of seismic reflection profiles is that normal fault zones dip more gently in the subsurface than their associated scarps in unconsolidated surficial deposits segment boundaries of the wasatch fault zone apparently coincide with the positions of east trending displacement transfer structures in thrust sheets and the position of the precambrian uinta aulacogen suggesting that preexisting crustal structure partly controls the geometry of extension to examine the influence of ductile deformation quasi plastic flow was modeled for appropriate geotherms of the basin range and colorado plateau crusts these models provide constraints on the depth to the frictional quasi plastic transition that occurs as shallow as 8 km in the eastern basin range this depth also corresponds to the approximate depth above which most accurately determined earthquake foci for small earthquakes m 5 5 appear to nucleate at 10 15 km in or near the brittle ductile transition the rheological modeling suggests that a thermally deforming continental lithosphere plays an important role in the evolution of this extending intraplate region large scale low angle reflections may represent decollements and normal faults at the top of upper crustal zones of reduced shearing strength and higher ductility

the possible role of fluids for the structuring of the continental crust abstract some well known seismic reflectivity patterns of continental crusts characterize specific tectonic terranes the role of fluids in enhancing or destroying such structures is studied seismicity is strongly dependent on the different pore pressure of fluids in intraplate settings in strike slip or extensional areas hydrostatic pore pressure seems to be approached in accordance with standard rheological models and standard seismicity depth distributions in suture zones or zones of developing loads possibly also along zones of near horizontal normal faults extremely high pore pressure develops which approaches lithostatic values they are accompanied by a number of weakening processes with enhanced shear and reduced viscosity these values correlate with low seismic velocities v p in accordance with an empirical v p relationship

active normal faulting and crustal extension a world wide review of fault plane solutions and focal depths for large normal faulting earthquakes on the continents shows that the overwhelming majority of such earthquakes nucleate in the depth range 6 15 km on faults dipping between 30 and 60 in the few cases where levelling or seismic data are good enough these normal faults are shown to be approximately planar from the surface to their nucleation depth at the base of the brittle crust there is evidence that in some cases as a result of the enormous transitory increase in strain rate during large earthquakes rupture continues into the normally ductile lower crust on surfaces with substantially gentler dips these low angle surfaces may be analogous to some of the detachments seen in metamorphic core complexes of the western usa but the nature of the motion on them depends on strain rate as well as on rheological contrasts between the detachments and the blocks on either side such contrasts however are unlikely to introduce substantial curvature to an originally planar shear zone if the observed spread in active normal fault dips is caused by rotation of the faults and the blocks they bound during extension then a maximum value of 1 7 can be accommodated by seismic activity on a single generation of normal faults with continued extension either a new generation of steeper faults cutting the rotated first faults is likely to form or the deformation will continue aseismically on faults dipping at less than 30 large earthquakes have not been observed to nucleate on very low angle 20 normal faults within the continental crust anywhere in the world such faults can of course move aseismically but are unlikely to do so on a large scale within the upper crust in areas where steep normal faults are seismically active thus extensional models that require concentrated simple shear on large sub horizontal faults within the brittle upper crust will also require a spatial separation between aseismic very low angle faulting and seismic highangle faulting since seismogenic high angle faults dominate the topography of extending regions upper crustal very low angle faulting if it occurs on a large scale presumably does so in areas that are relatively fiat

state of stress and intraplate earthquakes in the united states recently compiled data on the state of stress have been used to define stress provinces in the conterminous united states in which the orientation and relative magnitude of the horizontal principal stresses are fairly uniform the observed pattems of stress constrain mechanisms for generating intraplate lithospheric stresses coupled with new information on geologic structure and tectonism in seismically active areas of the midcontinent and east these data help to define some characteristics common to these areas and to identify key questions regarding why certain faults seem to be seismically active

normal faulting in the upper continental crust observations from regions of active extension abstract observations of present day normal faulting in regions of active continental extension may be helpful when interpreting the geological record in older extensional basins the most obvious manifestation of active extension is normal faulting in earthquakes earthquake foci are mostly confined to the upper seismogenic continental crust whose thickness imposes a scale on the observed deformation large earthquakes move faults with lengths similar or large compared with the thickness of the seismogenic layer large seismogenic normal faults on the continents appear to be restricted to a dip range of around 30 60 dips significantly gentler than 20 have not been observed in fault plane solutions of large earthquakes large seismographic normal faults are approximately planar in cross section and cut through the base of the upper seismogenic layer rotating about a horizontal axis as they move a reasonable estimate of the regional extension can often be made from the dip of the large normal faults and the tilt of the blocks they bound the domino model such faults are rarely continuous for more than 15 20 km but commonly change strike or step in an en echelon fashion this segmentation may occur on a scale controlled by the thickness of the seismogenic layer and is an important influence on sedimentation and drainage these observations are common to large seismogenic normal faults from a variety of tectonic settings and suggest that the kinematics of normal faulting may not be strongly influenced by the forces responsible for the extension which can vary widely in nature and magnitude small earthquakes which move faults that are small compared with the seismogenic layer thickness show no simple pattern and often can be interpreted as internal deformation of blocks bounded by large faults in some places the seismogenic basement faults do not reach the surface but are decoupled from the sedimentary cover by layers of weak lithology faults in the sedimentary cover may be strongly curved in cross section requiring their hangingwalls to deform internally estimating extension from such faults is not straightforward and requires a knowledge of the hangingwall deformation estimates made in this way are often very non unique and prone to large errors we postulate that the thickness of the seismogenic upper crust controls both the maximum length of large normal fault segments along strike and the maximum size of blocks that can rotate coherently about a horizontal axis

electromagnetic exploration for fluids in the earth s crust abstract electromagnetic geophysical techniques yield information on the spatial distribution of electrical conductivity a parameter sensitive to fluids in the rocks the paper describes electromagnetic techniques of use through the earth s crust including magnetovariation mv arrays magnetotelluric mt sounding and dc resistivity sounding field studies using these techniques lead to a discussion of various causes of high crustal conductivity including aqueous fluids silicate partial melt and films of graphite or magnetite on grain surfaces water in the crust is proposed as the preferred cause of high conductivity in the juvenile crust of tectonically active regions in particular where the anomalous conductivity is correlated with high heat flow and other geophysical and geological parameters

thin skinned tectonics in the northern rhenish massif germany a network of profiles in the hercynian mountain system geo traverse rhenoherzynikum is needed to determine details of the geological structure and find the reasons for tectonic movements outstanding features within the mountain system such as the large fault zone along the southern boundary of the hunsruck1 and the left flank of the rhinegraben have already been investigated by reflection seismology2 3 we describe here a new reflection refraction experiment carried out in 1978 in the most northern part of the rhenish massif across the stavelot venn massif near aachen fig 1 while layers in the lower crust dip to the nnw a strong upper reflector at 3 4 km depth shows a slight dip to the sse and indicates a prominent fault zone near aachen known in belgium as the faille du midi here a comparable and apparently identical reflector was found some 100 and 175 km to the west of our profile we interpreted this reflector as a prominent and well lubricated thrust fault along which a huge horizontal nappe displacement took place during the last stages of the variscan orogeny

coincident seismic reflection refraction studies of the continental lithosphere a global review nearly 50 coincident seismic reflection refraction studies to depths of at least the moho provide an improved understanding of the continental lithosphere some conclusions include the following 1 a transparent upper crust a common observation on vertical reflection profiles cannot generally be correlated with velocity gradients or low velocity zones rather a commonly transparent upper crust may be explained by short wavelength steeply dipping features in the brittle upper crust and to a lesser degree by signal contamination from source generated noise 2 the reflective lower crust in extensional terranes appears to be characterized by a high average seismic velocity 6 6 7 3 km s and to consist of laminated high and low velocity layers with typical thicknesses of 100 200 m 3 landward dipping reflectors observed in the middle to lower crusts of convergent zones have been identified as paired high and low velocity slabs which represent oceanic crust and mantle accreted via underplating to the continental margin 4 the crust mantle boundary may differ sufficiently when imaged with vertical incidence and wide angle data to justify the retention for the present of the concept of separate reflection and refraction mohos while there is good evidence that these features are coincident within measurement uncertainties in most regions recently recorded data from the basin and range admit the possibility for noncoincidence in that area 5 upper mantle reflections which cannot be migrated into the lower crust remain rare despite isolated unequivocal examples thus the upper mantle appears to be relatively homogeneous at seismic reflection wavelengths and to lack the laminations inferred for the lower crust the wide angle method will likely provide the most reliable information on the velocity structure and physical state of this portion of the lithosphere for some years to come 6 there appear to be clear and consistent basic differences between convergent and extensional terranes which have been identified from coincident experiments these differences may be sufficiently universal to infer the tectonic history of poorly exposed terranes 7 no truly three dimensional coincident experiment i e including three dimensional migration has been conducted but some three dimensional data have been collected using both methods measurements of attenuation poisson s ratio and anisotropy within the crust using coincident data sets remain frontiers

a summary of cenozoic tectonic history along the ipod japan trench transect along the international program of ocean drilling ipod japan trench transect a mid cenozoic period of tectonism without arc volcanism separated an earlier cretaceous to paleogene and a later neogene period of plate convergence and subduction the cretaceous to early paleogene period of convergence is evidenced by andesitic volcanism associated with a large syncline probably a forearc basin the seaward flank of the basin is a tectonically thickened sediment sequence inferred to be an accretionary complex the arc the syncline and the thickened sediment sequence resemble an arc trench system of the size and structure of the great valley forearc basin and franciscan accretionary complex of california and they were probably continuations of the yezo geosyncline and associated sequences exposed to the north on hokkaido the arc trench system is contemporaneous with the adjacent shimanto arc trench system southwest of tokyo bay in the early paleogene volcanism ceased and part of the thickened sediment sequence of the cretaceous paleogene margin was emergent as a 160 km wide landmass which is recognized in seismic records as a later paleogene sediment source at the end of the paleogene this landmass began to subside and volcanism began again but it was located first briefly on the east and then on the west of the cretaceous arc along the present arc of northern honshu the land mass erosion surface is clearly visible as an angular unconformity in multichannel seismic reflection records the sequence of neogene sediment explosive volcanism and benthic foraminiferal assemblages recording subsidence from subareal conditions to the present bathyal depths have been studied in deep sea drilling project dsdp cores cretaceous subduction appears to have resulted in a very extensive accretionary complex whereas the neogene subduction period appears to have been marked by little net accretion in the forearc area but massive subsidence and some erosion of the front of the convergent margin

crustal structure of the grenville front and adjacent terranes under the auspices of the great lakes international multidisciplinary program on crustal evolution approximately 320 km of deep seismic reflection data were collected in lake huron along a profile that extends east from the manitoulin terrane across the grenville front to the interior of the grenville orogen the manitoulin terrane is characterized by a series of gently east dipping reflections at about 20 km depth that separate a highly reflective lower crustal layer from a markedly less reflective upper layer imaged by strong reflections at the western end of a spectacular band of moderately east dipping reflections the grenville front clearly truncates manitoulin terrane structures to the west these data are interpreted in terms of a speculative two stage model involving 1 creation of a major decollement during northward collision of an allochthonous terrane with the southern superior cratonic margin 1 83 1 89 ga penokean orogeny and 2 northwest directed stacking of microterranes at the southeastern margin of the craton followed by crust penetrating ductile imbrication under high pressure high temperature conditions leading to the ramping of deeply buried rocks to the near surface 1 0 1 3 ga grenvillian orogeny

structure of the frontal part of the andean convergent margin a multichannel seismic reflection record across the central peru margin and trench was improved by processing 24 rather than the 12 channels previously processed and by thorough migrating to reject the strong diffractions that obscured weaker primary reflections the increased resolution clarifies the structure of the 15 km wide frontal accretionary complex and the adjacent truncated continental framework against which the trench sediment was imbricated resolved are individual thrust slices and packets adjacent to the trench axis subducting sediment filled graben in the ocean crust beneath the lower slope and a tertiary stratigraphic section of the upper slope yaquina basin which is cut by normal faults the resolution in this multichannel record provides criteria for reinterpreting single channel data off chile with increased confidence the previously proposed truncation of the south american continent along much of the peru chile trench is confirmed and the development of an accretionary complex in front of the truncated continental crust appears to vary with the amount of sediment seen in the trench axis the andean margin frontal structure is similar to that off central america the aleutian trench and the japan trench which suggests common truncation as well as accretion at the front of convergent margins

brittle ductile transition semi brittle behavior abstract in central british columbia mesoscopic and microscopic deformation mechanisms within metamorphic rocks ranging from greenschist facies through upper amphibolite facies have been examined to evaluate the applicability of single mechanism flow laws at different crustal levels throughout the entire sequence regardless of metamorphic grade the processes of regional strain accommodation were dominantly semi brittle in the presence of an aqueous fluid phase no sign was found of abrupt brittle ductile transition and caution against calculating such a transition through the intersection of single mechanism flow laws with friction law s that on the regional and local scales do not appear to describe the mechanisms whereby regional strain is accommodated is advised

sediment compaction and fluid migration in the makran accretionary prism the makran continental margin in the gulf of oman forms the seaward extremity of an accretionary sediment prism which extends several hundred kilometers inland a recently acquired multichannel seismic reflection profile shot across the margin imaged the structure of the prism in greater detail than was previously possible and allowed us to investigate the relationship between deformation and pore fluid motion in the region velocity analyses of the common midpoint gathers reveal a marked change in velocity structure at the toe of the accretionary wedge as seen in previous sonobuoy wide angle data accreted sediments show significantly higher vertical velocity gradients than those of sediments entering the prism this change is interpreted as due to porosity reduction as pore fluids are squeezed out of the compacting sediment a prominent bottom simulating reflector appears 500 800 m beneath the sea bed several lines of evidence suggest that this reflector represents the base of a gas hydrate zone underlain by widespread free gas which may be exsolved from pore water migrating from deep within the sediment pile up permeable fault planes imaged in the profile the hydrate reflector appears to shallow in the region of some faults suggesting a temperature anomaly due to the presence of warm pore fluids a heat flow profile derived from the depth of the hydrate reflector does not show the expected landward decrease as the sediment pile thickens simple thermal modeling suggests that advective heat flow within the prism may explain this anomaly the inferred presence of overpressured pore fluids in the makran suggests that accreted sediments have a low permeability the seismic evidence suggests a two stage compaction process with rapid initial dewatering through intergranular permeability as sediment enters the prism followed by a buildup of pore pressure as the permeability decreases and fluid migration is restricted to fault zones

rupture creep lamellae and crocodiles happenings in the continental crust from the observation of certain seismic reflectivity patterns in phanerozoic continental crusts a relationship is suggested between 1 rupture and seismicity generally restricted to the upper crust 2 crocodile tectonics a kind of vertical indentation observed by diverging plane reflectors preferably in the middle crust 3 creep and the formation of reflecting lamellae in the lower crust based on these observations and on viscosity depth estimates a conceptual model for the above mentioned structures is presented which is also compatible with observations in older crusts boundary conditions are given for rupture as well as for lamellae forming creep

petrology of a portion of the eastern peninsular ranges mylonite zone southern california peraluminous and metaluminous plutonic rocks of the peninsular ranges batholith near borrego springs in southern california were mylonitized in the large shear zone known as the eastern peninsular ranges mylonite zone eprmz accompanying mylonitization in this portion of the eprmz was metamorphism at intermediate low pressure amphibolite facies conditions deformation in the zone overlapped in time with cretaceous intrusion of the batholith in the san ysidro mountain pinyon ridge area four north south trending zones of differing intensity of deformation have been defined from east to west the degree and style of deformation gradually change from undeformed or weakly deformed rocks to strongly mylonitized rocks electron microprobe analysis shows that recrystallized hornblende biotite and plagioclase are variable in composition probably reflecting a range of metamorphic conditions accompanying deformation comparison of mineral compositions with those from mafic schists of vermont suggests conditions ranged from andalusite staurolite through sillimanite muscovite grades as defined for pelitic rocks stability of muscovite quartz in mylonite assemblages and lack of remelting of granitic rocks indicate that temperature did not exceed about 650 c during mylonitization and lithostatic pressure did not exceed about 5 kbar over time any given rock volume experienced a range of temperature lithostatic pressure and perhaps fluid pressure and differential stress mineral reactions in the zone involved hydration requiring introduction of water the possibility of large scale migration of k and fe is suggested by whole rock chemical data brittle and ductile deformation features are closely associated in one part of the eprmz the combined evidence suggests the presence of a pore fluid with fluid pressure close to lithostatic pressure short periods of low fluid pressure and possible high differential stress cannot be ruled out

intracontinental seismicity strength of crustal units and the seismic signature of fault zones the distribution of intracontinental seismicity in the upper crust is compared with theoretically obtained strength depth curves based on recent laboratory data from cold and brittle frictional sliding as well as from high temperature creep data the lower crust is seen as a channel of enhanced ductility like jelly in a sandwich this rheological picture is compatible with the formation of mylonites in the lower crust and the appearance of cataclasites in the rigid upper crust sub horizontal zones of detachment prefer the upper part of the ductile lower crust in the continents resulting in the formation of crustal nappes during compressional phases the most active fault zones seem to exhibit reduced values of brittle elastic and inelastic parameters

dipping seismic reflectors electrically conductive zones and trapped water in the crust over a subducting plate the lithoprobe program across the northern cascadia subduction zone at vancouver island has obtained geophysical data that suggest a dipping zone of trapped free pore water in the overlying continental crust land and marine multichannel seismic reflection profiles show several bands of reflectors the primary one at a depth of about 30 km is about 5 km thick dips inland and appears to coincide with an electrically conductive layer defined by magnetotelluric data the downgoing oceanic crust is imaged as a thin reflector dipping at about 15 and 10 km deeper than the primary reflector a location that is consistent with seismicity and seismic refraction data both the reflectors and the conductor have been modeled by near horizontal lamellae with 1 4 saline water porosity detailed geothermal measurements defining heat flow that decreases inland indicate that the dipping bands are nearly isothermal at a temperature of 400 500 c it is suggested that free water generated by dehydration of the downgoing oceanic plate migrates upward until reduced temperature results in hydration reactions and mineral precipitation that forms an impermeable barrier low vertical permeability is required to keep the water from separating to the top of the layer this can be reconciled with the low electrical resistivity if pore interconnection is through thin grain boundary tubes as predicted by theoretical equilibrium pore geometry although very small effective grain size is necessary an abrupt transition from high permeability to very low permeability is predicted at a several percent porosity in agreement with the modeled porosity such pore geometry with low permeability may be restricted to temperatures above about 400 c i e in greenschist to amphibolite facies conditions where grains will deform to equilibrium geometry and cracks are annealed the region above the reflective and conductive band is estimated to be within blueschist conditions consistent with the inferred high seismic velocity from refraction data and high density from gravity data

energetic balance in scaling organization of fracture tectonics abstract this paper presents a development of the seismicity model s o f t scaling organization and fracture tectonics we remain in the frame of this simple model which is based on an energy splitting combined with a renormalization group approach redistribution of energy over the entire considered domain after strong events was introduced in the previous model the present version displays some general features of real seismicity such as gutenberg richter law omori law of temporal decrease of the aftershock activity seismic cycle quiet periods with a background seismic activity periods of foreshock and aftershock activity this is shown by numerical experiments in both the single domain case and in the case of exchange of energy between several domains