petrology mineral chemistry and geochemistry of late triassic ni cu ore bearing mafic ultramafic intrusions hongqiling northeastern china petrogenesis and tectonic implications the hongqiling magmatic ni cu sulfide deposit situated on the southern margin of the eastern central asian orogenic belt caob is composed of over 30 mafic ultramafic intrusions these ore beari

application of the global positioning system to crustal deformation measurement 2 the influence of errors in orbit determination networks global positioning system gps measurements of a geodetic network in southern and central california have been used to investigate the errors introduced by adopting different sets of stations as fixed such fixed points called fiducial stations are necessary to eliminate the errors of imprecise satellites orbits which otherwise would dominate the error budget for distances greater than tens of kilometers these fiducial stations also define the reference frame of the crustal deformation network establishing the magnitude of the effect of changing the fiducial network is essential for crustal deformation studies so that these artifacts of the differences between fiducial networks used for the data analyses are not interpreted as geophysical signals solutions for a crustal deformation network spanning distances up to 350 km were computed with a variety of fiducial networks we use fiducial coordinates determined from very long baseline interferometry vlbi we compare these solutions by computing the equivalent uniform strain and rotation that best maps one solution into another if we use a continental scale fiducial network with good geometry the distortions between the solutions are about 10 8 largely independent of the exact choice of stations the one case of a large scale fiducial network where the distortions are larger is when the three fiducial stations chosen all lie close to a great circle use of a fiducial network no larger than the crustal deformation network tan produce apparent strains of up to 10 7 our work suggests that fiducial coordinates determined from gps data analysis may be used although they should be determined using a consistent reference frame such as provided by vlbi and satellite laser ranging

self destructive sulfide segregation systems and the formation of high grade magmatic ore deposits the metal concentrations of sulfide liquids depend upon the mass of silicate magma that they are able to process for metals some high grade magmatic ni cu pge deposits and many magmatic platinum group element pge ni cu deposits demand very high magma sulfide ratios that seem improbable in the light of physical and kinetic constraints recent models for some high grade deposits invoke multistage upgrading processes in which an early formed sulfide liquid reacts with multiple later batches of silicate magma quantitative models of this open system process demonstrate that it is indeed more efficient than a closed system however it is likely that most later magmas in such a system will be sulfur undersaturated and will thus partly redissolve preexisting sulfide liquids further increasing metal concentrations in the remaining sulfide liquids this combined process is termed multistage dissolution upgrading and quantitative models show that it could reduce the mass of silicate magma that must be processed by as much as two orders of magnitude furthermore if sulfide liquids are extensively dissolved during enrichment their base metal concentrations will generally stabilize at a limiting value whereas their pge concentrations will generally increase without limit this divergence could account for unusually high pge concentrations and high pge base metal ratios in many pge dominated deposits the multistage dissolution upgrading model is tested using reasonable degrees of dissolution in the context of natural deposits in the noril sk area and the bushveld intrusion the models reproduce the observed sulfide compositions significantly better than previous models and are also consistent with other aspects of the geology of these deposits thus dynamic sulfide forming magmatic systems may be intrinsically self destructive but this apparently undesirable attribute could play an important role in forming high grade deposits however dissolution could lead to the complete destruction of sulfide liquids and the return of all metals to later magma batches in this case no sulfide deposit would remain but metal depletion signatures indicating sulfide liquid segregation would be preserved in rocks that crystallized from early magmas caution is therefore advised in the use of magmatic depletion signatures to infer overall mineral potential or to estimate the possible sizes of undiscovered magmatic sulfide deposits

preliminary assessment of resources and economic potential of individual gas hydrate accumulations in the gulf of mexico continental slope abstract some global estimates suggest that gas hydrates represent the largest reservoir of fossil fuel however only a few studies of the resource and economic potential of individual gas hydrate accumulations exist here we estimate the volume of hydrate bound gas at gc green canyon blocks 184 185 gc 234 235 gb garden banks 388 mc mississippi canyon 798 842 gc 204 mc 852 853 and at atwater valley 425 426 sites in the gulf of mexico at water depths 500 2000 m the structural accumulations may contain from 4 7 10 8 to 1 3 10 11 m 3 of gas at standard temperature and pressure the resources in individual gas hydrate accumulations are comparable by volume with the reserves in very small to major conventional gas fields various geologic technologic and economic factors affect the economic potential of studied accumulations the mc 852 853 appears to be characterized by the most favorable combination of these factors and thus is suggested to have the highest economic potential the economic potential of gas hydrate accumulations at gc 204 gb 388 and at 425 426 sites is ranked as average gas hydrate accumulations at gc 234 235 gc 184 185 and mc 798 842 sites contain only small volumes of hydrate bound gas and likely have no economic potential future gas hydrate research should focus on the detailed study of large structural gas hydrate accumulations from which gas may be profitably recovered e g the mc 852 853 site

using iron speciation in authigenic carbonates from hydrocarbon seeps to trace variable redox conditions abstract seepage of hydrocarbon rich fluids out of the marine sedimentary column is characterized by temporal changes of flow intensity and resultant spatially variable redox conditions authigenic carbonates at marine hydrocarbon seeps provide excellent geological and geochemical archives that serve to explore seepage dynamics over time in this study we investigated the potential of mossbuaer spectroscopy and fe contents of seep related authigenic carbonates from the congo fan the gulf of mexico and the black sea for reconstructing past redox conditions and fluid seepage activity at cold seeps the fe speciation observed by mossbauer spectroscopy and fe contents suggest that 1 the congo fan carbonates precipitated in a sulfidic environment 2 the formation conditions of seep carbonates were variable at the gulf of mexico seep site ranging from oxic to suboxic and anoxic and even spanning into the methanogenic zone and 3 the stratified water column of the black sea or suboxic condition resulted in low fe contents of black sea carbonates the study reveals that fe speciation can provide constraints on the wide range of redox conditions that imprinted seep carbonates during the life span of seepage similarly mossbauer spectroscopy particularly when used in combination with the analysis of redox sensitive elements is a promising tool to trace variable redox conditions in marine paleoenvironments other than seeps

controls on the composition of ni cu sulfide deposits as illustrated by those at noril sk siberia the ni cu pge ore deposits of the noril sk region have developed in feeder channels for permo triassic continental flood basalt volcanism particularly within 100 to 300 m thick elongate stratified intrusions that merge with an extensive system of peripheral sills through which the magma is thought to have continued to surface the mineralization is centered within two ore junctions the noril sk and talnakh ore junctions principal ore types include massive ore which occurs typically below or at the lowest margin of the intrusions disseminated ore in picritic and taxitic gabbrodolerite which constitute the lower part of the intrusions and copper ore which either forms an impregnation in hornfelsic country rock adjacent to massive ore or occupies the matrix of breccia zones that have developed at the front and upper contact of the intrusions although showing a close spatial relationship to the intrusions the massive ore particularly that underlying the northwest talnakh intrusion appears to have been injected separately over 500 samples have been analyzed for ni cu s pt pd rh ru ir os and au by nis fire assay acid dissolution and neutron activation the massive ore of the kharayelakh orebody beneath the northwest talnakh intrusion has fractionated as injection proceeded from east to west with the fractionated liquid moving progressively farther west this liquid has also soaked into the surrounding hornfels to produce the cu rich mantle and above the western part of the kharayelakh orebody where the cu enrichment is most pronounced has also affected the lower part of disseminated ore zones within the intrusion study of the disseminated ore has revealed that this has not fractionated to a great degree and that adequate sampling gives an average composition close to that of the primary sulfide liquid disseminated ore from different parts of the talnakh ore junction are characterized by very different metal tenors with rh ranging from 4 000 to 10 000 ppb the composition of the disseminated ore is modeled as the result of initial low tenor sulfides becoming trapped in the ore bearing intrusions and then interacting with successive surges of new magma passing along the feeder channels represented by their host intrusions on the way to the surface the different tenors of the different ore junctions and parts of ore junctions are the consequence of the effective number of times the magma passing through a particular channel exceeds the amount of sulfide within the channel higher ratios leading to higher tenors

compositional variations of olivine from the jinchuan ni cu sulfide deposit western china implications for ore genesis the jinchuan ni cu sulfide deposit is hosted by an elongated olivine rich ultramafic body that is divided by subvertical strike slip faults into three segments central eastern and western the central segment is characterized by concentric enrichments of cumulus olivine crystals and interstitial sulfides pyrrhotite pentlandite chalcopyrite intergrowth whereas the eastern and western segments are characterized by an increase of sulfides toward the lower contacts in all segments sulfides are concentrated at the expense of intercumulus silicates olivine re crystallization is found to be associated with actinolite alteration in some samples the compositional variations of primary olivine from the sulfide poor samples can be explained by a small degree of olivine crystallization 50 modal and sulfide averaging 5 wt in the rocks are consistent with the interpretation that the jinchuan deposit was formed by olivine and sulfide laden magma successively ascending through a conduit to a higher now eroded level sulfide enrichment toward the center in the central segment and toward the lower contact in the eastern and western segments may have in part resulted from flow differentiation and gravitational settling during magma ascent respectively

scales of stress heterogeneity near active faults in the santa barbara channel southern california the santa barbara channel represents the offshore portion of the ventura basin in southern california ongoing transpression related to a regional left step in the san andreas fault has led to the formation of e w trending en echelon fault systems that accommodate localized shortening across the basin recent studies have suggested that faults within the channel could be capable of a multisegment rupture and producing a m w 7 7 8 1 tsunamigenic earthquake however dynamic rupture models producing these results do not account for stress heterogeneity with only sparse information available on the stress field in this region further borehole derived stress constraints are essential for obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of the hazards related to the complex fault systems we used caliper logs from 19 wells obtained from industry to identify stress induced borehole breakouts beneath the holly and gail oil platforms in the channel our newly developed forward modeling technique provides constraints on the orientations and relative magnitudes of the three principal stresses at gail we determine a reverse faulting stress regime s hmax 1 7 s hmin 1 6 sv 1 0 and an s hmax azimuth of n45 e our results are consistent with local structures which reflect deeper regional scale trends and with similar studies onshore nearby at holly an s hmax rotation from n36 w to n57 e occurs across 100 m depth in a single well and differs from nearby results indicating that short length scale 10 km laterally and 1 km in depth stress heterogeneity is associated with complex changes in fault geometry

measuring vertical tectonic motion at the intersection of the santa cruz catalina ridge and northern channel islands platform california continental borderland using submerged paleoshorelines we used submerged paleoshorelines as strain markers to investigate holocene and late pleistocene vertical tectonic movement at the intersection of the offshore santa cruz catalina ridge with the southern boundary of the western transverse ranges within the california continental borderland past submerged shoreline positions were identified using high resolution multibeam bathymetry side scan sonar submersible observations and the presence of intertidal and subtidal invertebrate fossils numerous accelerator mass spectrometry ams 14 c ages of shells from these paleoshorelines were found to be between 27 000 yr radiocarbon rc and 11 500 yr before present indicative of shoreline colonization during and following the last glacial maximum lgm establishing these paleoshorelines as a usable datum for measuring vertical change since this time removal of the nontectonic component of vertical change using an ice volume equivalent eustatic sea level compilation indicates between 20 and 45 m of uplift of the eastern part of the northern channel islands block since the lgm lowstand resulting in an uplift rate of 1 50 0 59 mm yr over the last 23 k y this rate closely matches uplift predicted by published slip rates for the channel islands thrust which underlies the northern channel islands platform results from post lgm shoreline features on pilgrim banks are somewhat more ambiguous submarine paleoshoreline uplift together with the extensive upper crustal fold thrust style of deformation illustrates the transpressional interaction of the borderland and the western transverse ranges blocks where the santa cruz catalina ridge and northern channel islands intersect

world class ni cu pge deposits key factors in their genesis magmatic ni cu sulfide deposits form as the result of segregation and concentration of droplets of liquid sulfide from mafic or ultramafic magma and the partitioning of chalcophile elements into these from the silicate melt sulfide saturation of a magma is not enough in itself to produce an ore deposit the appropriate physical environment is required so that the sulfide liquid mixes with enough magma to become adequately enriched in chalcophile metals and then is concentrated in a restricted locality so that the resulting concentration is of ore grade the deposits of the noril sk region have developed within flat elongate bodies 15 2 0 2 km that intrude argillites evaporites and coal measures adjacent to a major trans crustal fault and immediately below the centre of a 3 5 km thick volcanic basin studies of the overlying basalts have shown that lavas forming a 500 m thick sequence within these have lost 75 of their cu and ni and more than 90 of their pge overlying basalts show a gradual recovery in their chalcophile element concentrations to reach normal values 500 m above the top of the highly depleted zone the ore bearing noril sk type intrusions correlate with those basalts above the depleted zone that contain normal levels of chalcophile elements the high proportion of sulfide 2 10 wt associated with the noril sk type intrusions the high pge content of the ores the extensive metamorphic aureole 100 400 m around the bodies and the heavy sulfur isotopic composition of the ores 8 12 34s are explicable if the ore bearing bodies are exit conduits from high level intrusions along which magma has flowed en route to extrude at surface the first magma to enter these intrusions reacted with much evaporitic sulfur at a low r value and thus gave rise to sulfides with low metal tenors successive flow of magma through the system progressively enriched the sulfides in the conduits losing progressively less of their chalcophile metals and thus accounting for the upward increase in metals in successive lava flows above the highly depleted flows the voisey s bay deposit lies partly within a 30 100 m thick sheet of troctolite interpreted as a feeder for the 1 334 ga voisey s bay intrusion and partly at the base of this intrusion where the feeder adjoins it studies of olivine compositions indicate that an early pulse of magma through the feeder and into the intrusion was ni depleted but that subsequent pulses were much less depleted trace element re os and s and o isotope data and mineralogical studies indicate that the magma pulses interacted with country gneiss probably principally in a deeper level intrusion extracting sio2 na2o k2o and possibly sulfur form the gneiss which accounts for the magma becoming sulfide saturated the jinchuan deposit of north central china occurs within a 6 km long dyke like body of peridotite the compositions of olivine within the dyke the igneous rocks themselves and the ore are all inconsistent with derivation of the body from ultramafic magma as originally supposed and indicate that the structure forms the keel of a much larger intrusion of magnesian basalt magma flow of magma into the intrusion has resulted in olivine and sulfide being retained where the keel was widening out into the intrusion the west australian komatiite related deposits occur in thermal erosional troughs which have developed due to the channelisation of magma flow and the resulting thermal erosion of underlying sediments and basalt by the hot komatiite magma the sediments are sulfide rich and may have contributed substantially to the sulfide of the ores the mineralisation in the duluth complex occurs in troctolitic intrusions along the western margin of the complex as a result of magma interacting with and extracting sulfur from the underlying graphite and sulfide bearing sediments no magma flow channels have been identified so far and the lack of magma flow subsequent to the development of sulfide immiscibility is regarded as the reason why these deposits are not of economic grade when most major ni cu sulfide deposits are compared they prove to have a number of features in common olivine rich magma proximity to a major crustal fault sulfide bearing country rocks chalcophile element depletion in related intrusive or extrusive rocks field and or geochemical evidence of interaction between the magma and the country rocks and the presence of or proximity to a magma conduit the features are thought to explain the three key requirements sulfide immiscibilty adequate mixing between sulfides and magma and localisation of the sulfides discussed and have important implications with respect to exploration

changing redox conditions at cold seeps as revealed by authigenic carbonates from alaminos canyon northern gulf of mexico anaerobic oxidation of methane in anoxic sediments at cold seeps often leads to formation of authigenic carbonates close to the seafloor along continental margins recent work however indicated that the redox conditions in sediments may vary to some degree during seepage activity in order to shed new light on the extent of this variability authigenic carbonates from alaminos canyon lease block 645 of the northern gulf of mexico have been characterized by means of inorganic and organic geochemistry the carbonates were collected from seep deposits representing various seafloor morphologies including extensive pavements mounds fractured carbonate slabs surrounded by dense bivalve shells and vestimentiferan tubeworm colonies the deposits almost entirely consist of aragonite the 18o values of aragonite vary from 2 6 to 5 8 v pdb suggesting precipitation in slight disequilibrium with the surrounding pore fluids the 13c values of aragonite between 33 9 and 20 4 v pdb agree with variable amounts of carbonate derived from oxidation of thermogenic methane and crude oil methane was primarily oxidized in an anaerobic process as revealed by the presence of 13c depleted molecular fossils of methane oxidizing archaea 13c values as negative as 118 and sulfate reducing bacteria 13c values as negative as 97 the syntrophic partners in the anaerobic oxidation of methane the observed inventories of molecular fossils in the authigenic carbonates mirror those of known consortia of anaerobic methane oxidizing archaea anme and sulfate reducing bacteria namely the anme 2 desulfosarcina desulfococcus dss and anme 3 desulfobulbus dbb consortia in contrast the same carbonates exhibit shale normalized rare earth elements patterns that all display real negative ce anomalies ce ce 0 78 suggesting that at least temporarily oxic conditions prevailed the episodic occurrence of oxic conditions is confirmed by the presence of molecular fossils of aerobic methanotrophic bacteria including 4 methylcholesta 8 14 24 dien 3 ol and two bacteriohopanepolyols aminotetrol and aminotriol the 13c values of the biomarkers of aerobic methanotrophs are as negative as 58 and are consequently less 13c depleted than the molecular fossils of the prokaryotes performing anaerobic oxidation of methane a pattern in accord with culture experiments overall our results suggest that redox conditions at cold seeps are variable this variability probably reflects changes in seepage flux the combination of an inorganic and an organic geochemical approach used here is promising to better assess the variability and diversity of past fluid and gas expulsion at seeps

8 precambrian geodynamics and ore formation the fennoscandian shield abstract compared with present day global plate tectonics archaean and palaeoproterozoic plate tectonics may have involved faster moving hotter plates that accumulated less sediment and contained a thinner section of lithospheric mantle this scenario also fits with the complex geodynamic evolution of the fennoscandian shield from 2 06 to 1 78 ga when rapid accretion of island arcs and several microcontinent continent collisions in a complex array of orogens was manifested in short lived but intense orogenies involving voluminous magmatism with a few exceptions all major ore deposits formed in specific tectonic settings between 2 06 and 1 78 ga and thus a strong geodynamic control on ore deposit formation is suggested all orogenic gold deposits formed syn to post peak metamorphism and their timing reflects the orogenic younging of the shield towards the sw and west most orogenic gold deposits formed during periods of crustal shortening with peaks at 2 72 to 2 67 1 90 to 1 86 and 1 85 to 1 79 ga the ca 2 5 to 2 4 ga ni cu pge deposits formed both as part of layered igneous complexes and associated with mafic volcanism in basins formed during rifting of the archaean craton at ca 2 5 to 2 4 ga svecokarelian ca 1 89 to 1 88 ga ni cu deposits are related to mafic ultramafic rocks intruded along linear belts at the accretionary margins of microcratons all major vms deposits in the fennoscandian shield formed between 1 97 and 1 88 ga in extensional settings prior to basin inversion and accretion the oldest cyprus type deposits were obducted onto the archaean continent during the onset of convergence the pyhasalmi vms deposits formed at 1 93 to 1 91 ga in primitive bimodal arc complexes during extension of the arc in contrast the skellefte vms deposits are 20 to 30 million years younger and formed in a strongly extensional intra arc region that developed on continental or mature arc crust deposits in the bergslagen uusimaa belt are similar in age to the skellefte deposits and formed in a microcraton that collided with the karelian craton at ca 1 88 to 1 87 ga the bergslagen uusimaa belt is interpreted as an intra continental or continental margin back arc extensional region developed on older continental crust iron oxide copper gold iocg deposits are diverse in style at least the oldest mineralizing stages at ca 1 88 ga are coeval with calc alkaline to monzonitic magmatism and coeval and possibly cogenetic subaerial volcanism more akin to continental arcs or to magmatic arcs inboard of the active subduction zone younger mineralization of similar style took place when s type magmatism occurred at ca 1 80 to 1 77 ga during cratonization distal to the active n s trending subduction zone in the west possibly interaction of magmatic fluids with evaporitic sequences in older rift sequences was important for ore formation finally the large volumes of anorthositic magmas that characterize the sveconorwegian orogeny formed a major concentration of ti in the sw part of the sveconorwegian orogenic belt under granulite facies conditions about 40 million years after the last regional deformation of the sveconorwegian orogeny between ca 930 and 920 ma

application of the global positioning system to crustal deformation measurement 1 precision and accuracy in this paper we assess the precision and accuracy of interstation vectors determined using the global positioning system gps satellites these vectors were between stations in california separated by 50 450 km using data from tracking the seven block i satellites in campaigns from 1986 through 1989 we examine the precision of gps measurements over time scales of a several days and a few years we characterize gps precision by constant and length dependent terms the north south component of the interstation vectors has a short term precision of 1 9 mm 0 6 parts in 108 the east west component shows a similar precision at the shortest distances 2 1 mm with a larger length dependence 1 3 parts in 108 the vertical precision has a mean value of 17 mm with no clear length dependence for long term precision we examine interstation vectors measured over a period of 2 2 to 2 7 years when we include the recent results of davis et al 1989 for distances less than 50 km we can describe long term gps precision for baselines less than 450 km in length as 3 4 mm 1 2 parts in 108 5 2mm 2 8 parts in 108 11 7mm 13 parts in 108 in the north south east west and vertical components accuracy has been determined by comparing gps baseline estimates with those derived from very long baseline interferometry vlbi a comparison of eight interstation vectors shows differences ranging from 5 to 30 mm between the mean gps and mean vlbi estimates in the horizontal components and less than 80 mm in the vertical a large portion of the horizontal differences can be explained by local survey errors at two sites in california a comparison which suffers less from such errors is between the rates of change of the baselines the horizontal rates estimated from over 4 years of vlbi data agree with those determined with 1 2 years of gps data to within one standard deviation in the vertical both gps and vlbi find insignificant vertical motion

a review of the cu ni sulphide deposits in the chinese tianshan and altay orogens xinjiang autonomous region nw china principal characteristics and ore forming processes abstract several cu ni sulphide deposits and occurrences have recently been discovered along parallel deep faults in the chinese tianshan and altay orogenic belts xinjiang province nw china the kalatongke and several other cu ni mineralized intrusions are located along the irtysh fault which separates the altay orogenic belt from the junggar basin the huangshan huangshandong xiangshan tudun erhongwa tula ergen and hongling deposits occur along the kanggurtag suture which separates the jueluotage orogenic belt from the turpan hami tuha basin the baishiquan tianyu and tianxiang deposits are located along the arqikekuduke fault which separates the jueluotage orogenic belt from the central tianshan precambrian terrane the poyi poshi and luodong deposits are located along the baidiwa fault which separates the central tianshan precambrian terrane from the beishan paleozoic rift re os dating of cu ni sulphide ores reveals that these cu ni ore belts formed in a narrow age range of 298 282 ma this age range is about the same as those of associated intrusions and dykes dated by the shrimp zircon u pb method tectonic and geochronological constraints suggest that the amalgamation of continental blocks mainly occurred during the late carboniferous in the central asian orogenic belt large scale hydrothermal and magmatic metallogenesis in the region occurred during post collisional stages of latest carboniferous to early permian age the cu ni sulphide deposits are part of this metallogenic event the cu ni orthomagmatic sulphide deposits in northern xinjiang are represented by 1 net textured type deposits by segregation of a cu ni metal sulphide melt and 2 magma conduit type some mafic ultramafic suites exhibit lithological zoning caused by strong differentiation stratiform orebodies are hosted by ultramafic rocks at the base of the magma chamber good examples are the kalatongke huangshandong and poshi deposits others such as the xiangshan baishiquan tianyu and tula ergen deposits are hosted by magma conduits consisting of peridotite troctolite and pyroxenite these ultramafic rocks either occur within faults or are surrounded by gabbroic and dioritic intrusions these two types of orthomagmatic cu ni sulphide deposits are also distributed along the same ore belts for instance the differentiated sill related huangshandong deposit co exists with the magma conduit type tula ergen deposit in the jueluotage orogenic belt orthomagmatic cu ni sulphide deposits in northern xinjiang formed during post collisional extension and are possibly related to a late carboniferous early permian mantle plume event the mafic ultramafic suites and associated cu ni deposits are commonly accompanied by dyke swarms and are characterized by elongated outcrops occurring along parallel e w trending regional faults these mafic ultramafic suites and accompanying dyke swarms are generally fractionated implying that they were feeders of presently eroded flood basalts

map restoration of folded and faulted late cenozoic strata across the oak ridge fault onshore and offshore ventura basin california the ventura basin lies within the east west trending active fold and thrust belt of the western transverse ranges california this basin has been the site of significant earthquakes on structures within it and bordering it the purpose of our study is to identify the main structures in the basin and its borders and to quantify their rate of deformation our study includes the onshore and offshore ventura basin the arcuate basin bounding oak ridge reverse fault and the oxnard shelf to the south shortening fault slip and crustal block motions were studied using a three dimensional map restoration technique structure contour maps on the 6 ma surface and other horizons were digitized and restored to the initial horizontal state by unfolding them using the computer program unfold and then fitting the unfolded surfaces across faults comparing the restored and present configuration allows us to estimate total net finite displacements relative to a fixed horizontal reference line average post 5 ma shortening rates estimated from our restoration are slower than both post 1 ma rates and present rates determined by global positioning systems most shortening due to folding in the onshore basin is post 1 ma although slip on the oak ridge fault has occurred both before and after 1 ma displacement due to faulting and folding includes left lateral strike slip motion on the northeast southwest coastal segment of the oak ridge fault and associated clockwise rotation of the adjacent ventura basin the oxnard shelf is bordered to the south by mountains and islands that have been previously interpreted as folds above thrust fault ramps this onshore offshore block moves as one continuous thrust sheet similarly beyond the well studied onshore fault a kinematically continuous offshore oak ridge mid channel left oblique fault system is interpreted to continue at least an additional 100 km westward beneath the santa barbara channel

fluid flow methane fluxes carbonate precipitation and biogeochemical turnover in gas hydrate bearing sediments at hydrate ridge cascadia margin numerical modeling and mass balances a numerical model was applied to investigate and to quantify biogeochemical processes and methane turnover in gas hydrate bearing surface sediments from a cold vent site situated at hydrate ridge an accretionary structure located in the cascadia margin subduction zone steady state simulations were carried out to obtain a comprehensive overview on the activity in these sediments which are covered with bacterial mats and are affected by strong fluid flow from below the model results underline the dominance of advective fluid flow that forces a large inflow of methane from below 869 mumol cm 2 a 1 inducing high oxidation rates in the surface layers anaerobic methane oxidation is the major process proceeding at a depth integrated rate of 870 mumol cm 2 a 1 a significant fraction 14 of bicarbonate produced by anaerobic methane oxidation is removed from the fluids by precipitation of authigenic aragonite and calcite the total rate of carbonate precipitation 120 mumol cm 2 a 1 allows for the build up of a massive carbonate layer with a thickness of i m over a period of 20 000 years aragonite is the major carbonate mineral formed by anaerobic methane oxidation if the flow velocity of methane charge fluids is high enough greater than or equal to10 cm a 1 to maintain super saturation with respect to this highly soluble carbonate phase it precipitates much faster within the studied surface sediments than previously observed in abiotic laboratory experiments suggesting microbial catalysis the investigated station is characterized by high carbon and oxygen turnover rates approximate to1000 mumol cm 2 a 1 that are well beyond the rates observed at other continental slope sites not affected by fluid venting this underlines the strong impact of fluid venting on the benthic system even though the flow velocity of 10 cm a 1 derived by the model is relative low compared to fluid flow rates found at other cold vent sites non steady state simulations using measured fluid flow velocities as forcing demonstrate a rapid respond of the sediments within a few days to changes in advective flow moreover they reveal that efficient methane oxidation in these sediments prevents methane outflow into the bottom water over a wide range of fluid flow velocities 80 cm a 1 only at flow rates exceeding approximately 100 cm a 1 does dissolved methane break through the sediment surface to induce large fluxes of up to 5000 mumol ch4 cm 2 a 1 into the overlying bottom water

a blast of gas in the latest paleocene simulating first order effects of massive dissociation of oceanic methane hydrate carbonate and organic matter deposited during the latest paleocene thermal maximum is characterized by a remarkable 2 5 excursion in delta 13c that occurred over approximately 10 4 yr and returned to near initial values in an exponential pattern over approximately 2 x 10 5 yr it has been hypothesized that this excursion signifies transfer of 1 4 to 2 8 x 10 18 g of ch4 from oceanic hydrates to the combined ocean atmosphere inorganic carbon reservoir a scenario with 1 12 x 10 18 g of ch4 is numerically simulated here within the framework of the present day global carbon cycle to test the plausibility of the hypothesis we find that 1 the delta 13c of the deep ocean shallow ocean and atmosphere decreases by 2 3 over 10 4 yr and returns to initial values in an exponential pattern over approximately 2 x 10 5 yr 2 the depth of the lysocline shoals by up to 400 m over 10 4 yr and this rise is most pronounced in one ocean region and 3 global surface temperature increases by approximately 2 degrees c over 10 4 yr and returns to initial values over approximately 2 x 10 6 yr the first effect is quantitatively consistent with the geologic record the latter two effects are qualitatively consistent with observations thus significant ch4 release from oceanic hydrates is a plausible explanation for observed carbon cycle perturbations during the thermal maximum this conclusion is of broad interest because the flux of ch4 invoked during the maximum is of similar magnitude to that released to the atmosphere from present day anthropogenic ch4 sources

oxygen isotopic studies of the interaction between xenoliths and mafic magma voisey s bay intrusion labrador canada abstract sulfide mineralization in the voisey s bay intrusion labrador canada is closely associated with country rock xenoliths that have extensively reacted with basaltic magma in order to better understand the processes that control the assimilation of country rocks by mafic magma a detailed study of oxygen isotope systematics related to magma country rock interaction in the voisey s bay area was undertaken protracted interaction of the xenoliths with magma produced refractory mineral assemblages in the xenoliths 2 10 cm in diameter composed of ca rich plagioclase corundum hercynite and minor magnetite overgrowth rims of plagioclase and biotite that surround most xenoliths separate the restites from the enclosing igneous matrix the 18o values of minerals from regionally metamorphosed pelitic and quartzofeldspathic protoliths are plagioclase 8 7 12 3 orthoclase 9 5 9 8 biotite 5 2 8 7 garnet 8 3 10 8 pyroxene 8 0 10 1 and quartz 9 6 14 0 the 18o values of minerals from the hornfels in the contact aureole of the intrusion are consistent with modeling which indicates that as a result of essentially closed system contact metamorphism oxygen isotope values should differ only slightly from those of the protoliths hercynite plagioclase and corundum separates from the xenoliths have 18o values that vary from 2 9 to 10 5 5 6 to 10 9 and 2 0 to 6 8 respectively although a siliceous 18o enriched melt has been lost from the xenoliths corundum and feldspar 18o values are significantly lower than expected through melt loss alone the relatively low 18o values of minerals from the xenoliths may be a function of incomplete isotopic exchange with surrounding mafic magma which had a 18o value of 5 5 to 6 0 the high 18o melt that was released from the xenoliths is partially recorded in the plagioclase overgrowth on the margin of the xenoliths 18o values from 6 2 to 10 7 and in hercynite that replaced corundum however mass balance calculations indicate that a portion of the partial melt must have been transferred to magma that was moving through the conduit system 18o and d values of biotite surrounding the plagioclase overgrowth range from 5 0 to 6 2 and 58 to 80 respectively these data suggest that the outermost rim associated with many xenoliths has closely approached isotopic equilibrium with uncontaminated mafic magma the current gabbroic to troctolitic matrix of the xenoliths shows no evidence for contamination by the high 18o partial melt from the xenoliths the feldspar and biotite overgrowths on the xenoliths that formed after the motion of the xenoliths relative to the magma had stopped prevented further isotopic exchange between the xenoliths and final magma the minerals within the xenoliths are not in oxygen isotopic equilibrium with each other due in part to rapid thermal equilibration partial melting and partial exchange with flow through magma

origin of the inconsistent apparent re os ages of the jinchuan ni cu sulfide ore deposit china post segregation diffusion of os abstract apparent re os ages of some magmatic sulfide ore deposits are older than the zircon and baddeleyite u pb ages which are interpreted as the formation age of the host intrusions the jinchuan ni cu pge deposit of china the world s third largest is such a case we report apparent re os isochron ages of 1117 67 ma 1074 120 ma and 867 75 ma with initial 187os 188os ratios of 0 120 0 012 0 162 0 017 and 0 235 0 027 for disseminated ores sulfides from the disseminated ores and massive ores from jinchuan respectively using these data and re os ages from the literature we find that the oldest apparent re os age and lowest initial os isotope ratio are from disseminated ores which contain small amounts of sulfide minerals the highest initial os isotope ratios and youngest apparent re os ages consistent with the zircon and baddeleyite u pb ages are from massive ores containing 90 100 modal sulfide and net textured ores with about 25 modal sulfides yield apparent re os ages and initial os ratios intermediate between those of the disseminated and massive ores because os diffusion between sulfides is inhibited by the intervening silicates even at high temperatures re equilibration did not occur in the disseminated ore and the samples retained the os ratios of the contaminated magma leading to geologically meaningless ages that are older than the formation age of the rocks while os bearing sulfide minerals and magnetite show low closure temperatures of os diffusion and the sulfide minerals in the massive ore are closely connected with each other facilitating fast diffusion of os re equilibration of os was achieved during cooling of the ore from about 850 c after the segregation to about 400 c thus an age corresponding to the formation time and an elevated initial os ratio were yielded by the massive ore os isotopes in the net textured ore behave in the way intermediate between the disseminated and massive ores pb isotope data support the os results disseminated ores have heterogeneous pb isotope ratios whereas pb in the massive ores is more uniform consistent with pb isotopic equilibration in the massive ores but not in the disseminated ores

fluid flow and mass flux determinations at vent sites on the cascadia margin accretionary prism fluid venting from the toe of the accretionary prism off oregon was measured in situ during a series of dives with dsrv alvin in 1987 and 1988 a benthic chamber was placed over active vent sites to sequentially collect samples of venting fluids and to make direct measurements of discharge rates calibrated flow meter measurements and flow rates determined from dissolved methane transfer indicate that discharge from two vent sites alvin 1428 and alvin 1900 ranges roughly between 100 and 500 l m 2 d 1 with the most reliable estimates falling in the range of 125 150 l m 2d 1 these rates imply subsurface advective flow on the order of 100 m yr 1 comparison of observed discharge rates with rates calculated for steady state expulsion supported by accretion related compaction indicates that the observed flow is greater than predicted flow by several orders of magnitude the disparity dictates that fluids are not derived locally but are transported laterally within the prism or that flow is not steady state and that individual vents are short lived features in the ongoing accretion process

structural transect of the western transverse ranges california implications for lithospheric kinematics and seismic risk evaluation a retrodeformable cross section that integrates surface and subsurface data across the western transverse ranges california illustrates an actively developing fold and thrust belt that began forming at 2 3 ma high level thrusts are interpreted to root in a mid crustal detachment at 12 15 km depth which coincides with the maximum depth of earthquakes the cross section documents 53 km of convergence above the mid crustal detachment dividing this by the time since onset of deformation yields convergence rates of 17 6 26 5 mm yr the high density lithospheric anomaly beneath the transverse ranges is related to subduction of lower crust and lithosphere below the mid crustal detachment to balance the shallow crustal shortening thrust ramps coincide with zones of high seismicity in the transverse ranges this suggests that ramp regions have the highest potential for compressive earthquake events e g the recent whittier narrows earthquake of october 1 1987 m sub l 5 9 occurred along the eastern part of a ramp zone

geochemistry of the siberian trap of the noril sk area ussr with implications for the relative contributions of crust and mantle to flood basalt magmatism the sequence investigated of the siberian trap at noril sk ussr consists of at least 45 flows that have been divided into six lava suites the lower three suites consist of alkalic to subalkalic basalts the ivakinsky suite overlain by nonporphyritic basalts the syverminsky suite and porphyritic and picritic basalts the gudchikhinsky suite the upper three suites are tholeiitic the uppermost 750 m of dominantly non porphyritic basalt belong to the mokulaevsky suite and are characterized by a nearly constant mg number 0 54 0 56 sio2 48 2 49 1 wt ce 12 18 ppm and ce yb 5 8 the underlying 1100 m of dominantly porphyritic basalt belong to the morongovsky and nadezhdinsky suites there is a continuous increase in sio2 48 1 55 2 wt ce 12 41 ppm and ce yb 5 18 from the top of the mokulaevsky to the base of the nadezhdinsky with little change in the mg number 0 53 0 59 mokulaevsky magmas have trace element signatures similar to slightly contaminated transitional type mid ocean ridge basalts the change in major and trace element geochemistry in the upper three suites is consistent with a decline in the degree of anatexis and assimilation of tonalitic upper crust by mokulaevsky magma the nadezhdinsky and underlaying lavas thicken within and thus appear to be related to an elongate basin centred on the noril sk talnakh mining camp the mokulaevsky and morongovsky lavas thicken to the east and appear to be related to a basin centred more than 100 km to the east of the noril sk region these magmas may have risen up out of a different conduit system

crustal strain near the big bend of the san andreas fault analysis of the los padres tehachapi trilateration networks california in the region of the los padres tehachapi geodetic network the san andreas fault saf changes its orientation by over 30 degree from n 40 degree w close to that predicted by plate motion for a transform boundary to n 73 degree w the strain orientation near the saf is consistent with right lateral shear along the fault with maximum shear rate of 0 38 plus minus 0 01 mu rad yr at n 63 degree w in contrast away from the saf the strain orientations on both sides of the fault are consistent with the plate motion direction with maximum shear rate of 0 19 plus minus 0 01 mu rad yr at n 44 degree w the strain rate does not drop off rapidly away from the fault and thus the area is fit by either a broad shear zone below the saf or a single fault with a relatively deep locking depth the fit to the line length data is poor for locking depth d less than 25 km for d of 25 km a buried slip rate of 30 plus minus 6 mm yr is estimated the authors also estimated buried slip for models that include the garlock and big pine faults in addition to the saf slip rates on other faults are poorly constrained bymore the los padres tehachapi network the best fitting garlock fault model had computed left lateral slip rate of 11 plus minus 2 mm yr below 10 km buried left lateral slip of 15 plus minus 6 mm yr on the big pine fault within the western transverse ranges provides significant reduction in line length residuals however deformation there may be more complicated than a single vertical fault a subhorizontal detachment on the southern side of the saf cannot be well constrained by these data the authors investigated the location of the saf and found that a vertical fault below the surface trace fits the data much better than either a dipping fault zone located south of the surface trace less

coastal tectonics on the eastern margin of the pacific rim late quaternary sea level history and uplift rates channel islands national park california usa abstract the pacific rim is a region where tectonic processes play a significant role in coastal landscape evolution coastal california on the eastern margin of the pacific rim is very active tectonically and geomorphic expressions of this include uplifted marine terraces there have been however conflicting estimates of the rate of late quaternary uplift of marine terraces in coastal california particularly for the northern channel islands in the present study the terraces on san miguel island and santa rosa island were mapped and new age estimates were generated using uranium series dating of fossil corals and amino acid geochronology of fossil mollusks results indicate that the 2nd terrace on both islands is 120 ka and the 1st terrace on santa rosa island is 80 ka these ages correspond to two global high sea stands of the last interglacial complex marine isotope stages mis 5 5 and 5 1 respectively the age estimates indicate that san miguel island and santa rosa island have been tectonically uplifted at rates of 0 12 0 20 m ka in the late quaternary similar to uplift rates inferred from previous studies on neighboring santa cruz island the newly estimated uplift rates for the northern channel islands are however an order of magnitude lower than a recent study that generated uplift rates from an offshore terrace dating to the last glacial period the differences between the estimated uplift rates in the present study and the offshore study are explained by the magnitude of glacial isostatic adjustment gia effects that were not known at the time of the earlier study set in the larger context of northeastern pacific rim tectonics channel islands uplift rates are higher than those coastal localities on the margin of the east pacific rise spreading center but slightly lower than those of most localities adjacent to the cascadia subduction zone the uplift rates reported here for the northern channel islands are similar to those reported for most other localities where strike slip tectonics are dominant but lower than localities where restraining bends such as the big bend of the san andreas fault result in crustal shortening

discrepancy between geological and geodetic deformation rates in the ventura basin space geodesy provides a new tool for measuring neotectonic deformation which when combined with geological and geophysical observations and models can be used to infer rates and styles of deformation in the ventnra basin region of southern california the geodetically measured convergence rates of 7 10 mm yr 1 ref 1 are significantly lower than the 20 25 mm yr 1 estimated from geological data2 3 here we investigate the possible implications of this discrepancy it might be for example that temporal variations cause the short and long term convergence rates to differ but if this were the case we would expect to observe the long term rate by extending the geodetic measurements over a broader region yet only 11 3 mm yr 1 of regional convergence is observed4 our preferred explanation of the discrepancy is that the geological models require revision and to this end we present two deformation models that satisfy both the geological and geodetic constraints our modelling suggests that the faults bounding the basin are locked at the surface but are slipping at depths below 2 5 km

remobilisation of the continental lithosphere by a mantle plume major trace element and sr nd and pb isotope evidence from picritic and tholeiitic lavas of the noril sk district siberian trap russia the late permian to early triassic siberian traps have been sampled by drill core core sg 9 and from surface exposure section 1f in the noril sk region of the siberian platform russia combined major trace element and nd sr and pb isotope data on selected samples through the siberia trap offer new chemostratigraphic criteria for the identification and characterisation of two fundamentally different magma types and 9 of the 11 formations of lava developed near noril sk a lower sequence of sub alkalic basalts tholeiites and picritic basalts upwards these are the ivakinsky syverminsky and gudchichinsky formations are overlain by an upper sequence of picritic basalts and tholeiites interbedded with tuffs upwards these are the khakanchansky tuklonsky nadezhdinsky morongovsky mokulaevsky and kharayelakhsky formations the gudchichinsky and tuklonsky formations contain both picritic and tholeiitic lavas the tuklonsky formation tholeiites and picrites have moderate gd yb 1 6 1 8 low tio2 0 45 0 95 wt a significant negative ta and nb anomaly nb la 0 42 0 57 and unradiogenic nd nd chur to 4 6 in contrast both the gudchichinsky formation tholeiites and picrites have high gd yb 2 3 3 1 and tio2 1 2 2 3 wt no significant nb or ta anomaly nb la 0 8 1 1 and radiogenic nd nd chur to 7 3 the low ti and nb la high la sm and unradiogenic nd isotope signatures of the picritic tuklonsky formation lavas and the tholeiitic lavas of the upper sequence are characteristic of magmas strongly influenced by material from the continental lithosphere whereas the high ti and nb la low la sm and radiogenic nd isotope signatures of the lower sequence are more comparable to deeper asthenospheric mantle plume generated lavas similar to oceanic island basalts the lavas overlying the tuklonsky formation have mg numbers of 0 63 to 0 68 and are more evolved than the tuklonsky mg number 0 62 and have more radiogenic nd chur tuklonsky 0 03 to 4 66 mokulaevsky 0 60 to 1 61 but have many of the incompatible trace element features of the tuklonsky sky type magma these lavas show a progressive upwards decline in sio2 55 49 wt la sm 4 6 2 0 and ur sr 67 to 13 which has previously been attributed to a decrease in the proportion of crustal material contributed to the magma this paper explores and alternative model where a component of the crustal contribution might be derived from within an ancient region of the mantle lithosphere as recycled sediment rather than from the overlying continental crust

stable isotope patterns of coexisting pyrite and gypsum indicating variable methane flow at a seep site of the shenhu area south china sea aggregates of authigenic pyrite and gypsum were found at site hs373 in the shenhu seepage area south china sea most of the pyrite occurs as tubes consisting of framboids gypsum aggregates are mainly represented by rosettes and some of them grew over pyrite revealing that gypsum precipitation postdated pyrite formation at seeps extensive sulfate driven anaerobic oxidation of methane aom commonly leads to the accumulation of 34s enriched sulfide resulting in the formation of 32s depleted pyrite the sulfur isotopic composition of pyrite at site hs373 reveals a great variability of 75 5 in 34s values spanning from 37 6 to 37 9 v cdt with a distinct trend towards higher values with increasing depth this trend indicates an increase of the effect of sulfate driven aom with depth whereas pyrite at shallow depth apparently resulted mostly from organiclastic sulfate reduction to date reports on coexisting pyrite and gypsum in seep environments are limited and therefore the mechanism of gypsum formation is insufficiently understood this is the first time that the sulfur and oxygen stable isotope composition of gypsum has been analyzed to understand its formation at seeps the 34s values of gypsum vary from 24 5 to 0 9 revealing a similar trend with depth like pyrite the 18ogypsum values range from 5 3 to 12 3 v smow with a scattered trend to lower values with depth the combined evidence reveals that gypsum formation was linked to the establishment of more oxidizing conditions probably caused by waning seepage this led to the oxidation of pyrite and the associated increase in pore water sulfate and acidity which favored carbonate mineral dissolution providing the calcium ions required for gypsum formation the observed isotopic variability of gypsum suggests that oxidation occurred by different mechanisms at different depth whereby pyrite oxidation was dominated by aerobic processes at shallow depth involving dissolved molecular oxygen and by anaerobic processes at greater depth involving electron acceptors like ferric iron taken together the stable isotope compositions of pyrite and gypsum suggest that the redox conditions within the studied sediments were variable such variability was controlled by complex factors among which changes in seepage activity have been instrumental for the vertical displacement of the sulfate methane transition zone

rare earth elements in seep carbonates as tracers of variable redox conditions at ancient hydrocarbon seeps marine hydrocarbon seeps are dynamic systems which are typically reflected in complex lithologies of limestones forming at these sites in order to test if seep limestones with their multiple generations of carbonate phases reflect variable redox conditions the rare earth element ree patterns of limestones from five ancient hydrocarbon seep localities hollard mound middle devonian iberg mississippian beauvoisin oxfordian canyon and satsop river oligocene and marmorito miocene have been investigated the total ree contents vary widely 0 3 43 7 p p m early microcrystalline phases tend to show higher contents than spatially associated later phases microspar sparite and blocky cement the shale normalized ree patterns of the carbonates show both negative and positive ce anomalies even for individual deposits suggesting that the redox conditions varied significantly it is apparent that in addition to anoxic conditions oxic conditions were common in some ancient seep environments intermittent oxygenation is presumed to have resulted from abrupt changes in fluid flow

pore fluid chemistry of the north anatolian fault zone in the sea of marmara a diversity of sources and processes as part of the 2007 marnaut cruise in the sea of marmara an investigation of the pore fluid chemistry of sites along the main marmara fault zone was conducted the goal was to define the spatial relationship between active faults and fluid outlets and to determine the sources and evolution of the fluids sites included basin bounding transtensional faults and strike slip faults cutting through the topographic highs the basin pore fluids are dominated by simple mixing of bottom water with a brackish low density pleistocene lake marmara end member that is advecting buoyantly and or diffusing from a relatively shallow depth this mix is overprinted by shallow redox reactions and carbonate precipitation the ridge sites are more complex with evidence for deep sourced fluids including thermogenic gas and evidence for both silicate and carbonate diagenetic processes one site on the western high displayed two mound structures that appear to be chemoherms atop a deep seated fluid conduit the fluids being expelled are brines of up to twice seawater salinity with an exotic fluid chemistry extremely high in li sr and ba oil globules were observed both at the surface and in cores and type ii gas hydrates of thermogenic origin were recovered hydrate formation near the seafloor contributes to increase brine concentration but cannot explain their chemical composition which appears to be influenced by diagenetic reactions at temperatures of 75 c 150 c hence a potential source for fluids at this site is the water associated with the reservoir from which the gas and oil is seeping which has been shown to be related to the thrace basin hydrocarbon system our work shows that submerged continental transform plate boundaries can be hydrologically active and exhibit a diversity of sources and processes

methane seepage patterns during the middle pleistocene inferred from molybdenum enrichments of seep carbonates in the south china sea abstract seepage of methane rich fluids are widespread along the continental margins of the world intense seepages of methane may lead to the emission of this powerful greenhouse gas into the hydrosphere and atmosphere with implications in the understanding of past dramatic marine environment changes and global warming however euxinic environments with sulfidic bottom water as a result of vigorous seepages at ancient cold seeps remain unidentified here we report trace element geochemistry and associated mineralogical and carbon and oxygen isotopic data in seep carbonates collected from long drill cores in the south china sea three distinct stages of methane seepages events probably caused by the dissociation of gas hydrates are discernible carbonates formed in stage 2 during the marine isotope stage 5 mis5 are mainly occurred as aragonite and show extremely high molybdenum mo contents up to 118 g g and strong enrichments of authigenic mo in relative to uranium these results suggest the presence of intermittent or even permanent euxinic conditions generated by sulfidic bottom water that result from intensive methane seepages in contrast mineral compositions and trace element patterns indicate that the carbonates before and after the mis 5 stages 1 and 3 form within sulfidic conditions restricted to pore water under relatively lower methane fluxes our results highlight extremely intense methane seepages that may potentially result in localized euxinic environments the inferred euxinic environments imply more amount of massive methane release into the water column than a previous estimation which was triggered by large scale dissociation of gas hydrates in the south china sea during mis 5

application of the global positioning system to crustal deformation measurements 3 result from the southern california borderlands five years of measurements from the global positioning system gps satellites collected between 1986 and 1991 are used to investigate deformation in the offshore regions of southern california gps provides the first practical technique to make precise geodetic measurements in the region the geodetic network is situated along the california coastline from vandenberg 120 6 w 34 6 n to san diego with additional sites on santa cruz san nicolas santa catalina santa rosa and san clemente islands the precision of horizontal interstation vectors is subcentimeter and the interstation vector rate between ovro and vandenberg agrees with the very long baseline interferometry derived rate to within one standard deviation no significant motion is observed in the western santa barbara channel between vandenberg and santa rosa island 0 5 1 6 mm yr where the quoted uncertainties are one standard deviation motions in the eastern santa barbara channel are consistent with compressional deformation of 6 1 mm yr at n16 3 e this motion is in agreement with seismicity and an independent geodetic analysis for the period 1971 1987 larsen 1991 san clemente island is moving relative to san diego at the rate of 5 9 1 8 mm yr at a direction of n38 20 w the motion between san nicolas island and san clemente island 0 8 1 5 mm yr is insignificant

the early permian mafic ultramafic complexes in the beishan terrane nw china alaskan type intrusives or rift cumulates abstract the petrogenesis and geodynamic setting of the early permian mafic ultramafic complexes in the beishan terrane nw china have important bearing on the prospects of ni cu pge sulfide and ti fe oxide deposits as well as in understanding the history of evolution of the southern central asian orogenic belt caob here we present results from a detailed study on a representative suit of a mafic ultramafic rocks from the bijiashan complex in the beishan terrane the complex is composed of dunite troctolite olivine gabbro and gabbro without clinopyroxenite or hornblendite in addition to olivine and clinopyroxene orthopyroxene and plagioclase are also present in all these rock types in the absence of chromite or primary hornblende the minerals display marked compositional variations with the fo content in olivines ranging from 66 to 83 and the clinopyroxenes ranging from diopside to augite the whole rock geochemistry shows good correlations among the major elements and the trace elements are characterized by flat ree patterns with eu positive anomalies and hfse depletion relative to lile these features are comparable to other mafic ultramafic complexes in the beishan and eastern tianshan terranes but obviously deviate from the typical features of alaskan type intrusives the present study suggests that the beishan complexes were formed in a post orogenic extensional environment with potential for ni cu mineralization rather than in arc related setting with alaskan type pge mineralization our study confirms that the beishan area does not conform to an arc related setting but was located within a rift setting in permian probably related to permian mantle plume event suggesting that the subduction of the paleo asian ocean had culminated by this time and the southern caob witnessed a post orogenic extensional regime in late paleozoic

increased continental margin slumping frequency during sea level lowstands above gas hydrate bearing sediments we present sup 14 c data on sediment samples from cores of the upper 7 m of the sediment column overlying a major continental rise gas hydrate field on the southern carolina rise and inner blake ridge offshore the southeastern united states the data show that glacial age sediments are underrepresented in the cores the observation is consistent with a previously predicted association between sea level lowstands and increased frequency of sea floor slumping on continental margins containing gas hydrates 26 refs 3 figs

benthic foraminifera of the blake ridge hydrate mound western north atlantic ocean abstract in a 240 m 70 m area at the top of the blake ridge diapir water depth 2150 m the benthic foraminiferal assemblage in surface sediment 0 1 cm consists of about 130 species hydrocarbon seepage is indicated here by the presence of methanotrophic bivalves and white bacterial mats and by present day formation of gas hydrate the foraminiferal assemblage density is generally high indicating an abundance of food bolivina lowmani and globocassidulina subglobosa dominate the assemblage in the silt clay substrate whether at the edge of bathymodiolid mussel beds or under bacterial mats the only notable difference between these two sample groups is in the higher variation of foraminiferal density in the mussel bed samples a control sample at 32 29 654 n and 76 11 324 w taken from bioturbated sediment light grey silt and clay with no visible bacterial or molluscan colonization is comparable to the seep samples in the distribution of calcareous species but shows a much higher diversity and abundance of agglutinated species no segregation of foraminiferal species by substrate geochemistry can be inferred for the seep samples and the possible effect of variable sulfide or methane fluxes on the community cannot be demonstrated by our data

tectonic geomorphology of marine terraces santa barbara fold belt california uplifted marine terraces are common landforms in coastal regions where active tectonics are an important component of landscape evolution such as along the coastal stretches of southern california the pattern and elevation of shoreline angles on active folds provide information about rates of uplift and fold growth which is important for defining tectonic models a particularly impressive succession of marine terraces are developed across the santa barbara fold belt sbfb in southern california which comprises an east west linear zone of active folds and mostly blind faults on the coastal piedmont and in the santa barbara channel the fold belt is characterized by several flights of emergent late pleistocene marine terraces uplifted and preserved on the flanks of active anticlines at several locations along the fold belt the first emergent marine terrace is numerically dated by methods that include uranium series dating on terrace corals 14 c dating on terrace shells and detrital charcoal optically stimulated luminescence of marine terrace sands and oxygen isotopic signatures 18 o of mollusks individual marine terraces have as many as four ages using up to three different dating methods providing confidence in terrace chronology ages of higher terraces are estimated assuming a constant rate of uplift for a particular flight of the 31 terraces 22 formed during a time of falling sea level with 9 forming at or near marine oxygen isotope stage mis 3 or 5 highstands ages and rates of uplift of the first emergent terrace vary systematically from west younger and higher to east older and lower the first emergent marine terraces in the westernmost sbfb are approximately 45 ka mis 3 and the rate of local surface uplift is 2 m k y in the central part of the belt first emergent terraces date to 60 70 ka mis 5 and uplift rates decrease to 1 2 m k y first emergent marine terraces preserved in the easternmost fold belt range from 70 ka to 105 ka mis 5 with rates of local surface uplift of 0 5 m k y lower rates of uplift in the eastern end of the fold belt result from the mis 5 terrace being tilted down into the carpinteria syncline rates of vertical uplift in the western end of the fold belt are about six times higher than previously reported suggesting the seismic hazard is also greater

petrographic and geochemical characterization of seep carbonate from bush hill gc 185 gas vent and hydrate site of the gulf of mexico abstract authigenic carbonates are common at cold seep sites as a result of microbial oxidation of hydrocarbons seep carbonate samples were collected from the surface of the bush hill green canyon block 185 gulf of mexico a mound containing gas hydrate the carbonates consisted of oily porous limestone slabs and blocks containing bioclasts and matrix analysis by x ray diffraction shows that aragonite is the dominant mineral 89 99 wt with an average of 94 wt in the matrix of seep carbonate this cement occurs in microcrystalline microspar and sparite forms the moderate 13 c depletion of the seep carbonate the most depleted one has 13 c value of 29 4 and 26 of 38 subsamples have 13 c values 20 0 indicates that the non methane hydrocarbons was incorporated during seep carbonate precipitation relative enrichment of 18 o may be related to localized destabilization of gas hydrate or derived from 18 o enriched pore water originated from smectite illite transition in the deep sediments the total content of rare earth elements ree of the 5 hno 3 treated solution of the carbonates is from 0 40 ppm to 30 9 ppm the shale normalized ree patterns show varied ce anomalies from significantly negative slightly negative and no to positive ce anomalies variable content of trace elements total ree and ce anomalies in different samples and even in the different carbonate mineral forms microcrystalline microspar and sparite of the same sample suggest that the formation condition of the bush hill seep carbonate is variable and complex which is possibly controlled by the rate of fluid flux

authigenic carbonates from methane seeps of the northern congo fan microbial formation mechanism abstract authigenic carbonates were collected from methane seeps at hydrate hole at 3113 m water depth and diapir field at 2417 m water depth on the northern congo deep sea fan during rv meteor cruise m56 the carbonate samples analyzed here are nodules mainly composed of aragonite and high mg calcite abundant putative microbial carbonate rods and associated pyrite framboids were recognized within the carbonate matrix the 13c values of the hydrate hole carbonates range from 62 5 to 46 3 pdb while the 13c values of the diapir field carbonate are somewhat higher ranging from 40 7 to 30 7 pdb indicating that methane is the predominant carbon source at both locations relative enrichment of 18o 18o values as high as 5 2 pdb are probably related to localized destabilization of gas hydrate the total content of rare earth elements ree of 5 hno3 treated solutions derived from carbonate samples varies from 1 6 ppm to 42 5 ppm the shale normalized ree patterns all display positive ce anomalies ce ce 1 3 revealing that the carbonates precipitated under anoxic conditions a sample from hydrate hole shows a concentric lamination corresponding to fluctuations in 13c values as well as trace elements contents these fluctuations are presumed to reflect changes of seepage flux

a unified analysis of crustal motion in southern california 1970 2004 the scec crustal motion map 1 to determine crustal motions in and around southern california we have processed and combined trilateration data collected from 1970 to 1992 vlbi data from 1979 to 1992 and gps data from 1986 to 2004 a long temporal coverage required in part by the occurrence of several large earthquakes in this region from a series of solutions for station positions we have estimated interseismic velocities coseismic displacements and postseismic motions within the region from 31 n to 38 n and east to 114 w the final product includes estimated horizontal velocities for 1009 gps 190 trilateration and 16 vlbi points with ties between some of these used to stabilize the solution all motions are relative to the stable north american reference frame snarf as realized through the velocities of 20 gps stations this provides a relatively dense set of horizontal velocity estimates with well tested errors for the past quarter century over the plate boundary from 31 n to 36 5 n these velocities agree well with those from the plate boundary observatory which apply to a later time period we also estimated vertical velocities 533 of which have errors below 2 mm yr most of these velocities are less than 1 mm yr but they show 2 4 mm yr subsidence in the ventura and los angeles basins and in the salton trough our analysis also included estimates of coseismic and postseismic motions related to the 1992 landers 1994 northridge 1999 hector mine and 2003 san simeon earthquakes postseismic motions increase logarithmically over time with a time constant of about 10 days and generally mimic the direction and relative amplitude of the coseismic offsets

dynap software for estimating crustal deformation from geodetic data abstract the acronym dynap dynamic adjustment program identifies a software package for estimating crustal dynamic parameters from a collection of geodetic data dynap accepts various data types including horizontal directions and angles distances azimuths zenith distances and intersite vectors such as those obtainable with the global positioning system gps or with very long baseline interferometry vlbi dynap incorporates the simultaneous reduction technique whereby crustal dynamic parameters are estimated simultaneously along with station positional coordinates and various nuisance parameters all via the least squares process the estimated crustal dynamics parameters come in groups of six or fewer where each group corresponds to a prespecified geographic region and period of time the six parameters convert mathematically to yield the three components of the horizontal strain rate tensor the horizontal rotation rate and the two components of the vertical tilt rate vector dynap s applicability is illustrated with two examples the first involves over 60 years of triangulation trilateration data in the cascadia subduction zone of northwestern california here a maximum shearing rate was found of 0 161 0 074 radians yr with the corresponding axis of maximum contraction oriented n25 e 14 the second involves a 1980 triangulation trilateration survey and a 1986 gps survey both spanning the imperial fault of southern california here a maximum dextral shearing rate was found of 1 073 0 171 radians yr in the direction of n31 w 5

in situ strontium and sulfur isotope investigation of the ni cu pge sulfide ore bearing kevitsa intrusion northern finland the 2 06 ga kevitsa mafic ultramafic intrusion in northern finland hosts a large disseminated ni cu pge deposit the deposit occurs in the ultramafic olivine pyroxene cumulates and shows a range in ni tenors varying from 4 7 wt regular ore to 10 wt ni pge ore there are also a metal poor sulfide mineralization false ore and contact mineralization that are uneconomic ni tenor 0 7045 in comparison to the estimated depleted mantle sr isotope ratio of 0 702 at 2 06 ga the sulfur 34s values are generally higher than 2 which together with the sr isotope data imply involvement of crustal material in the genesis of the kevitsa intrusion and its ores the 87sr 86sr i values obtained from the ore bearing domain of the intrusion show stratigraphic variation and exceed 0 7050 with the maximum value reaching up to 0 7109 in contrast in rocks around the ore domain the initial sr isotope compositions remain more or less constant 0 7047 0 7060 throughout the intrusive stratigraphy the isotope data suggest that the ore bearing domain of the intrusion represents a dynamic site with multiple injections of variably contaminated magma whereas the surrounding part of the intrusion experienced a less vigorous emplacement history no correlation is observed between the strontium and sulfur isotope compositions this is explained by bulk assimilation of the silicate magma in a deeper staging magma chamber and variable assimilation of sulfur during magma transport into the kevitsa magma chamber the low level of metals in false ore and the ni depleted nature of its olivine suggest that some sulfides may have precipitated and deposited in the feeder conduit during the initial stage of magma emplacement cannibalization of early formed sulfides by later magma injections may have been important in the formation of the economic ore deposit

volcanic associated nickel deposits from around the widgiemooltha dome western australia volcanic peridotitc associated nickel sulfide deposits occur in archean komatiitic flow sequences around the widgiemooltha dome in the eastern goldfields region of western australia the deposits are typically small shoots 40 volatile free al 2 o 3 2 content of metamorphic fluids and the timing of fluid access to the rocks along the eastern side of the widgiemooltha dome host rocks have undergone serpentinization and variable but generally extensive prograde talc carbonate alteration e g redross dordie rocks north and widgiemooltha 3 deposits in the north munda deposit they have experienced serpentinization with minor carbonate alteration and in addition prograde metamorphic reconstitution to forsteritc talc rich assemblages dunitic units in the west wannaway and wannaway north deposits escaped prograde serpentinization talc carbonate alteration and significant metamorphic reconstitution but have been retrogressively serpentinized sulfides from the different alteration environments show systematic mineralogical and compositional differences at all deposits peak metamorphic temperatures 550 degrees 600 degrees c resulted in reversion of sulfides to a dominant fe ni co cu bearing monosulfide solid solution accompanied by pentlanditc or fe cu intermediate solid solution in some cases most of the present ore mineralogies and textures relate to exsolution of low temperature sulfides from metamorphic monosulfide solid solution with reequilibration and recrystallization during slow postmetamorphic cooling deformation produced a tectonite fabric in the ores characterized by preferred orientation of sulfide grains and mineral layering breccia ores were formed in response to brittle deformation in host rocks and continued ductile behavior in the sulfides deformation also affected the overall configuration of the ore shoots and led to significant sulfide mobilization and ore shoot distension after allowing for the metamorphic imprint a number of primary features of the ore environment can be isolated and there is strong evidence for the prior existence of magmatic sulfides the association of ores with early formed largely dunitic units similar bulk ni cu and ni co ratios for ores from different deposits precious metal data low s se ratios and distinctive magmatic spinels in the sulfides all point to a magmatic control on the ores strong positive correlation between ni and mgo in host units and similar ni mgo ratios in both mineralized and unmineralized units suggest that sulfide liquids formed and equilibrated with the parent magma at depth before being extruded as part of olivine rich crystal mushes

global positioning system network analysis with phase ambiguity resolution applied to crustal deformation studies in california a 5 year campaign is in progress in central and southern california to monitor tectonic motions using observations of the global positioning system gps satellites evidence from geological and space geodetic data indicates that significant horizontal deformations of order 10 mm yr are occurring west of the san andreas fault along the california margin we demonstrate using data from initial epoch measurements in january 1987 that the goal of measuring horizontal deformations with an accuracy of 5 mm yr over the duration of the campaign should be readily achievable the gps network was designed to span a wide range of baseline lengths within california and across north america to aid in phase ambiguity resolution an important factor in achieving highest accuracy baseline determinations we present an efficient algorithm for multisession network analysis of gps data with simultaneous orbit determination and ambiguity resolution using this algorithm with the california data we demonstrate the improvement obtained in station position and satellite orbit estimation when the phase ambiguities are resolved we demonstrate several millimeters 1 part in 108 short term repeatability over five single session daily analyses for horizontal baseline components and length and several tens of millimeters for the vertical comparison with the independently determined very long baseline interferometry baseline between mojave and owens valley suggests that the accuracy is at the same level as the repeatability we show that simultaneous multisession analyses with ambiguity resolution improve the baseline and satellite orbit estimates compared to the single session analyses with the single session analyses we were able to resolve all phase ambiguities on baselines within california with the multisession analyses we were able to resolve the phase ambiguities for most of the network over regional and continental scales

space geodetic measurement of crustal deformation in central and southern california 1984 1992 we estimate the velocity field in central and southern california using global positioning system gps observations from 1986 to 1992 and very long baseline interferometry vlbi observations from 1984 to 1991 our core network includes 12 gps sites spaced approximately 50 km apart mostly in the western transverse ranges and the coastal borderlands the precision and accuracy of the relative horizontal velocities estimated for these core stations are adequately described by a 95 confidence ellipse with a semiminor axis of approximately 2 mm yr oriented roughly north south and a semimajor axis of approximately 3 mm yr oriented east west

temporal variability of in situ methane concentrations in gas hydrate bearing sediments near bullseye vent northern cascadia margin 1 to assess the temporal variability in the methane fluxes from marine sediments that overly gas hydrate bearing sediments and the factors that might control its rate in situ methane concentrations were measured near bullseye vent on the northern cascadia continental margin a long term sampling device collected overlying water and pore fluid samples from 25 cm above seafloor at the sediment water interface swi and 7 cmbsf centimeters below seafloor over a 9 month period august 2009 may 2010 these samples provide a record at 4 day resolution of in situ methane ethane propane sulfate and chloride concentrations as well as stable carbon isotope ratios of methane 13c ch4 and dissolved inorganic carbon 13c dic we show that pore fluids near the swi are saturated or supersaturated with respect to methane 80 mm and the methane flux from the seabed is variable over time we hypothesized that regional seismic activity controlled this variable ch4 flux in the northern cascadia continental margin setting however we found no direct correlation between earthquakes and ch4 flux we also posited alternative controls on ch4 flux variability such as storms regional oceanography and microbial activity again no direct correlation was seen this study takes first steps toward exploring which physical factors play a role in methane flux from hydrate bearing sediments

assessment of global positioning system measurements for studies of crustal deformation the u s geological survey has been using the global positioning system gps to perform repeated surveys of networks of different sizes since january 1986 the intersite distances from these various networks are 223 km for a single line connecting the palos verdes and vandenberg sites in southern california 30 50 km for a network of three sites south of the san francisco bay near loma prieta 9 30 km for a network located near hebgen lake montana 7 12 km for a network of sites in the vicinity of parkfield california and 240 m for a line located at the goldstone antenna complex in the mojave desert the lengths quoted do not include the intersite distances for the fiducial sites included in the solutions for orbit determination which can be up to 8000 km we have attempted to assess the long term precision and accuracy of determinations of relative site position for a range of line lengths this assessment has consisted of several different studies in assessing precision we have generally investigated repeatability usually about a best fit linear temporal trend the smallest fractional repeatability was yielded by the measurements on the palos verdes to vandenberg line the root mean square rms residual about the best fit line for these determinations was 6 mm 0 03 parts per million or ppm for the north component 11 mm 0 05 ppm for the east component and 40 mm 0 18 ppm for the vertical component for these determinations gps data from 3 4 consecutive days were combined to produce a single estimate of the vector separation we also used the day to day scatter from these measurements to perform an analysis of variance and found that these multiday determinations can be significantly more precise than estimates determined from a single observing session the worst results were obtained for the loma prieta network where we obtained rms residuals of 11 12 mm 0 3 0 4 ppm for north 14 18 mm 0 3 0 6 ppm for east and 18 21 mm 0 4 0 7 ppm for vertical we cannot definitely explain these poor results but we have evidence to indicate that this poor scatter is due to the short observing session 4 5 hours compared to 6 5 hours for the palos verdes to vandenberg results in assessing accuracy we compared the gps results to those from independent techniques at parkfield we compared the gps estimates of fault parallel motion to those from creep meters and alignment arrays and found excellent agreement within 1 2 mm yr 1 not only for the slip but also for the variation of slip along the san andreas fault we compared the loma prieta and hebgen lake line length estimates to those obtained from a geodolite a high precision laser distance measurement device that the u s geological survey has used for 20 years for studies of crustal deformation if we model the geodolite minus gps line length differences l as l l where l is the line length then we find 0 6 0 5 mm and 0 1 0 1 mm km 1 the uncertainties quoted are one standard deviation from this comparison we conclude that at this level of significance there is no detectable difference between lengths determined from geodolite and gps data finally we compared the gps estimates of the palos verdes to vandenberg line length to those obtained from very long baseline interferometry vlbi the mean difference between the six gps estimates of line length and a best fit line through the vlbi estimates was 1 mm and the rms difference was 12 mm 0 05 ppm close to the standard deviation of the gps measurements for this predominantly east west line

geodetic measurement of deformation in the ventura basin region southern california we have measured the deformation in the ventura basin region southern california with global positioning system gps measurements carried out over 4 6 years between 1987 and 1992 the deformation within our network is spatically variable on scales of tens of kilometers with strain rates reaching 0 6 1 micro rad yr in the east central basin blocklike rotations are observed south and northwest of the basin where the maximum shear strain rates are an order of magnitude lower 0 06 1 micro rad yr to the south we also observed clockwise rotations of 1 deg 7 deg m y shear strain rates determined by comparing angle changes from historical triangulation spanning several decades and gps measurements give consistent though less precise results the geodetic rates of shortening across the basin and western transverse ranges are lower than those estimated from geological observations but the patterns of deformation from the two methods agree qualitatively

measurements of transience and downward fluid flow near episodic methane gas vents hydrate ridge cascadia aqueous flux measurements within cold seep regions on northern hydrate ridge cascadia indicate a high degree of variability with extended periods of downflow and reversals of flow direction over periods of weeks to months local episodic venting of free methane gas was also observed the instruments recorded similar changes in hydrologic flow patterns both on and off clam fields the magnitude of the flow rates decreasing away from the clam field the coincidence of episodic gas venting with nearby highly variable aqueous fluid flow suggests that they may be coupled we propose that these observations are consistent with the action of a gas driven pump that operates somewhat like a geyser the hypothesis of gas driven pumping of seawater through northern hydrate ridge has important ramifications for the mass fluxes through this region

deformation in the santa barbara channel from gps measurements 1987 1991 geodesy is one of the few techniques that can be used to estimate strain rates across the submerged structures in the santa barbara channel by resolving relative surface velocities the global positioning system gps can be used to infer crustal deformation rates independent of geologic models gps measurements from the period 1987 1991 have been used to derive velocities for a 8 station network bounding the channel these estimates are based on 10 gps experiments each of several days in length over this 4 5 year period precision of individual determinations of intersite vectors range from 3 to 7 mm for the horizontal components and average 20 mm in the vertical the gps data indicate high rates of shortening in the eastern channel 6 1 mm yr at n16 3e and low rates of deformation in the western channel comparisons with previous geodetic studies suggest that deformation in the region has not been uniform over the last 100 years

fluid and chemical cycling at bush hill implications for gas and hydrate rich environments 1 the results of a deployment of aqueous flux meters at the bush hill hydrate mound show that persistent hydrologic instability is a primary feature of the globally abundant gas and hydrate rich cold seep environment seven flux meters were deployed for 14 weeks in the area of the bush hill hydrate mound instruments were deployed on microbial mats bivalves adjacent to the surface hydrate mound and a site without visible fauna flow rates were observed to range from downflow of 0 01 mm day to upflow of 15 mm day temporal variability and a major hydrological event were observed to occur on all instruments there is evidence that this event was related to a gas expulsion episode the two instruments which exhibited downflow during the event were near surface hydrates and bubbling vents nearby instruments recorded a rapid increase in flow rates at the time of the event with a subsequent decrease in rates to the previous background values two instruments showed significant output of seawater like fluids while the others output typical methane seep type pore fluids these results at a passive margin site along with our previously published convergent margin results at gas rich northeast pacific cold seeps hydrate ridge eel river margin illustrate the hydrologic complexity of these environments we now propose that these and our earlier results are characteristic of seafloor environments which have abundant free gas and hydrates these mechanisms have major consequences for the near surface geochemical and microbial environment and for the way we interpret measurements made in these areas

new insights into cerium anomalies and mechanisms of trace metal enrichment in authigenic carbonate from hydrocarbon seeps authigenic carbonates that form at marine hydrocarbon seeps provide a unique geological archive of past local environmental conditions and pore fluid geochemistry recent work on such carbonates revealed variable cerium ce anomalies and anomalous enrichments of certain trace metals however the mechanisms accounting for such anomalies remain poorly constrained here we characterize the rare earth element ree patterns of carbonate phases and the trace metal patterns of bulk carbonate rocks sampled at three hydrocarbon seeps located at congo fan pockmarks cf and the gulf of mexico sites ac645 and gb425 the analyzed cf gb425 and ac645 carbonates yielded different ree patterns displaying positive no as well as negative ce anomalies the covariation of molybdenum mo with uranium u including authigenic mo moauth and u uauth enrichments as well as mo u auth ratios proved useful to obtain new insight into the applicability of ce anomalies to constrain past redox conditions trace element patterns suggest that 1 cf carbonates formed in a restricted sulfidic environment while 2 the ac645 site experienced intermittent oxygenation causing negative ce anomalies and 3 environmental conditions were variable at the gb425 mud volcano site interestingly gb425 carbonates show significant mo arsenic as and antimony sb enrichments with the enrichment factor of as asef correlating well with the authigenic fe fraction these results suggest that iron oxyhydroxides played an important role in the adsorption of mo as and sb in the water column and their transfer to the sediment the combination of trace metal and ree geochemistry of authigenic carbonates used here is a promising tool to better assess past variability of redox conditions and biogeochemical processes at marine hydrocarbon seeps

origin of the sudbury complex by meteoritic impact neodymium isotopic evidence samarium neodymium isotopic data on whole rocks and minerals of the sudbury complex in canada gave an igneous crystallization age of 1840 21 x 10 6 years the initial epsilon neodymium values for 15 whole rocks are similar to those for average upper continental crust falling on the crustal trend of neodymium isotopic evolution as defined by shales the rare earth element concentration patterns of sudbury rocks are also similar to upper crustal averages these data suggest that the sudbury complex formed from melts generated in the upper crust and are consistent with a meteoritic impact

geology and geochemistry of intrusions and flood basalts of the noril sk region ussr with implications for the origin of the ni cu ores geochemical studies indicate that five principal magma types characterize the 3 8 km vertical thickness of flood basalt of the noril9sk region from base to top these are 1 a fractionated type with alkalic affiliations ivakinsky and syverminsky 2 an ni rich suite including picritic basalt gudchichinsky 3 a primitive but ni depleted suite with fiat rare earth element ree profiles and also including picritic basalts tuklonsky 4 a light ree enriched crustally contaminated suite lower nadezhdinsky nd 1 above 4 there is a transitional suite upper nadezhdinsky nd 2 and morongovsky mr 1 and mr 2 which is overlain by the fifth type a second primitive suite without picrites mokulaevsky similar but not identical in its chemistry to the tuklonsky type this is followed by tuffs and basalts of the kharayelakhsky kumginsky and samoyedsky suites which are largely composed of similar uncontaminated tholeiitic magma the latter three suites have not been studied by us intrusions of the region fall into five main groups 1 alkalic intrusions 2 ti rich dolerite dikes 3 dolerite sills and dikes 4 differentiated bodies not related to ore junctions and 5 differentiated bodies related to ore junctions the ni cu ores are associated with ni and cr rich type 5 olivine rich intrusions with flat ree profiles that are geochemicaly similar to the mokulaevsky magma light ree enriched ni and cr poor olivine rich type 5 intrusions with uneconomic mineralization occur closely associated with the strongly mineralized variants and resemble geochemically the basalts transitional between the lower nadezhdinsky and upper morongovsky they are cut by the strongly mineralized bodies indicating that the latter are of late morongovsky to mokulaevsky age the mineralized intrusions are associated with about 1 5 to 1 10 of their mass in sulfides this is a factor of 25 to 50 more than could have been carried in solution and deposited by in situ liquation from the magma of these intrusions the platinum group element pge concentrations in the ores require that the sulfides giving rise to them equilibrated with 15 to 200 times more magma than is represented by the intrusions much of the ore is very massive and crosscuts the host intrusions the sequence of igneous activity and mineralization in the immediate vicinity of noril9sk and talnakh from the base of the nadezhdinsky upward is thus interpreted to be 1 extrusion of highly crustally contaminated ni and cu poor basalt 2 extrusion of a series of basalt flows each progressively less contaminated and less ni and cu depleted than the preceding one accompanied by intrusion of contaminated ni depleted magma with weak mineralization 3 extrusion of uncontaminated ni and cu rich basalt accompanied by intrusion of uncontaminated ni rich magma with strong mineralization followed very closely by introduction of associated massive ore and 4 continued extrusion of ni and cu rich basalt it is proposed that crustal contamination of the original ni and cu rich magma occurred at the top of a vertically extensive fault controlled magma chamber and caused segregation of immiscible sulfides with a low r factor these depleted this magma in chalcophile elements and settled deeper in the chamber as they settled they reacted with less contaminated magma scavenging additional chalcophile elements they finally came to rest near the base of the chamber to form a zone of sulfide and thus chalcophile element enriched magma eruption and in some instances intrusion of progressively stratigraphically lower less contaminated and thus less depleted layers in the chamber gave rise to the observed sequence of basalts and intrusions the answer to the strong enrichment in ni cu and pge associated with the ore bearing intrusions is that these metals came from the magma that is now represented by the depleted basalts

stable isotope signatures and methane use by new zealand cold seep benthos the carbon isotopic composition of seep faunal tissue represents a time integrated view of the interaction between biology and the biogeochemical gradients within the environment here we provide an initial description of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures of dominant symbiont bearing megafauna and heterotrophic mega and macrofauna from 10 methane seep sites on the continental margin of the north island of new zealand 662 1201 m water depth isotopic signatures suggest that sulfide oxidation supports symbiont bearing taxa including solemyid and vesicomyid bivalves and methanotrophic symbionts are present in the seep mussel bathymodiolus sp multiple species of frenulata siboglinidae are present and have a range of isotopic values that are indicative of both thiotroph and methanotroph based nutrition isotopic composition of the tubeworm lamellibrachia sp varied by 23 3 among individuals although there was no consistent difference among sites variation in methane use by heterotrophic fauna appears to reflect the availability of hard vs soft substrate macrofauna on hard substrates had high 13c signatures reflecting consumption of photosynthetic derived organic matter two unique biotic assemblages were discovered to be fueled largely by methane a hard substrate multi phyla sponge associated community inhabiting the sponge pseudosuberites sp and a soft sediment assemblage dominated by ampharetid polychaetes isotope signatures yield estimates of 38 100 and 6 100 methane derived carbon in sponge associates and ampharetid bed macrofauna respectively these estimates are comparable to those made for deeper methane seeps at the florida escarpment 3290 m and kodiak alaska seeps 4445 m the overall high use of methane as a carbon source by both symbiont bearing and heterotrophic fauna suggests that new zealand methane seeps are an ideal model system to study the interaction among metazoans bacteria archaea and their resulting effect on methane cycles

initial results of comparing cold seep carbonates from mussel and tubeworm associated environments at atwater valley lease block 340 northern gulf of mexico abstract chemosymbiotic macrofauna such as mussels and tubeworms and authigenic carbonates are typical of many hydrocarbon seeps to address whether mussels and tubeworms could impact the sediment geochemistry of their habitat where authigenic carbonates are precipitated a comparative study of petrographic and geochemical features of the authigenic carbonates from mussel and tubeworm associated environments at hydrocarbon seeps in atwater valley lease area block 340 at340 of the gulf of mexico was undertaken both mussel and tubeworm associated carbonates are dominated by high magnesium calcite hmc and aragonite and two tubeworm associated carbonate samples have minor amounts of dolomite the 13c values of all carbonates are low ranging from 60 8 to 35 5 pdb although there is much overlap surprisingly the 13c values of mussel associated carbonates are generally higher than those of tubeworm associated carbonates 51 8 vs 54 8 for an average of over 60 subsamples it is suggested that 1 carbon isotopic vital effect of seep mussels and tubeworms 2 fluid physical pumping of mussels and 3 release of sulfate by tubeworm roots may be responsible for the relatively lower 13c values of tubeworm associated carbonates it has been suggested that the heterogeneities in mineralogy and stable carbon isotope geochemistry of the seep carbonates may be attributed to the activity of macrofauna mussels and tubeworms and associated microbes our observations also suggest that at at340 the geochemical evolution of seep macrofauna is from a mussel dominated environment to a mixed mussel tubeworm environment and finally to a mostly tubeworm dominated environment this evolution is controlled mainly by the habitat e g hydrocarbon seep flux

pore fluid compositions and inferred fluid flow patterns at the haima cold seeps of the south china sea abstract fluid flow patterns at cold seeps provide insights into the mechanism and influence of methane emission into the ocean which is critical in its environmental impact assessment here we report pore fluid compositions of three 8 m long piston cores qdn 14a qdn 14b and r1 collected from the newly discovered active haima cold seeps on the northwestern slope of the south china sea reaction transport models were further applied to quantify related biogeochemical processes and to reveal the patterns of fluid flow extremely low 13c values

timing and extent of neogene tectonic rotation in the western transverse ranges california paleomagnetic data collected from lower miocene rocks throughout the western transverse ranges province have consistently clockwise deflected magnetic declinations which suggests that the entire province has experienced clockwise tectonic rotation during neogene time paleomagnetic declinations in lower miocene rocks increase westward from 33 5 c 11 in the san gabriel block to 91 7 7 in the western santa ynez range suggesting a westward increase in the net amount of clockwise tectonic rotation paleomagnetic data that constrain the tuning of rotation suggest that the entire western transverse ranges rotated uniformly 50 60 clockwise during the middle miocene this implies a minimum of 200 km of distributed dextral shear along the california coast and offshore during middle miocene time little tectonic rotation appears to have occurred in the western transverse ranges during late miocene time since miocene time continued clockwise rotation in the western santa ynez range 31 3 combined with counterclockwise rotation in the san gabriel block 16 has oroclinally bent the transverse ranges to the west of the san andreas fault the pliocene pleistocene clockwise rotation implies an additional 30 60 km of distributed dextral shear across the southern california coast ranges during post miocene time

geochemical record of methane seepage in authigenic carbonates and surrounding host sediments a case study from the south china sea abstract sediments at marine methane seep sites provide potential archives of past fluid flow that serve to explore seepage activities over time three gravity cores d 8 d f and d 7 were collected from seep sites on the northern slope of the south china sea where gas hydrates were drilled in the subsurface various carbon and sulfur contents 13c values of total inorganic carbon 13ctic 34s values of chromium reducible sulfur 34scrs trace element contents grain size and ams 14c dating of planktonic foraminifera in the sediments were determined to explore the availability of related proxies at seeps and to trace past methane seepage activities evidence for the presence of methane seepage and consequently anaerobic oxidation of methane comes from the occurrence of 13c depleted authigenic carbonate nodules 13c values as low as 49 discovered at an interval of 150 200 cm in core d 7 this finding is supported by high s c ratios and molybdenum enrichment in the same interval however low contents of crs and negative 34scrs values are present it is suggested to reflect a transient methane seepage event which continued for about 1 ka based on the 14c ages cores d 8 and d f have 13ctic values close to zero low s c ratios and crs contents negative 34scrs values and no trace element enrichment suggesting a negligible impact of methane seepage on the sediments the negative 34scrs values of the studied seep impacted and background sediments suggest that the application of 34scrs alone as a proxy to identify aom related process may be insufficient sediment carbon sulfur trace element systematics and 14c ages used here have the potential to be a promising tool to recognize transient methane seepages and constrain their timescales

multi element variations in olivine as geochemical signatures of ni cu sulfide mineralization in mafic magma systems examples from voisey s bay and pants lake intrusions labrador canada olivine from the olivine gabbro to troctolite intrusions at voisey s bay and at pants lake labrador was analyzed for multiple elements ca sc mg si ti v cr mn fe co ni cu zn sr y and zr with secondary ion mass spectrometry sims both intrusions have similar lithologies and petrographic characteristics and are approximately coeval 1 34 and 1 32 ga respectively members of the mesoproterozoic nain plutonic suite the voisey s bay intrusion hosts a producing economic ni cu sulfide deposit whereas the pants lake intrusion displays evidence of ni cu sulfide mineralization but to date a viable ore deposit has not been discovered olivine from both barren and mineralized lithologies was analyzed to assess the potential of the olivine composition for providing a record of silicate melt evolution and sulfide saturation related to formation of a massive sulfide deposit two detailed transects were sampled using five diamond drill holes that laterally approach the basal massive sulfide in the eastern deeps portion of the voisey s bay intrusion from the barren central part olivine displays distinct trace element distributions that vary coherently with host lithology and proximity to sulfide mineralization in particular olivine shows an increase in fe fo80 to fo60 mn 2500 to 5000 ppm and zn 280 to 700 ppm generally coupled with a decrease in ni 1600 to 900 ppm co 270 to 190 ppm and cr 110 to 45 ppm from barren troctolite normal troctolite nt and weakly mineralized troctolite variable textured troctolite vtt towards the heavily mineralized brecciated basal succession basal breccia sequence bbs the enrichment in fe mn zn is most pronounced in samples that laterally approach but do not directly intersect the massive sulfide deposit at the base of the intrusion particularly in samples from the lower variable textured troctolite and the basal breccia olivine from gabbro lithologies within the basal gabbro bg and upper gabbro ug of the pants lake intrusion is fairly homogeneous fo60 4300 ppm mn 460 ppm zn 340 ppm ni 50 ppm cr with a more evolved composition 2100 ppm ca 20 ppm sc 300 ppm ti 4 ppm y than the average olivine of the voisey s bay intrusion 570 ppm ca 6 ppm sc 65 ppm ti 0 3 ppm y pants lake olivine also commonly lacks the mutually mn zn rich signature of olivine from the basal breccia at voisey s bay that is characteristic of contamination of the parent magma by country rock gneiss and there reflects a close proximity to massive sulfides in conjunction with petrographic observation and the stratigraphic context a multiple element v cr mn fe co ni zn regression can be applied to calculate a lateral proximity of olivine to massive sulfide mineralization in the eastern deeps part of the voisey s bay intrusion over a distance exceeding 150 m the compositional variations in olivine from the economic voisey s bay intrusion bimodal and primitive and the mainly barren pants lake intrusion homogeneous and evolved provide potential as a regional scale mineralogical fertility indicator for mafic intrusions with comparable types of sulfide mineralization

impact of anaerobic oxidation of methane on the geochemical cycle of redox sensitive elements at cold seep sites of the northern south china sea abstract cold hydrocarbon seepage is a frequently observed phenomenon along continental margins worldwide however little is known about the impact of seeping fluids on the geochemical cycle of redox sensitive elements pore waters from four gravity cores d 8 d 5 d 7 and d f collected from cold seep sites of the northern south china sea were analyzed for so42 mg2 ca2 sr2 dissolved inorganic carbon dic 13cdic dissolved fe mn and trace elements e g mo u the sulfate concentration depth profiles 13cdic values and dic ca2 mg2 so42 ratios suggest that organoclastic sulfate reduction osr is the dominant process in d 8 core besides osr anaerobic oxidation of methane aom is partially responsible for depletion of sulfate at d 5 and d 7 cores the sulfate consumption at d f core is predominantly caused by aom the depth of sulfate methane interface smi and methane diffusive flux of d f core are calculated to be 7 m and 0 035 mol m 2 yr 1 respectively the relatively shallow smi and high methane flux at d f core suggest the activity of gas seepage in this region the concentrations of dissolved uranium u were inferred to decrease significantly within the iron reduction zone it seems that aom has limited influence on the u geochemical cycling in contrast a good correlation between the consumption of sulfate and the removal of molybdenum mo suggests that aom has a significantly influence on the geochemical cycle of mo at cold seeps accordingly cold seep environments may serve as an important potential sink in the marine geochemical cycle of mo

unconventional pge occurrences and pge mineralization in the great dyke metallogenic and economic aspects platinum group elements pge are strategic materials because 96 99 of the world production is derived from just five mining districts and because they cannot be replaced as catalysts in many chemical processes in order to lessen the strategic character of pge both conventional deposits and unconventional pge mineralizations were investigated in an attempt to locate viable deposits which would diversify the supplier base in the great dyke conventional pge mineralization occurs in the form of pristine sulfide ores mined underground and oxidic surface ores new observations such as bimodal distributions of the pge in the main sulfide zone msz elevated pt pd ratios in the oxidized msz compared to the sulfidic part and distinct differences between the platinum group mineral pgm assemblages of the msz and stream sediments of adjacent rivers emphasize the fact that even though the great dyke seems to be the second or third largest pge occurrence in the world the complicated pge distributions and supergene redistributions should be kept in mind during planning and mine operation investigations of unconventional pge occurrences in ophiolites alaskan type intrusions porphyry copper deposits and in the kupferschiefer show that economically exploitable pge concentrations can be expected in a broader variety of host rocks than considered favourable in the past in the albanian mirdita ophiolite average contents of 860 ppb pt and 60 ppb pd were detected flotation concentrates of porphyry copper deposits for example from mamut malaysia santo tomas philippines elacite bulgaria and ok tedi papua new guinea contain between 827 and 1860 ppb pd pt in selected profiles of the polish kupferschiefer average contents of 255 ppb pt 94 ppb pd 2 4 ppm au and 13 0 ppm ag were analysed the distribution of the pge resources in the world and the annual production rates however underline the fact that the chances for a significant change in the supplier base are relatively low the bushveld complex will remain the largest producer followed by noril sk talnakh sudbury and stillwater if the operations in the great dyke reach their planned capacities the great dyke will rank in third place among the pge producing deposits in the world

quantifying submarine fluid seep activity along the north anatolian fault zone in the sea of marmara abstract the sea of marmara presents the rare case where active seafloor venting sites are found on the surface trace of a major plate boundary fault the north anatolian fault zone the objective of the 2007 marnaut project was to quantify the level of activity of these venting sites and the source of the fluids emitted with the goal of understanding the processes involved and setting a baseline for long term studies of the relationship between seismic activity and fluid migration expulsion processes sites for flow meter and fluid sampler deployment and coring included basin bounding transtensional faults and strike slip faults cutting through the topographic highs significant fluid flow appears to be primarily an episodic phenomenon at all sites with background rates on the order of mm yr to cm yr except at or very near rare focused vents basin bounding faults expel primarily shallow sourced fluid with a strong influence of brackish pleistocene lake marmara water with the notable exception of the main active fault along the northern edge of the cinarcik basin expulsion sites where the main fault crosses topographic highs are more complex with evidence for deep sourced fluids including thermogenic gas one site on the western high displayed two mound structures that appear to be chemoherms atop a deep seated fluid conduit the fluids being expelled are brines with an exotic fluid chemistry along with thermogenic gas and oil our work shows that submerged continental transform plate boundaries can be hydrologically active and exhibit a diversity of sources and processes

oak ridge fault ventura fold belt and the sisar decollement ventura basin california abstract the rootless ventura avenue san miguelito and rincon anticlines ventura fold belt in pliocene pleistocene turbidites are related to south dipping reverse faults rising from a decollement in underlying miocene shale to the east sulphur mountain anticlinorium comprises the upper plate of a south dipping set of thrusts sisar big canyon lion that merge downward into a decollement in mudstone of the rincon formation named here the sisar decollement shortening of the miocene and younger sequence is 3 km greater than that of the underlying competent vaqueros sespe and marine eocene sequence in the ventura fold belt and 7 km greater farther east at sulphur mountain cross section balancing requires that this difference be taken up by the paleogene sequence at the oak ridge fault to the south convergence is ne to nne based on earthquake focal mechanisms and piercing point offset of the south mountain seaknoll by the oak ridge fault a ne trending line connecting the west end of oak ridge and the east end of the sisar fault separates an eastern domain where late quaternary displacement is taken up entirely on the oak ridge fault and a western domain where displacement is transferred to the sisar decollement and its overlying rootless folds this implies that 1 the oak ridge fault near the coast presents as much seismic risk as it does farther east despite negligible shallow post 0 2 ma movement 2 ground rupture hazard is high for the sisar fault set in the upper ojai valley and 3 the decollement could fail on a low angle thrust at depth and produce an earthquake analogous to the 1987 whittier narrows event in los angeles

tracing the evolution of seep fluids from authigenic carbonates green canyon northern gulf of mexico authigenic carbonates from hydrocarbon seeps are unique long term archives of past fluid flow the studied samples were collected from green canyon block 140 at a water depth of 260 m in the gulf of mexico petrography x ray diffraction stable isotopes and c 14 dating were applied to assess the evolution of seep activity and potential driving forces the carbonates are dominated by high mg calcite hmc and aragonite with a minor amount of low mg calcite lmc and dolomite petrographically peloids clotted microfabric acicular aragonite and a variable content of bioclasts were observed three types of carbonates are recognized structure i carbonates with c 14 ages from 46 5 ka to 25 8 ka bp are characterized by delta c 13 values from 23 2 parts per thousand to 5 1 parts per thousand suggesting multiple carbon sources that include thermogenic methane biodegraded crude oil seawater and residual co2 from methanogenesis at greater depth in contrast structure ii carbonates formed between 17 6 ka and 11 7 ka bp and have delta c 13 values varying from 22 2 parts per thousand to 8 8 parts per thousand suggesting carbon sources similar to those of structure i carbonates but with a negligible influence of residual co2 from methanogenesis in addition the presence of lmc in this type of carbonate may be associated with brine seepage structure iii carbonates among the youngest of the samples analyzed with c 14 ages of 1 2 ka bp these carbonates have the most negative delta c 13 values ranging from 36 1 parts per thousand to 26 8 parts per thousand suggesting that thermogenic methane is the primary carbon source the majority carbonates of both structure i and ii are slightly o 18 enriched which is most likely related to the incorporation of water from dehydration of clay minerals the considerable range of mineralogical and isotopic variations of the studied carbonates highlights the local control of the seepage flux it is proposed that factors affecting the activity of hydrocarbon seeps are sea level changes and salt movement the combination of petrography stable isotopes and dating approach used here highlights that these are valuable tools to assess the variability of past fluid flow at hydrocarbon seeps c 2013 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

complex flow patterns through hydrate ridge and their impact on seep biota our recent measurements of long term fluid flux rates and output fluid chemistry at seep sites on hydrate ridge cascadia suggest that the mechanisms driving fluid flow in gas hydrate bearing forearc settings may be significantly more complex than previously thought temporal changes in the polarity and magnitude of flow and in seep fluid chemistry were observed the nature of flow appears to generate a strong response in the chemosynthetic seep community ecology we document here 1 the frequency and range of temporal variability in flow rates 2 the relatively rapid changes in outflow composition 3 strong outflow of seawater like fluids 4 the association of calyptogena sp clams with oscillatory and inflow settings and 5 microbial mat communities associated with strong advection of altered fluids these results suggest that a reappraisal may be required of the nature of the hydrologic system and its effect on related processes such as benthic seep community ecology and biogeochemical cycles

jolliet field thrust fault structure and stratigraphy green canyon block 184 offshore louisiana abstract jolliet field is believed to be the first development in the offshore u s gulf of mexico to exploit a major thrust fault structure and as such represents a new and potentially important type of deep water structural play the field s multiple stacked reservoirs consist of pleistocene lowstand gravity flows deposited in upper slope fans the thrust fault is documented by 3 d seismic interpretation repeated paleontologic markers and correlation of up to 3000 feet of repeated pay section this fault is believed to be the toe thrust of a major gravity slide which was triggered in the lower pleistocene when sediments were tilted to a critical angle by a rising salt diapir seismic data suggest that the resulting slide surface is approximately cylindrical connecting a major growth fault on the west side of green canyon block 184 to the jolliet field thrust fault salt withdrawal in the area produced normal faults some of which cut the thrust fault adding structural complexity to the field in addition to the geologic and geophysical evidence the structural model is supported by slope stability computer modelling using realistic sediment shear strengths densities and pore pressures

ground melting and ocellar komatiites a lead isotopic study at kambalda western australia stratigraphically and geographically restricted ocellar komatiite flows at kambalda western australia appear to represent the products of ground melting of sulphidic sediments by komatiites in lava channels that localized the fe ni cu sulphide ores an immiscible sulphide liquid formed and gravitationally separated from the melted sediment xenomelt the resultant buoyant silicate liquid being partly or wholly assimilated by the turbulently convecting komatiite magma rarely the xenomelt gravitationally migrated to the top of flows and overflowed into the less turbulent lava levees where it collected to form a separate layer overlying a komatiitic layer within a single flow there was selective preservation of the hybrid felsic layer as an upper ocellar unit within an ocellar komatiite flow in lava levees flanking lava channels the ocellar unit is enriched in elements previously concentrated in the sediments and shows u th pb isotopic systematics akin to the underlying sediments moreover the partitioning relationships of u and pb between the immiscible xenomelt and sulphide liquid enhances the range of u pb ratios for components of the ocellar unit thus allowing sufficient spread of modern uranogenic pb isotopic ratios to form isochrons albeit imprecise ones the range and similarity of model th u data from these flows 2 8 3 9 and adjacent sulphidic sediments 2 3 4 4 mostly 2 8 3 9 contrasts with the generally invariable th u within kambalda ultrabasic basic flows 3 6 3 9 and further supports the ground melting hypothesis

tectonic geomorphology and hydrocarbon induced topography of the mid channel anticline santa barbara basin california the geomorphology of the western sector of the mid channel anticline mca santa barbara southern california suggests the actively growing fold is laterally propagating to the west the presence of fold scarps and cross faults that segment the structure suggests that buried faults that are producing the folding are present at shallow depths the summit area of the anticline at the last glacial maximum 22 to 19 ka was probably a small late pleistocene island evidence for presence of the island includes what appears to be terrestrial erosion and is supported by assumption of sea level change and rates of uplift and subsidence pockmarks and domes ranging in diameter from 10 to 100 m and several meters deep are present along the crest and flanks of the mca these features appear to be the result of hydrocarbon emission their formation has significantly modified the surface features producing simple to complex erosional and or constructional topography a large pockmark near the anticline crest dated by two calibrated ams radiocarbon dates of 25 3 and 36 9 ka continues to emit hydrocarbon gases we term the topography produced by hydrocarbon emission as hydrocarbon induced topography hit 2007 elsevier b v all rights reserved

fluid venting along japanese trenches tectonic context and thermal modeling abstract large benthic chemosynthetic communities have been observed at four main locations during the kaiko submersible dives in the japanese trenches they appear to be associated with venting along fractures the first site for our observation was along the japan and kuril trenches where the continental margin is eroded by the subducting plate and collapses into the trench the benthic communities there seem to be related to tension gashes parallel to the subduction vector the other communities were found on the toe of the nankai accretionary prism along the frontal thrust and tension gashes the temperature anomaly associated with one of the communities is modeled to constrain the upward flow of interstitial water as the anomaly has a small spatial extent and as the peak thermal gradient is high the best fitting model is to be found in a vertical upward flow at a velocity of 100 m yr in a cylindrical conduit leading out of an underlying shallow thrust

the geology of the kambalda nickel field western australia the kambalda nickel field contains the major concentration of volcanic peridotitc associated nickel ores in the archean of australia it occupies an area of 400 km 2 underlain by two sequences of ultramafic mafic and felsic volcanics and sedimentary rocks which can be broadly correlated with previously erected regional stratigraphic sections most ores occur in the lower kambalda sequence at the base of the kambalda ultramafic rocks the ultramafic rocks of the upper bluebush sequence contain only minor mineralization four phases of deformation occurred over an interval of more than 300 m y resulting in a dominant north northwest structural trend faulting was active during original volcanism and continued intermittently until after mafic felsic dike intrusion the ultramafic rocks have been serpentinized and all rocks have exerienced low strain upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies metamorphism and variable carbonation and potash metasomatism the kambalda ultramafic rocks are of variable thickness and in places exceed 1 000 m the lower member of the ultramafic rocks occupying approximately one third of the sequence comprises thicker high magnesium flows i e generally 36 volatile free mgo commonly separated by sulfidic quartz albite sediments thinner lower magnesium flow units characterize much of the upper member the ores occur in 24 shoot complexes each containing multiple ore surfaces caused by structural dislocation of a few grouped ribbonlike original orebodies eighty percent is contact ore occurring at the base of the lowermost ultramafic flow and generally occupying elongate troughs in the footwall basalt ultramafic contact these troughs are thought to be original volcanic depressions which focused later deformation the remainder is hanging wall ore usually occurring directly above contact ore at the base of the second or third ultramafic flow hanging wall orebodies occasionally grade into stratigraphically equivalent interflow sediments the ores contain varying proportions of massive matrix and disseminated sulfides the hypogene mineral assemblage is pyrrhotite pentlandite pyrite chalcopyrite but millerite is locally significant the massive ores in particular are commonly severely deformed and some have been remobilized tens of meters from their original contact position metamorphism has caused recrystallization of the ores and some redistribution of elements there is commonly marked variation of mineralogy and s ni ratios between contact and overlying hanging wall ores and within and between original ore surfaces within shoots but the relative contributions of primary composition and metamorphism to this variation are uncertain in ore environments the footwall basalt ultramafic contact is more deformed than in non ore environments the basal ultramafic flows are thicker and richer in magnesium the trend toward lower magnesium flows upward through the ultramafic formation is less well developed and there is better textural development and compositional differentiation within flows non ore environments usually contain interflow sediments whereas there is generally a sediment free prism of ultramafic rocks above ore environments most ores are interpreted to have originated by either simultaneous or sequential extrusion of sulfide melts and ultramafic lavas rich in olivine phenocrysts along active linear fissures in a basaltic ocean floor volcanic exhalations probably contributed to minor ore in sulfidic sediments

recent crustal deformation in southern california deduced from the restoration of folded and faulted strata a rigid element method of restoration unfold is used to restore competent folded and faulted layers of the ventura and los angeles basins to their initial horizontal state comparison of initial undeformed state with present deformed state allows one to estimate both the finite crustal deformation and its associated horizontal displacement field relative to an arbitrary fixed line including data from the santa barbara channel basin the total finite displacement field for the western transverse ranges and vicinity within the pacific plate is inferred from this map restoration and is modeled as a double fan closure this model implies a 10 clockwise rotation of the northeen boundary of the western transverse ranges and a 5 counterclockwise rotation of its northeast boundary lateral variation of the deformation reveals the heterogeneity of the subsurface deformation most of the major thrusts appear to initiate as en echelon structures along the left lateral northern margin and the right lateral northeastern margin of the studied area the resulting deformation and displacement values closely match those derived by other geological methods section balancing techniques or fault slip measurements and by geophysical methods geodetic paleomagnetic and focal mechanism data map restoration thus is a method that can independently quantify both local and regional deformation including folds and faults this method also reveals the zones where problems of compatibility appear with the available geological and geophysical data and thus where the next studies might be focused

rare earth elements of seep carbonates indication for redox variations and microbiological processes at modern seep sites at marine seeps methane is microbially oxidized resulting in the precipitation of carbonates close to the seafloor methane oxidation leads to sulfate depletion in sediment pore water which induces a change in redox conditions rare earth element ree patterns of authigenic carbonate phases collected from modern seeps of the gulf of mexico the black sea and the congo fan were analyzed different carbonate minerals including aragonite and calcite with different crystal habits have been selected for analysis total ree content sigma ree of seep carbonates varies widely from 0 1 ppm to 42 5 ppm but a common trend is that the sigma ree in microcrystalline phases is higher than that of the associated later phases including micospar sparite and blocky cement suggesting that sigma ree may be a function of diagenesis the shale normalized ree patterns of the seep carbonates often show different ce anomalies even in samples from a specific site suggesting that the formation conditions of seep carbonates are variable and complex overall our results show that apart from anoxic oxic conditions are at least temporarily common in seep environments c 2012 elsevier ltd all rights reserved