shear wave splitting in northeast venezuela trinidad and the eastern caribbean abstract we present new measurements of splitting of core shear wave phases sks skks pks recorded at seven stations in the eastern caribbean region six stations in northeastern venezuela and trinidad constituted the secasa92 temporary broadband array the seventh station sjg is installed on puerto rico we also attempted to measure source side splitting of s waves from earthquakes in the lesser antilles subducted slab but with little success mean splitting parameters fast polarization direction and delay time t at the stations are consistently east west trending and over 1 s respectively delay times at the secasa92 array are amongst the highest yet measured reaching 2 1 s and generally over 1 5 s we note an approximately linear decrease in delay times here from maxima at the northernmost stations to a minimum at the southernmost the secasa92 array is situated in the wide south america caribbean sa ca plate boundary zone and sjg is within the north america caribbean na ca plate boundary zone in both cases trends are parallel to the plate boundary zones locally we interpret these results to indicate that the sa ca plate boundary deformation extends to depths of at least 200 km and that south american crust lithospheric mantle and asthenosphere are coherently deformed the extreme delay times we measure are probably the result of transpression in the sa ca plate boundary and overriding of the lesser antilles slab by south america compressional flattening results in extremes of foliation development and dextral shearing yields a strong lineation in upper mantle olivine by contrast the delay time at sjg 1 2 s is near the global average and reflects the fact that the na ca plate boundary zone is purely sinistral or includes minor transtension we note that recent counterclockwise rotation of puerto rico does not apparently affect upper mantle deformation beneath the island we suggest that this rotation is crustal driven by far field sinistral shear and partly decoupled from the mantle shear our results are consistent with the trench parallel mantle flow hypothesis russo and silver 1994 science 263 1105 1111 and indicate that asthenospheric mantle flow beneath the caribbean plate is eastward and probably drives the plate s eastward motion

geometry and kinematics of the north monagas thrust belt venezuela abstract the complex geometry and structural evolution of the north monagas thrust belt were investigated and new exploration trends in this part of eastern venezuela considered the pirital thrust and related structures of the maturin basin are used to discuss the sequence of thrusting and to illustrate the constant balance between erosion and thrust reactivation in a recent fold and thrust belt a careful analysis of the chronostratigraphy and the internal geometry of the foredeep and piggy back syntectonic deposits has been used to constrain balanced cross sections and to establish the kinematics of each individual structure basement involvement is postulated for the pirital thrust which remobilizes previously emplaced cover structures such as the el furrial or orocual structural units it thus probably relates to the pinch out of a shallow decollement level coal measures of the barranquin formation older late jurassic to lower cretaceous evaporites or other mesozoic plastic horizons and to the reactivation of a deeper basement fault the westward emergence of the pirital and el furrial thrusts in a complex transfer area the urica fault is also analysed according to transverse profiles the surficial urica fault does not connect directly to a basement fault but instead acts as a lateral ramp for the el furrial cover unit and as a tear fault for the pirital thrust reactivation of ancient thrust faults also occurs at the rear of the pirital thrust in the west in areas where the topographic profile of the eastern venezuelan ranges has recently been modified by the pirital thrust emplacement these out of sequence thrusts resulting from fault reactivation in the inner parts of the prism are discussed in terms of the preservation of the critical taper they effectively relate directly to erosional processes which significantly decrease the load applied on this portion of the wedge the influence of the sequence of thrusting on the potential plays is considered

contribution of aeolian sand to backbarrier marsh sedimentation abstract the frequency of island overwash is commonly assumed to be the main factor regulating sand flux to backbarrier marshes however aeolian transport of sand across a barrier has received little attention in saltmarsh research the contribution of aeolian sand to backbarrier marshes is examined here with marsh cores and measurements of wind blown sediment transport across transgressive and regressive parts of a barrier island backbarrier marshes fronted by a wide washover fan or a high elevation dune ridge were supplied with aeolian sand that significantly contributed to vertical accretion especially near the marsh barrier island edge the percent volume of the marsh originating from aeolian sand based on the upper 1 cm of marsh sediment decreased by an order of magnitude only 20 m from the dune marsh boundary sandy beds sampled in every marsh core at depth are composed of aeolian sand and were likely emplaced over time after storms deposited a sandy washover fan near the marsh and or reduced vegetation cover across the island sand beds preserved within backbarrier marsh deposits are commonly thought to have been emplaced rapidly during a storm however post storm aeolian transport should also be considered as an important mechanism for forming sand beds over a longer period of time within saltmarsh strata the contribution of aeolian sand to backbarrier marsh accretion should increase as sea level continues to rise causing many barrier islands to narrow thereby reducing transport distances between the dune and marsh along developed coastlines however anthropogenic factors associated with increased development largely decrease the connectivity between the dunes and backbarrier marsh

historical seismicity of the southeastern caribbean and tectonic implications we have relocated the twenty eight largest magnitude 4 3 ms 7 3 historical 1922 1963 earthquakes of the southeastern caribbean we also present new focal mechanisms for seven of these events the relocations are based on reported issp ands arrival times that we analyzed using generalized linear inversion techniques the new focal mechanisms were constrained by first motionp polarities as reported by the iss and as picked by us where records were available and by the polarities and ratios ofsh andssh andsv andssv arrivals that we determined from seismograms the results of the relocations are commensurate with the distribution of seismicity observed in the recent era hypocenters are shallow and intermediate in depth 0 200 km and the events occur almost exclusively in areas known to be currently seismic the frequent seismic activity in the vicinity of the paria peninsula venezuela is clearly a persistent feature of the regional earthquake pattern intermediate depth earthquakes indicative of subduction beneath the caribbean plate occur here and along the lesser antilles arc the grenadines seismic gap is confirmed as an area of low seismic moment release throughout the historical era trinidad and the eastern gulf of paria were also largely quiescent

sedimentological and geomorphological imprints of holocene tsunamis in southwestern spain an approach to establish the recurrence period this paper reviews the sedimentological and geomorphological imprints of prehistoric and historical tsunamis in the four main estuaries of sw spain these imprints include beach erosion filling of intertidal channels deposition of bioclastic layers washover fans and reworked aeolian sheets and the breaching of spits and tombolos most of these imprints were caused by the 218 209 bc and ad 1755 tsunamis although evidence of other tsunamis has been identified in these two events effects on human populations were severe and diverse such as human loss of life changes in coastal settlements and international borders damage to port infrastructure or flooding of marsh and inhabited areas new radiocarbon reservoir data were included in order to obtain an approach to the recurrence period of these high energy events 700 1000 years in this area 2013 elsevier b v

spatial and temporal controls on overwash occurrence on a great lakes barrier spit field measurements from 1985 to 1990 and sequential aerial photography since 1945 show that overwash plays an extremely important role in the dynamics of long point a large barrier spit on the north shore of lake erie overwash occurs primarily in the transgressive proximal and central zones of the spit which together account for some 65 of the total shoreline length of 41 km during periods of high lake level over 50 of the shoreline in these zones may be overwashed washover morphology ranges from continuous washover terraces in areas of low foredunes to isolated washovers with narrow throats and distinct fans where breaching has occurred through high dunes individual overwash events commonly produce deposits on the fan surface 0 25 0 75 m or more in thickness washover fan sediments are dominated by nearly horizontal planar bedding with deposits near the fan margins often having foreset bedding reflecting deposition in standing water of the bay or of interdune ponds the frequency of overwash oc

late holocene evolution of the southwestern donana national park guadalquivir estuary sw spain a multivariate approach four phases are distinguished in the late holocene evolution of the southwestern donana national park sw spain based on a multidisciplinary analysis of the sediments present in drill cores in the oldest phase 2400 2500 cal yr bp a coastal lagoon the roman lacus ligustinus was recognized in the central part of this area partly closed by the donana spit and limited by fluvial levees the following phase 2400 2200 cal yr bp is characterized by high energy events which caused the breakthrough of the donana spit and the creation of new littoral strands in the inner areas in the third phase 2200 2050 cal yr bp this new outlet was closed coinciding with the progradation of the donana spit the last phase 2050 cal yr bp recent comprises three periods a an unstable period 2050 1950 cal yr bp with the deposit of cheniers over the previous levees b an infilling period with a diminution of the marine influence and c the appearance of temporary ponds between the emerged levees and cheniers

storm flood impacts along the shores of micro tidal inland seas a morphological and sedimentological study of the vesterlyng beach the belt sea denmark abstract the morphological and sedimentological impacts of an extreme storm event bodil in december 2013 were investigated at a mixed sand and gravel beach vesterlyng in a micro tidal environment along the belt sea denmark the storm response was characteristic for mixed sand and gravel beaches gravelly storm berms with sandy to gravelly washover fans were formed at the upper beach where swash processes dominated during extreme water levels in combination with overtopping and overwash in addition storm scarps and gravel flats were formed the elevation of the storm berm crest was identical to a summation of the still water level 1 60 m in the belt sea during the storm flood and the wave run up 0 75 m at the shore the crest of 2 35 m is therefore a precise measure of the storm flood level this storm flood was classified as a large scale extreme event in a holocene perspective it is suggested that storm berm beach ridge heights above contemporaneous sea level can be used as a proxy of past flood events along micro tidal shores

a new mechanism for chenier development and a facies model of the saltes island chenier plain sw spain abstract the scientific literature describes two types of cheniers these two types differ in the origin of the coarse sediments that constitute the ridge and the relative significance of the transversal and longitudinal wave transport in both cases storm waves are described as the main factor responsible of the origin and development and both final facies are characterized by ridges of coarse sediments above the finer sediments of a tidal flat the odiel tinto estuary is one of the most significant estuarine systems of the mesotidal huelva coast on the northwestern portion of the gulf of cadiz and saltes island is a part of the closure history of the estuarine system previous works on saltes island described the surficial disposition of sandy landforms as a classic ridge chain or a barrier island succession nevertheless an architectural scheme based on a vibracore study shows a disposition that accord to the typical chenier plain facies model this disagreement was the basis for a controversy about the origin of the ridges in this study historical nautical charts and aerial photographs document the evolution of the last of these cheniers during the past 200 years in contrast to the accepted models of chenier evolution the cheniers of saltes island migrated on the tidal flat but did not evolve only during storms indeed their development occurred mainly during high spring tides the data presented in this paper are used as the basis for a new conceptual model of chenier generation and evolution the model consists of a migration of sand bars in a similar way to the classic beach ridges with the difference that in our case the bars migrate over a tidal flat from a local point of view this paper removes the controversy about the origin of the island s geomorphology but from a global point of view this mechanism can explain certain chenier plains in estuarine mouths located in other coasts of the world

cenozoic plate tectonic history of the northern venezuela trinidad area geological and geophysical data coupled with recent plate tectonic reconstructions suggest that the cenozoic geologic history of the northern venezuela trinidad area has been dominated by strike slip displacement of discrete crustal blocks allochthonous terranes within the area include metavolcanic rocks of the cretaceous villa de cura group and metamorphic rocks of the precambrian to cretaceous cordillera de la costa a relatively competent crustal block margarita block is defined by an outline around the metamorphic basement of margarita island the araya paria peninsula the northern range of trinidad and tobago island reconstruction of the margarita block to its original position requires at least partial closure of the falcon basin closure of the bonaire and cariaco basins and restoration of about 50 km of motion on both the oca and bocono faults post middle eocene eastward translation of the caribbean plate caused eastward motion of the margarita block a minor change in relative plate motion during the late oligocene or early miocene produced a right step in the moron fault forming the cariaco pull apart basin and el pilar fault zone maximum offset on el pilar fault is estimated to be no more than 125 km though displacement along the entire fault zone may have been greater transpressional stresses between the caribbean plate and northern south america caused folding of the serrania del interior of venezuela and the central range of trinidad eastward migration of transpressional stresses at the southeastern corner of the caribbean south american plate boundary is being accommodated by formation of oblique thrusts transpressive anticlines and downwarping of the crust bouguer gravity data suggest that jurassic aged atlantic oceanic crust is being depressed as the caribbean plate expands into the demerara plateau area this study suggests that the faults and transtensional transpressional compressional structures identified in this study are the result of stresses produced during the large eastward translation of the caribbean plate since the paleocene and are not the product of a shear couple

kinematics of compressional fold development in convergent wrench terranes abstract kinematic models are presented for compressional fold development in wrench and convergent wrench terranes that relate fold shortening axial rotation and axial extension fold shortening may be derived from final fold geometry existing fold geometry and axial orientation two readily measurable quantities provide the data needed to determine the relative components of shearing and convergence within the fold system analyses utilizing these kinematic models indicate that folds developed in sedimentary rocks in the wrench borderlands of both the rineonada and san andreas wrench faults in central california are the product of strongly convergent wrenching the axes of these folds have been rotated no more than a few degrees during the course of their development in contrast folds developed in the alpine schists along the alpine fault in new zealand and in pleistocene sediments along the southern limit of the san andreas fault suggest an almost pure wrench setting and large 25 axial rotations significant axial extension is inherent in wrench related compressional folds this axial extension is commonly manifest in the form of normal and strike slip faults that are internal to the folds and trend at high angles to the fold axes the relative amount of axial extension diminishes as the degree of convergence increases this axial extension and the associated extensional features can be a diagnostic indication of the influence of wrenching

holocene palaeotsunami catalogue of sw iberia many on shore studies focused on high energy marine events occurred in the gulf of cadiz have been published since the 1990s most of the findings came from sedimentary palaeontological and geomorphological records on estuaries marshes beach barriers spit bars and some coastal lowlands recent off shore investigations in sw iberia considered turbidite deposits as a proxy to recognise palaeoearthquakes in this zone the comparison of datasets from both on shore and off shore records indicate that at least five tsunami events generated by strong earthquakes affected this area during the last 7000 years previous to the more recent and well documented 1755 ad lisbon earthquake tsunami event the catalogue of holocene palaeotsunami presented here is supported by geological and geomorphological evidences but also for archaeoseismic and palaeoseismic evidence and written reports for the more recent events occurred during historical times the recurrence interval for these catastrophic events can be bracketed between 1200 and 1500 years

cheniers and chenier plains a general introduction abstract cheniers and chenier plains have been studied in many coastal regions throughout the world an inventory of the investigations currently being carried out is presented in this and accompanying papers cheniers and chenier plains are azonal features their distribution ranges from tropical to the subarctic regions and they show a variety of features progradational shorelines where mud accretion is temporarily interrupted favour the development of these features in addition to the concept of otvos and price who define cheniers and chenier plains as being formed exclusively in relation to littoral progradational environments it is suggested here that chenier formation in deltaic progradational environments should also be included genetically two types of cheniers can be distinguished depending on the origin of the related sediments cheniers developing due to wave winnowing of the muddy sediments and the subsequent concentration of the coarser particles to form a longshore bar or ridge which is driven shoreward and cheniers built by littoral drift in both cases they can be recognised by their sedimentary structures when cheniers arrive onshore they will migrate further landward due to washover processes under extreme hydrodynamical conditions e g spring tides storm surges etc to summarise the information concerning the episodic development of chenier plains in order to produce a or a few universal model s appears to be very difficult owing to the numerous factors that influence their formation these include river mouth shifting sealevel changes climatic changes storm frequency mortality of shellfish and bay geometry owing to this sensitivity to environmental changes during their formation cheniers are considered to be very important geomorphological features they provide a relatively accurate record of sealevel and environmental changes which can be dated with high resolution

storm erosion during the past 2000 years along the north shore of delaware bay usa abstract the recent impacts of tropical cyclones and severe storms on the u s atlantic coast brought into focus the need for extended records of storm activity from different geomorphologic settings such reconstructions are typically developed from sites that experienced repeated overwash of sand into low energy depositional environments however salt marsh sediment may also preserve a record of repeated erosion from tropical cyclones and storms we describe late holocene sediments beneath the sea breeze salt marsh delaware bay new jersey from more than 200 gouge cores positioned along seven transects the stratigraphic record documents at least seven depositional sequences consisting of salt marsh peat and mud couplets that represent dramatic changes in sedimentation regime there are a number of processes that could produce these stratigraphic sequences against a background of rising relative sea level including lateral migration of tidal creeks tidal channel network and or drainage ditch expansion changes in sediment delivery rates rapid relative sea level change tsunami and formation of salt pans the abrupt contacts between the salt marsh peat and overlying intertidal mud suggest that erosion of the peat was followed by rapid infilling of accommodation space correlation of erosional surfaces across 2 5 km suggests a common mechanism and we propose that the erosion was caused by tropical cyclones and or storms we developed a chronology of repeated salt marsh erosion and recovery using 137cs metal pollution pb concentration and stable isotopes and radiocarbon data two recent episodes of salt marsh erosion may correlate with historic tropical cyclones in ad 1903 and ad 1821 1788 that impacted the atlantic coast of new jersey but the erosive nature of the sea breeze site hinders definitive correlation prehistoric erosional sequences correlate with overwash fans preserved in the regional sedimentary record we estimated that it takes from several decades to almost 200 years for salt marshes to recover from storm erosion

bedform and stratification characteristics of some modern small scale washover sand bodies washover sand bodies commonly develop along microtidal coastlines in beach barrier island or spit settings wave runup usually in conjunction with an abnormally high water level may overtop the most landward berm of the beach and the foredune crest if one exists to produce overwash and subsequent runoff across the more landward subaerial surface two main elements of the resulting deposit are the washover fan and runoff channel newly formed small scale washover deposits were examined along the outer banks north carolina near pt mugu california and at presque isle lake erie pennsylvania the fans were formed in response to unidirectional landward transport and the runoff channels in response to unidirectional flow usually in a landward direction but sometimes in shore parallel then seaward direction where overwash carried across the fan surface and entered a pond or lagoon a small scale delta microdelta developed in this case the washover fan consisted of two subfacies the wetted but subaerial part of the fan and the subaqueous washover delta flow associated with the development of the fan and runoff channel produced distinctive sets of bedforms and internal stratification high velocity discontinuous surges moving across the fan surface resulted in the development of a plane bed and subhorizontal to low angle landward dipping planar stratification which comprised the major part of the fan similarly rhomboid forms were produced by high velocity sheet flow across the fan surface where flow carried into a standing body of water delta type foreset strata developed for this case the lateral structural sequence was subhorizontal planar stratification merging landward into landward dipping delta tabular foreset strata in the runoff setting where flow became channelized and continuous both upper flow and lower flow regime currents were typical upper flow regime bedforms included antidunes standing waves and plane beds the most commonly observed lower flow regime bedforms included microdelta like bars low amplitude bars linguoid ripples and sinuous crested current ripple trains the sets of sedimentary structures comprising modern washover sand bodies provide criteria for the identification of similar deposits in ancient sediments and for more specific interpretation of the environment

probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment at seaside oregon for near and far field seismic sources 1 the first probabilistic tsunami flooding maps have been developed the methodology called probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment ptha integrates tsunami inundation modeling with methods of probabilistic seismic hazard assessment psha application of the methodology to seaside oregon has yielded estimates of the spatial distribution of 100 and 500 year maximum tsunami amplitudes i e amplitudes with 1 and 0 2 annual probability of exceedance the 100 year tsunami is generated most frequently by far field sources in the alaska aleutian subduction zone and is characterized by maximum amplitudes that do not exceed 4 m with an inland extent of less than 500 m in contrast the 500 year tsunami is dominated by local sources in the cascadia subduction zone and is characterized by maximum amplitudes in excess of 10 m and an inland extent of more than 1 km the primary sources of uncertainty in these results include those associated with interevent time estimates modeling of background sea level and accounting for temporal changes in bathymetry and topography nonetheless ptha represents an important contribution to tsunami hazard assessment techniques viewed in the broader context of risk analysis ptha provides a method for quantifying estimates of the likelihood and severity of the tsunami hazard which can then be combined with vulnerability and exposure to yield estimates of tsunami risk

facies analysis foraminiferal record and chronostratigraphy of holocene sequences from saltes island tinto odiel estuary sw spain the origin of high energy deposits abstract a multidisciplinary analysis of holocene sediments from la cascajera tinto odiel estuary sw spain has allowed to differentiate five sedimentary facies sandy tidal flat clayey tidal flat washover fan salt marsh edaphic horizon according to their granulometric characteristics internal structure mineralogical composition clay mineral assemblage and paleontological record these data coupled to 14c ams dating suggest an evolution from a sandy tidal plain to a chenier before 2100 cal yr bp this initial chenier was partially eroded later by regional storms between 2100 cal yr bp and 1900 cal yr bp leading to the deposition of two washover fans these facies have been eroded in the last centuries by the action of an ebb tide channel

global and regional factors controlling changes of coastlines in southern iberia spain during the holocene the interaction between global glacio eustatic sea level rise and regional factors oceanographic and tectonic has controlled the evolution of coastline during the holocene in southem iberia at ca 10 000 14c years bp a deceleration of relative sea level rise took place both in the atlantic and mediterranean littorals with a maximum transgression at 6450 14c years bp in subsiding areas present tidal flats estuaries illustrate a clear marine influence recorded both in sediments and the fauna while in uplifting areas prograding spit bar systems developed two phases of major progradation are distinguished in these systems the first one between 6450 and 3000 14c years bp with a sedimentary gap at ca 4000 14c years bp and the second one from 2750 14c years bp up to present with an intervening gap between 1200 and 1050 14c years bp these progradation phases develop during stillstands followed by relative sea level fall while the sedimentary gaps represent relative high sea level in the mediterranean areas with a higher uplift rate marine terraces almost coeval to those gaps occur the most pronounced modifications in littoral dynamics occurred at between 3000 and 2750 14c years bp represented by changes in the direction of longshore drift and prevailing winds and in the predominance of progradation over aggradation processes at ca 1000 14c years bp the estuaries record a greater fluvial than marine influence and at 500 years ago an extraordinary increase in coastal progradation took place in all littoral zones the european medieval warm period is characterized at least during its initial phase by low pressure climate conditions while during the little ice age anticyclonic conditions gave rise to a strong coastal progradation

seismicity and tectonics of the southeastern caribbean we present 33 new focal mechanisms for se caribbean earthquakes 1963 1988 we use these mechanisms in conjunction with 28 previously available mechanisms to distinguish between two models of plate boundary zone interaction in the se caribbean the trench trench transform and hinge faulting model and the right oblique collision model shallow 0 70 km and intermediate 70 200 km depth earthquakes occur in the study region we focus on the tectonic causes of these events and the motions they delineate the shallow earthquakes are in a broad linear zone which trends ne from the paria peninsula of venezuela towards barbados intermediate depth earthquakes cluster beneath and nw of the peninsula and deepen to the nw perpendicular to the ne trending shallow events the vertical distribution of the earthquakes suggests a slab with steep nw dip shallow dextral strike slip on e striking faults is restricted to a 60 km wide linear zone between the gulf of cariaco and the western margin of the gulf of paria dextral strike slip is active only as far east as the gulf of paria and not within or east of trinidad shallow thrust events with ene striking planes distributed between the araya peninsula and the gulf of paria indicate collision at crustal levels between south america and caribbean and that folding and thrusting are still active over a 60 km interval south of the araya paria isthmus active thrusting in venezuela corroborates predictions of transpression between caribbean and south america and discounts transtensional motions between the two plates in the se caribbean the conjunction of shallow thrust strike slip and normal earthquakes in the gulf of paria at around 62 3 may be the expression of unpartitioned oblique compressive deformation in the plate boundary zone intermediate 165 km h 70 km depth thrust and dip slip events within the nw dipping slab indicate that oceanic lithosphere probably originally attached to south america subducts to the nw beneath the caribbean plate shallow normal faulting events e and ne of trinidad are expressions of plate bending about near horizontal axes parallel to the lesser antilles subduction zone we conclude that the earthquake mechanisms provide strong support for the right oblique collision model of caribbean south american plate interaction

stalagmite stable isotope record of recent tropical cyclone events we present a 23 yr stalagmite record 1977 2000 of oxygen isotope variation associated with 11 tropical cyclones tcs from actun tunichil muknal cave in central belize high resolution microsampling yielded a record of monthly to weekly temporal resolution that contains abrupt decreases negative excursions in calcite 18 o values that correspond with recent tc rain events nearby a logistic discriminant model reliably identifi ed tc proxy signals using the measurable parameters 18 o and 13 c values and single point changes in 18 o value the logistic model cor rectly identifi ed 80 of excursions as tc events and incorrectly classifi ed only 1 of nearly 1200 nonstorm sampling points in addition to enabling high resolution tc frequency reconstruction this geologic proxy also provides information about the intensity of individual tcs a multiple regression predicted tc intensity r 2 0 465 p 0 034 using sampling frequency and excursion amplitude consistent with previous low resolution studies we found that the decadal average 18 o value was lower during the 1990s when several tcs produced rainfall in the area but higher during the 1980s when only one tc struck longer accurately dated high resolution speleo them stable isotope records may be a useful new tool for paleotempestology to clarify associa tions between highly variable tc activity and the dynamic range of quaternary climate

equation for defining hydrodynamic oil water contact surface and an alternative approach structure surface transformation for mapping hydrodynamic traps abstract flowing groundwater beneath an oil accumulation causes the oil water contact owc to be tilted in this study we present an equation defining the surface of a tilted owc z o w c z o w c 0 w w o h w 0 h w where zowc zowc 0 are the depth of the owc at a given location and a reference location e g a well location respectively w o are the density of formation water and oil respectively hw hw 0 are the hydraulic head at the given location and the reference location respectively this equation can be used directly to delineate the tilted owc of an oil accumulation it can also be employed to map hydrodynamic traps based on the equation an alternative approach essentially the same as hubbert s 1953 minimum energy level methodology for mapping hydrodynamic traps is derived from an easy to understand concept structure surface transformation a field example from the arabian basin is presented to illustrate the proposed approach for mapping hydrodynamic traps and the significance of hydrodynamic effect on trap size and volume for this particular example the traps boundaries and volumes are significantly enlarged owing to a favorable hydrodynamic condition