new paleomagnetic data from the northern argentine puna central andes rotation pattern reanalyzed 1 along the central andes a pattern of vertical axis rotations carp has been paleomagnetically identified these rotations which are counterclockwise north of arica and clockwise to the south have been detected in mesozoic and cenozoic rocks cropping out in the andean forearc and the altiplano puna different models have been proposed to explain the geodynamic evolution of the central andes but the origin of these rotations remains controversial such models involve oroclinal bending and or local block rotations this lack of agreement is partly due to the scarce paleomagnetic database particularly for the argentine puna here we report new paleomagnetic data obtained in the northern argentine puna from 57 sites drilled from miocene volcaniclastic rocks and 12 sites from the cretaceous eocene salta group it was determined that 1 the morro blanco area did not undergo significant vertical axis rotation since at least the middle miocene 2 the loma blanca mine area underwent a clockwise vertical axis rotation of 10 later than the late miocene and 3 the coranzuli area underwent a clockwise vertical axis rotation of 40 later than the cretaceous eocene the central andes database was analyzed and some features of the carp were determined these features were explained considering domino style models for the forearc and a local block rotation model in response to penetrative shear for the altiplano puna penetrative shear would occur along a high electrical conductivity zone however the possibility of the existence of an oroclinal bending of 5 cannot be discarded

oroclines thick and thin an orocline is a thrust belt or orogen that is curved in map view due to it having been bent or buckled about a vertical axis of rotation two distinct types of oroclines are recognized progressive and secondary progressive oroclines are restricted to the scale of a thrust sheet to thrust belt are thin skinned and develop during thrust sheet emplacement secondary oroclines are larger occurring at the scale of an orogen and are plate scale features that affect crust and lithospheric mantle unlike progressive oroclines which develop during initial orogenesis and in response to the same orogen perpendicular stress responsible for thrust sheet emplacement secondary oroclines are extra orogenic developing after initial orogenesis and in response to an orogen parallel principal compressive stress that is oriented at a high angle to the stress responsible for orogen development we present case studies of the wyoming salient a progressive orocline that characterizes the sevier thrust belt of the western united states and the coupled cantabrian and central iberian oroclines which are linked secondary oroclines affecting the variscan orogen of iberia the vertical axis rotations involved in progressive and secondary orocline formation are most readily quantified through paleomagnetic analysis detailed three dimensional palinspastic restoration that incorporates translation rotation and strain can distinguish the role if any of primary curvature in progressive oroclines the use of tectonic vectors such as paleocurrent directions provides a means of recognizing and characterizing the initial geometry of secondary oroclines because secondary oroclines involve the entire lithosphere detailed studies of coeval metamorphism and magmatism provide a means of constraining the fate of the mantle lithosphere during oroclinal buckling

composition and structure of microbialite ecosystems following the end permian mass extinction in south china after the end permian mass extinction microbialites were widespread in the shallow marine environments in south china diverse microbialites are characteristic of the early triassic carbonate sequences their stratigraphic range is rather short just across the permian triassic p tr boundary and defined by conodonts n meishanensis h changxingensis and h parvus zones thus the p tr microbialites grew immediately after the first episode of the end permian mass extinction coinciding with the beginning of the conodont n meishanensis zone and ceased their growth at the beginning of the conodont i staeschei zone which occurred just before the second episode of the end permian crisis at meishan they include three main types stromatolites thrombolites and dendrites in south china the presence of abundant microbial remains of coccoid type and renalcis like microbes strengthens the previous view that the p tr microbialites are biogenic both cyanobacteria and other microbes have participated to construct the microbial ecosystems the thrombolite communities are dominated by the renalcis like microbes and foraminifers and also contain ostracods microgastropods and microconchids the stromatolite communities are dominated by coccoidal microbes with minor constituents of other undetermined microbes metazoans are rare the dendrolite assemblage contains few identifiable microfossils most of microbialite communities have a high abundance low diversity community structure characteristic of marine communities after the end permian mass extinction some metazoans of either opportunists or disaster forms dwelled in this special ecosystem the microbialite builders formed the primary producer communities and constructed the lowest level ecosystem structure the lower level ecosystem proliferated due to the collapse of the higher level of ecosystem structure characterized by benthic shelly and predator communities in the end permian crisis

observation and simulation of barrier winds at the western margin of the greenland ice sheet meteorological observations performed in the melting zone of the greenland ice sheet during gimex 90 91 show the regular occurrence of moderately strong barrier winds the barrier wind is a thermally generated jet that develops when the large scale now advects warm tundra air towards the cold melting ice sheet creating a large local horizontal gradient of temperature as a result the geostrophic wind in the atmospheric boundary layer acquires a component perpendicular to the temperature gradient in the melting zone of the ice sheet barrier winds interact with persistent surface based katabatic winds the forcing mechanisms and detailed two dimensional structure of the barrier wind have been investigated with a mesoscale meteorological model the model results confirm the important role of the warm tundra during the development of barrier winds barrier winds cause a pronounced rise in temperature and a strong increase of turbulent exchange in the lower melting zone friction velocity and sensible heat flux in the melting zone showed peak values of 1 3 m s 1 and 300 w m 2 respectively in combination with large positive net radiation the daily melt rate increased to 10 cm water equivalent which is twice the rate in typical katabatic wind conditions this shows that barrier winds could have a significant impact on the melt regime of areas where the ice sheet ends in the tundra although barrier winds in this part of greenland may occur less frequently than the observations during gimex 90 suggest they are of great importance for the climate of this and of other polar regions such as the antarctic and so merit careful study

oroclines in the tasmanides abstract oroclines are features of orogenic belts that exhibit curvature in plan on a map scale with the additional requirement that this curvature resulted from relative rotation of the limbs around a vertical or near vertical axis much debate has centred on contrasts between thin skinned and thick skinned systems and on the question of whether the structural fabric was imposed prior to or synchronous with the development of curvature leading to a variety of inconsistent terminology a simple hierarchy in which all map scale curved orogenic features which pass a test for rotation are termed oroclines as distinct from primary arcs and in which these are then subdivided by timing into progressive synchronous fabric and curvature and secondary pre existing fabric is then rotated and by mechanism into thin or thick skinned is applied to a suite of curved orogenic features in the tasmanides of eastern australia this analysis includes the first formal application of the orocline test palaeomagnetic or palaeocurrent directions plotted against structural strike to the tasmanides the neoproterozoic to early mesozoic tasmanides comprise four orogens each of which contains curved orogenic features which are highlighted by extensive aeromagnetic datasets the delamerian orogen developed on the gondwana margin exhibits two curved structures in the neoproterozoic to cambrian adelaide fold belt termed the fleurieu and nackara arcs previous structural interpretations have indicated that the nackara arc is non rotational and hence not oroclinal re examination of existing palaeomagnetic data including a positive palaeomagnetic orocline test shows the nackara arc to in fact be a hinge of the adelaide orocline curvature in the adelaide orocline was dominantly progressive and thin skinned but may have been influenced by secondary rotation of the pre existing partly underlying curnamona craton mega kinks in a buried delamerian arc volcanic chain revealed in aeromagnetic images follow the curvature of the nackara arc suggesting an accompanying thick skinned secondary oroclinal deformation further from the continental margin orogenic curvature in the palaeozoic lachlan orogen has only been widely recognised since the advent of tilt filtered aeromagnetic images and a model of oroclinal folding with two hinges riverina and tambo and strike slip offset during the silurian bindian orogeny has recently been proposed to explain perplexing repetitions of sequence and inversions of structural vergence and directions of sediment provenance palaeomagnetic data indicates rotation of elements within the proposed orocline and a preliminary study indicates a positive palaeomagnetic orocline test for the riverina hinge palaeocurrent data around the tambo hinge provide a positive if scattered orocline test an independently conceived numeric model of the roll back response to congestion of a subduction zone has generated an oroclinal structure which shares many features with the proposed lachlan orocline and deep crustal ambient noise seismic data confirms that the major curved and strike slip features persist throughout the crust the lachlan orocline appears to be secondary and thick skinned orogenic curvature in the largely covered thomson orogen occurs along its southern border with the lachlan orogen the putative olepoloko orocline and around its geometrically complex boundary with the mossman orogen in northern queensland the charters towers orocline rotation of the olepoloko structure cannot be confirmed and competing models for its formation leave open the question of whether this is a primary arc a thin skinned progressive orocline or a thick skinned secondary orocline palaeomagnetic data from the charters towers orocline are limited to two poles but a change in declination between the silurian pole and the devonian pole matches the apparent rotation of the orocline which appears to have been thick skinned and secondary in contrast to the other orogens consensus that at least part of the curvature in the palaeozoic to triassic new england orogen is oroclinal has been broad although not universal there remains substantial debate over the number of hinges from two to four and mechanism palaeomagnetic poles have previously been cited as evidence of rotation of blocks within the orocline but this paper presents the first formal palaeomagnetic orocline test which is positive for the manning and texas hinges a palaeocurrent orocline test of the manning hinge in younger rocks than the palaeomagnetic sample is negative constraining rotation in the southern manning hinge to the carboniferous before 322 ma while rotation in the northern texas hinge appears to be latest carboniferous or permian the existence of a hastings hinge is questionable but if real its rotation also appears to be younger than that of the manning hinge thick skinned secondary rotation of the hinges of the new england orocline appears to have been diachronous

geological manifestations of ridge collision evidence from the golfo de penas taitao basin southern chile recent geological and geophysical studies in the southern andes adjacent to the intersection of the chile rise with the peru chile trench ant naz sam triple junction have revealed a number of features and a neogene geologic history that are unique along the pacific margin of south america this history includes 1 development of a tertiary quaternary marine basin with up to 3 km of sediment infill golfo de penas taitao basin gtb 2 disruption of the region by a series of faults with both normal and strike slip movements and 3 localization of silicic near trench volcanism and epizonal plutonism and related hydrothermal activity the northern portion of the gtb began to subside in the late miocene possibly earlier and has subsequently been deformed uplifted and exposed gravity and seismic reflection data suggest that the basin continues offshore where it is still actively subsiding today golfo de penas subsidence and uplift have thus occurred diachronously in the region although it is unclear when subsidence began in the golfo de penas tectonic disruption of the region is likely related to the liquine ofqui fault lof a major ns trending crustal shear zone that curves westward and terminates in the golfo de penas the lof has both down to the west and right lateral offset and separates the main andean cordillera on the east from a large crustal block the chiloe block on the west we hypothesize that the gtb has developed as a pull apart basin in response to northward movement of the chiloe block along the lof we propose a dynamic model whereby a stress gradient that decreases longitudinally away from the chile rise peru chile trench intersection is set up because the youngest most buoyant oceanic lithosphere is being subducted at the triple junction the chile rise is viewed as a type of indenter which is acting to drive the chiloe block northward in front of the northward migrating triple junction this model explains the unique set of geologic features found in the region and suggests that ridge trench interactions may be an important factor in orogenesis at active continental margins

a new jurassic recent apparent polar wander path for south america and a review of central andean tectonic models abstract the jurassic to recent palaeomagnetic data from the stable cratonic areas of south america and africa are reviewed and evaluated from the combined data set seven mean reference pole positions are calculated for the early middle and late jurassic early and late cretaceous palaeogene and neogene most of these new palaeopoles are well defined and indicate a complex course of apparent polar wander for the south american plate comparison of the palaeomagnetic data from the andean margin with the reference poles indicates vertical axis rotations defining a broad pattern of anticlockwise rotations north of the arica deflection at approximately 19 s and clockwise rotations to the south further analysis indicates however that the distribution and magnitude of rotations is more complicated than this broad division tectonic models proposed to explain the pattern of rotations and the possible origins of the arica deflection are discussed it is suggested that the rotations probably result from localised in situ rotations controlled by strike slip fault systems or thrust sheets rather than large scale rotation mechanisms the broad rotation pattern may result from the influence of pre existing structures in the margin or variations in the flexural rigidity of the brazilian shield behind the deformation zone

the unusual sedimentary rock record of the early triassic a case study from the southwestern united states abstract sedimentary systems as well as the earth s biota changed dramatically following the end permian mass extinction this global sedimentological transformation is reflected in the widespread occurrence of flat pebble conglomerates subtidal wrinkle structures microbialites and carbonate seafloor fans in various lower triassic sections as a case study a facies analysis of the lower triassic virgin limestone member of the moenkopi formation and the middle and upper members of the union wash formation southwestern united states was conducted and all unusual facies were documented within a palaeoenvironmental framework the occurrence of the flat pebble conglomerates and wrinkle structures is significant because these reflect a long term reduction in vertical bioturbation in the case of the subtidal microbialites and carbonate seafloor fans their formation is linked to an increase in alkalinity the presence of these facies in the uppermost lower triassic strata of the southwestern united states indicates that reduced levels of infaunal bioturbation as well as and perhaps a consequence of unusual ocean chemistry extended for 5 6 million years after the end permian mass extinction suggesting that depositional environments as well as the biota were significantly affected by the extinction event

paleomagnetism of upper miocene ignimbrites at the puna an analysis of vertical axis rotations in the central andes the origin of the rotations detected paleomagnetically in the central andes is controversial tectonic models proposed to explain it involve late cenozoic oroclinal bending the bolivian orocline and or small block rotations driven by oblique subduction in this paper we report paleomagnetic data from upper miocene ignimbrites from the puna in the presumed southern limb of the orocline these rocks showed high unblocking temperature and high coercivity magnetization the resulting pole position latitude 85 7 s longitude 80 5 e a95 7 9 k 22 n 17 indicates that the study area has not been significantly affected by vertical axis rotation since late miocene onward this implies that the whole puna has not undergone significant regional rigid body rotation during the same time span a farther analysis based on neogene paleomagnetic data from 31 andean localities distributed from 11 s to 31 s shows the presence of rotated and unrotated areas systematic counterclockwise rotations in peru and northern bolivia are observed whereas clockwise rotations are present in southern bolivia northern chile and perhaps northwestern argentina no systematic rotations are found farther south the overall time spatial distributions of these neogene paleomagnetic data suggest that if orogenic bending occurred it must have taken place before the middle miocene thus the oroclinal hypothesis cannot explain the rotations observed in middle miocene rocks or younger ones which also show orocline like declination anomalies we suggest that small block rotations driven by distributed shear may be a single process that can account for the whole rotations in the central andes it is hypothesized that horizontal shear in the andean crust could be controlled by ancient structures

uplift of the central andean plateau and bending of the bolivian orocline the topography of the central andes can be considered the primary tectonic signal of late cenozoic mountain building in an arid region where the effects of uplift and magmatism are little obscured by denudation the spatial coverage of the topographic signal is more complete than that for sparsely sampled geological and geophysical data a color coded image of digitized topography between 12 s and 37 s highlights the altiplano puna one of the world s most remarkable plateaus and reveals important physiographic clues about the formation of that major feature the topographic data combined with information on structure magmatism seismicity and paleomagnetism support a simple kinematical model for the late cenozoic evolution of the central andes the model does not require collisional effects or enormous volumes of intrusive additions to the crust but instead calls upon plausible amounts of crustal shortening and lithospheric thinning the model interrelates andean uplift a changing geometry of the subducted nazca plate and a changing outline in map view of the leading edge of the south american plate crustal shortening has accommodated convergence between the chilean peruvian forearc and the south american foreland the altiplano puna plateau can be constructed by a combination of crustal shortening and thickening and lithospheric thinning above a shallow dipping 20 30 subducted plate the seawardly concave bend of western south america the bolivian orocline was enhanced but not completely produced by an along strike variation in the amount of late cenozoic shortening maximum shortening in bolivia both produced the widest part of the plateau and increased the seaward concavity of the bolivian orocline the along strike variations of shortening are hypothesized to result from corresponding along strike variations in the width of a weakened zone in the overriding plate weakening occurs above the wedge of asthenosphere located between the subducted and overriding plates hence the width of the zone of weakening depends upon the dip of the subducted plate two types of shortening are recognized 1 a widespread basin and range laramide like shortening that characterizes modem activity in the sierras pampeanas and late miocene deformation of the altiplano puna and 2 on the eastern side of the cordilleras and plateau an east verging foreland fold thrust belt in which the underthrust foreland compresses and thickens the ductile lower crust and produces a plateau uplift of the upper crust the second type of shortening can be applied to plio quaternary deformations throughout the central andes but with a substantial narrowing of the region of plateau uplift in peru and south of 28 s a proposed monoclinal flexure of the upper crust on the western side of the plateau uplift explains the remarkably simple and regular morphology of the main western slope of the central andes the monocline is located above the tip of the asthenospheric wedge between the converging plates it is postulated to occur above the western limit of lower crustal thickening in the regions of horizontal subduction the monocline can be associated with a late miocene asthenospheric wedge tip

facies changes and diagenetic processes across the permian triassic boundary event horizon great bank of guizhou south china a controversy of erosion and dissolution the permian triassic boundary interval in shallow shelf seas of south china shows upper permian limestones overlain by lowermost triassic microbialites global sea level rose across the permian triassic boundary but an irregular top permian erosion surface across a 10 km north south transect of the great bank of guizhou contains evidence of sea level fluctuation the surface represents the event horizon of mass extinction below the biostratigraphic permian triassic boundary defined by first appearance datum of conodont hindeodus parvus an upper permian foraminiferal grainstone beneath this surface contains geopetal sediments etched grains and pendent and meniscus cements interpreted here as vadose however these latter diagenetic processes occurred before the event horizon and were followed by erosion of the final permian surface this erosion cuts previous fabrics but lacks evidence of weathering or bioerosion a few centimetres below is an earlier grainstone that was also eroded but lacks proof of sub aerial processes samples therefore reveal one or possibly two small scale relative sea level changes before the triassic transgression in this area and these may relate to local tectonics the final permian surface is subject to at least four interpretations i sub aerial physical erosion and dissolution by carbon dioxide enriched fresh water or carbon dioxide enriched mixed water prior to triassic transgression ii sub aerial physical erosion overprinted by dissolution related to carbon dioxide enriched sea water in the early triassic transgression iii submarine dissolution affected by acidified sea water due to rapid increase in volcanically derived carbon dioxide and oxidized methane released from marine clathrates iv submarine dissolution due to acid anoxic waters rising across the continental shelf unrelated to atmospheric carbon dioxide or oxidized methane field and petrographic evidence suggests that i is the simplest option and it is possible that ii and iii occurred but none are proved option iv is unlikely given the evidence and modelling of supersaturation of upwelled waters with respect to bicarbonate

surface roughness and bulk heat transfer on a glacier comparison with eddy correlation more than 100 simultaneously measured profiles of wind speed and temperature were analyzed to determine the aerodynamic and thermal roughness lengths of glacier ice the results proved to be extremely sensitive to measurement height which is difficult to define precisely on the hummocky terrain of a glacier therefore aerodynamic roughness lengths were estimated from the microtopography of the surface yielding 2 46 mm for ice and 5 5 mm for snow despite the indeterminate nature of the profile analysis it did support the view that the thermal roughness length must decrease as the roughness reynolds number increases a relationship which has been modelled in the literature good agreement between bulk transfer estimates and eddy correlation measurements of fhe sensible heat flux density on melting ice and snow was obtained by combining the aerodynamic roughness length with a suitable model for thermal roughness length

constraining turbulent heat flux parameterization over a temperate maritime glacier in new zealand the turbulent sensible and latent heat fluxes are important components of the surface energy balance over glaciers in the southern alps of new zealand contributing over half the energy available for ablation during large melt events to calculate these terms confidently in glacier mass balance models it is essential to use appropriate parameterizations for surface roughness and atmospheric stability eddy covariance measurements at brewster glacier were obtained over an ice surface to help facilitate an assessment of the calculation of the turbulent heat fluxes the roughness length for momentum was found to be 3 6 x 10 3 m while the roughness lengths for temperature and humidity were two orders of magnitude smaller in agreement with surface renewal theory a monte carlo approach was used to assess the uncertainty in turbulent heat fluxes calculated using the bulk aerodynamic method it was found that input data and roughness length uncertainty could not explain underestimates of observed sensible heat fluxes during periods with low wind speed and large temperature gradients during these periods a katabatic wind speed maximum alters the formulation of the turbulent exchange coefficient to that typically observed in a neutral atmosphere and this has implications for glacier mass balance sensitivity

variations of ablation albedo and energy balance at the margin of the greenland ice sheet kronprins christian land eastern north greenland a meteorological and glaciological experiment was carried out in july 1993 at the margin of the greenland ice sheet in kronprins christian land eastern north greenland within a small area about 100 m 2 daily measurements were made on ten ablation stakes fixed in light and dark ice and were compared to each other simultaneously the components of the energy balance including net radiation sensible heat flux latent heat flux and conductive heat flux in the ice were determined global radiation longwave incoming radiation and albedo were measured and longwave outgoing radiation was calculated by assuming that the glacier surface was melting sensible and latent heat fluxes were calculated from air temperature humidity and wind speed conductive heat flux in the ice was estimated by temperature profile measurements in the uppermost ice layer net radiation is the major source of ablation energy and turbulent fluxes are smaller energy sources by about three times while heat flux into the ice is a substantial heat sink reducing energy available for ice melt albedo varies from 0 42 to 0 56 within the experimental site and causes relatively large differences in ablation at stakes close to each other small scale albedo variations should therefore be carefully sampled for large scale energy balance calculations

reconnaissance study of glacier energy balance in north greenland 1993 94 reconnaissance energy balance studies were made for the first time at two sites in north greenland to compare with conditions in west greenland the field expe e planned to save weight because it is expensive operate in north greenland the larger energy components incoming radiation and ablation were measured for 55 days altogether and the smaller components were evaluated by indirect methods c g turbulent fluxes are calculated from air temperature humidity and w ind speed to save the weight of inst ruments the energy balance model is tuned by choosing surface roughness and albedo to reduce the mean error between measured ablation and modelled daily melting the error standard deviation for ablation is only 5 kg m 2 d 1 which is much lower than found in west greenland due to better instruments and modelling in the presen study net radiation is the main energy source for melting in north greenland but ablation is is relatively low because sublimation and conductive heat fluxes use energy that would otherwise be available for melting there is a strong diurnal variation in ablation mainly forced by variations in shortwave radiation and reinforced by nocturnal cooling of the ice surface by outgoing longwave radiation and sublimation the model frequently predicts a frozen glacier surface at night even when air temperatures are positive

on the shape of paleomagnetic data sets a quick and easy method to analyze the shape of paleomagnetic data sets is described and illustrated the elongation e of a set of directions of virtual geomagnetic poles vgp is defined as e k2 k3 where k2 and k3 are the second and third eigenvalues of the bingham distribution it is shown that e 3 or so indicates that the distribution is significantly elongate although the size of the sample and the paleolatitude both affect this conclusion because the azimuth of k2 gives the direction of elongation it can be used to help determine why a particular distribution is elongate it is shown that for most units from the craton both directions and vgp are nearly circular except for units magnetized at very low latitudes in general poles are more circular than directions some units formed in plate margin locations also are circular but many are highly elongate many units from the western cordillera of north america have highly elongate distributions that are compatible with origin within a shear zone others are obviously underformed internally units formed during extension are less commonly elongate but some show the probably effects of normal faulting it is hoped that shape analysis will be part of any complete paleomagnetic study in the future

spatial and temporal variation of sublimation on antarctica results of a high resolution general circulation model in this paper we use output of a high resolution general circulation model echam 3 t106 resolution 1 1 x 1 1 to study the spatial and temporal variation of sublimation on antarctica first we compare model results with available observations of sublimation rates the yearly cycle with small latent heat fluxes during the winter is well reproduced and the agreement with sparsely available spot observations is fair the model results suggest that a significant 10 15 of the annual precipitation over antarctica is lost through sublimation and that sublimation plays an important role in the formation of blue ice areas a preliminary analysis of the atmospheric boundary layer moisture budget shows that the spatial variation of sublimation in the coastal zone of east antarctica can be explained by variations of horizontal advection of dry air dry air advection and thus surface sublimation is enhanced in areas where katabatic winds are strong and have a large downslope component and where the antarctic topography drops suddenly from the plateau to the coastal zone in areas where horizontal advection is small like the plateau and the large ice shelves special conditions must be met to make significant sublimation at the surface possible

displacement history of the atacama fault system 25 00 s 27 00 s northern chile in the cordillera de la costa of the central andes in northern chile mesozoic arc complexes are cut by a trench parallel strike slip fault system the atacama fault system brittle faulting in the atacama fault system is superposed on steeply dipping foliations in ductile shear belts between 25 s and 27 s the western part of the fault system was active in early cretaceous time as an upper amphibolite facies down to the east dip slip ductile shear zone in the eastern part of the fault system ductile deformation is of similar early cretaceous age but occurred under lower grade metamorphic conditions at the greenschist lower amphibolite facies transition the mylonites in the eastern part of the fault system were formed by sinistral strike slip displacement the dip slip and sinistral strike slip displacements are contemporary with the development of a magmatic arc and they imply that the tectonic environment in this part of the arc was transtensional the ductile deformation was partitioned spatially into a dip slip component associated with the emplacement of magmas and a sinistral strike slip component brittle fault zones in the el salado segment of the atacama fault system define large scale sidewall ripout structures subhorizontai slickenlines ripout asymmetry and s c type fabrics in fault gouge indicate that brittle deformation involved sinistral strike slip displacements the transition from ductile to brittle sinistral strike slip displacements may have occurred due to cooling in mid cretaceous time when the magmatic arc was abandoned

a simple energy balance model to calculate ice ablation at the margin of the greenland ice sheet apres avoir etabli les relations donnees climatiques taux d enlevement de la glace dans 2 glaciers du groenland un modele simple de bilan energetique est effectue pour calculer le taux d enlevement de la glace aux bordures du glacier

bending of the bolivian orocline and growth of the central andean plateau paleomagnetic and structural constraints from the eastern cordillera 22 24 s nw argentina 1 we report new paleomagnetic and structural data from late cretaceous to mio pliocene continental sandy silty sedimentary rocks from the eastern cordillera central andes here n s to nne ssw ridges hosting paleozoic basement and upper cretaceous continental red beds overthrust thick adjacent cenozoic basins pretilting and likely primary reliable directions gathered at 15 sites document 45 9 9 4 30 1 23 9 and 15 4 19 3 clockwise cw rotations with respect to south america occurring after the late cretaceous 80 ma oligo miocene 20 30 ma and late miocene pliocene 5 10 ma respectively conversely four upper cretaceous sites from the walls of a n s left lateral strike slip fault yavi abra pampa fault yield a null rotation about 20 km to the west flower structures and subvertical syntectonic strata dated at 14 26 0 19 ma are exposed along the subparallel abra moreta left lateral strike slip fault relying on data from the literature on the period when deformation began we suggest that since eo oligocene times 30 40 ma the eastern cordillera has undergone a regional cw rotation of 40 50 synchronous with crustal shortening and large scale bending of the andean salient the cw rotation is possibly still active today as documented by regional gps data from the andes since 15 ma ago the activity of n s left lateral strike slip faults induced counterclockwise rotations along the fault zone locally annulling the regional cw rotation in agreement with a previous model we speculate that mid miocene strike slip activity accommodated the progressive southward spreading of the altiplano puna high altitude plateau laterally migrating from the overthickened crustal region of the salient apex

surface radiation balance in the ablation zone of the west greenland ice sheet 1 we present 4 years of radiation observations and derived cloud properties from the ablation zone of the west greenland ice sheet 67 n data were collected using three automatic weather stations located at 6 38 and 88 km from the ice sheet margin at elevations of 490 1020 and 1520 m asl this part of greenland is characterized by a 150 km wide tundra a 100 km wide ablation zone and an average equilibrium line altitude of 1500 m asl at the lowest station snow is redistributed by the wind in crevasses and gullies leading to very little measured winter accumulation as a result glacier ice albedo 0 55 is at the surface throughout the melting season at 1020 m asl the winter snow cover typically disappears in mid to end june at 1520 m asl superimposed ice briefly reaches the surface at the end of the ablation season the combined effect of decreasing surface albedo and increasing cloud optical thickness as summer progresses causes absorbed shortwave radiation to peak in june at low elevations but progressively later at higher elevations incoming longwave radiation peaks in august in response to increased cloud optical thickness and heating of the atmosphere over the snow and ice free surroundings the ice sheet margin experiences continuous melting in june july and august this limits the emission of longwave radiation causing net longwave radiation to peak in august further enhancing melt the sum of these effects is that summer net radiation increases sharply toward the ice sheet margin to resolve this correctly requires high resolution climate models in the order of 10 km or better

neogene rotations and quasicontinuous deformation of the pacific northwest continental margin paleomagnetically determined rotations about vertical axes of 15 to 12 ma flows of the miocene columbia river basalt group of oregon and washington decrease smoothly with distance from the plate margin consistent with a simple physical model for continental deformation that assumes the lithosphere behaves as a thin layer of fluid the average rate of northward translation of the continental margin since 15 ma calculated from the rotations using this model is about 15 mm year which suggests that much of the tangential motion between the juan de fuca and north american plates since middle miocene time has been taken up by deformation of north america the fluid like character of the large scale deformation implies that the brittle upper crust follows the motions of the deeper parts of the lithosphere

deriving palaeomagnetic poles from independently assessed inclination and declination data implications for south american poles since 120 ma summary palaeomagnetic poles for a stable continental block are typically defined from a combination of declination and inclination information from several temporally constrained studies poles from regions that have undergone vertical axis rotation as a consequence of tectonics are excluded due to the absence of declination data these poles however do contain useful information in their inclinations we develop a simple but statistically rigorous technique allowing palaeomagnetic poles to be calculated from a mixture of declination and inclination data drawn from localities in the stable continental block and inclination data from the regions disturbed by vertical axis rotation together this provides a larger data set of high quality palaeomagnetic poles from which to calculate reference poles the technique was used to define palaeomagnetic poles for south america for the late cretaceous cenozoic 120 5 ma period data from stable cratonic south america combined with data from africa rotated into a south america reference frame and the andean margin yield reference poles as well as mean poles for the palaeogene and neogene analysis of the data reveals systematic biases in the data set and in particular the fit of the inclination data is poor for most time periods in many cases this situation is improved if the effect of inclination shallowing due to sedimentary depositional processes and subsequent compaction is removed the best fit poles define an apparent polar wander path for south america that is consistent with the global plate reconstruction parameters use of the new poles in studies of tectonic rotation should allow greater temporal and spatial resolution of vertical axis rotation and offer the ability to identify smaller rotations in the andean margin

new constraints on the chronology magnitude and distribution of deformation within the central andean orocline 1 constructing an accurate kinematic model for crustal thickening in the central andes is hampered by the inability of 2 d balanced cross sections to resolve the 3 d displacement field within the poorly studied orocline core this study presents new structural and thermochronometer data from the orocline axis in the central andes that constrains the magnitude and timing of deformation through 1 a balanced cross section quantifying shortening perpendicular to strike 2 field observations that constrain translational displacements parallel to strike and 3 thermochronology that brackets the age of exhumation and deformation mapping results show that north directed right lateral motion has been accommodated on at least one major strike slip fault in the eastern cordillera ec shortening perpendicular to fault strike is 179km 41 for the ec and inter andean zone ia and 86km 39 for the sub andes sa apatite fission track cooling ages indicate rapid ec ia exhumation from 46 to 18ma and 15 to 0ma in the sa zircon and apatite u th he ages show that rapid exhumation began 10 5ma in the sa these results are integrated with existing paleomagnetic and gps rotation data in map view reconstructions to quantify the magnitude of translational faulting related to oroclinal bending the reconstructions suggest that at least 85km of north directed translational displacement has been accommodated within the orocline core orogen parallel displacement and vertical axis rotations have focused crustal thickening at the orocline core and facilitated development of a high elevation plateau suggesting a genetic link between large scale oroclines and plateaus

assessment of the surface mass balance along the k transect greenland ice sheet from satellite derived albedos this paper explores the potential of using satellite derived albedos to estimate the surface mass balance of the kangerlussuaq transect k transect greenland ice sheet we first retrieved surface albedos from advanced very high resolution radar data by using among other techniques a new cloud detection algorithm based on the relation between brightness temperature and surface elevation we then computed the satellite derived mass balance bsat from the mean albedo for the transect by taking fixed values for atmospheric transmissivity and the longwave and turbulent fluxes we found that bsat explains 71 of the variance in 13 years of stake mass balance measurements bm our method also provides good estimates of the magnitude of the interannual variability in bm the performance of the method degrades considerably without correction for anisotropic reflection at the surface and recalibration of the satellite sensors with dry snow at the top of the ice sheet sensitivity tests indicate that the method s performance is hardly sensitive to uncertainties in parameters therefore we expect that the method could be successfully applied on other glaciers and parts of ice sheets and ice caps especially where accumulation rates are relatively small we show that the investigated method performs best just below the mean equilibrium line altitude

the central andean rotation pattern another look summary crustal blocks in the central andes have experienced vertical axis rotations through angles ranging up to 50 or more blocks located north of the abrupt change in tectonic and geographical trends at arica northern chile the arica deflection have been rotated counter clockwise blocks south of the deflection rotated clockwise rocks ranging in age from late miocene to mid jurassic are involved the palaeomagnetic record of this rotation is referred to as the central andean rotation pattern carp in this paper the carp is investigated using the techniques of palaeomagnetic shape analysis from this analysis it appears that rotation began in the early cenozoic and probably continues at the present time cenozoic rotation appears to have occurred without significant northward or southward displacement for earlier times however evidence of displacement is found the sense of displacement apparently changed at arica northward north of the deflection and southward further south this mesozoic displacement of crustal material away from arica appears to have taken place without accompanying rotation no existing tectonic model for the carp explains this two part history several alternative models are suggested perhaps the least unconvincing of which involve creation of the arica deflection during the late mesozoic by subduction of a spreading ridge or perhaps an island arc or other crustal thickness anomaly riding on the nazca or phoenix plate

paleomagnetism of the gran sasso range salient central apennines italy pattern of orogenic rotations due to translation of a massive carbonate indenter 1 we report on the paleomagnetism 39 new sites of gran sasso an indenter controlled salient of the external central apennines formed by two orthogonal limbs we find that gran sasso is a complex salient paleomagnetically corresponding to neither a nonrotating nor an oroclinal end member data from the core of the arc show that the indenter itself did not undergo any rotation conversely rotations of variable magnitude and sign are observed along the curve shaped thrust fronts rotations are virtually absent at both end points of the arc moving toward the apex progressively greater counterclockwise ccw and clockwise cw rotations occur along the e w and n s fronts respectively the rotations increase continuously and more than linearly reaching their maximum values 80 ccw and 50 cw around the apex here the more strongly ccw and cw rotated fronts are separated by a domain characterized by local block rotations the inequality between the maximum ccw and cw rotation values is likely a consequence of the asymmetry of the indenter displacement direction n70 e with respect to the preorogenic trends of its margins e w and n s from an oroclinal point of view the fronts close to the end points virtually define a nonrotating arc while the pattern around the apex is similar to that of an orocline we conclude that close to end points nonrotational thrusting normal to the indenter margins occurred while in the vicinity of the apex the peritidal carbonates acted as an ice breaker pushing apart and strongly rotating the weaker multilayer located ahead

the use of bulk and profile methods for determining surface heat fluxes in the presence of glacier winds a one dimensional second order closure model and in situ observations on a melting glacier surface are used to investigate the suitability of bulk and profile methods for determining turbulent fluxes in the presence of the katabatic wind speed maximum associated with glacier winds the results show that profile methods severely underestimate turbulent fluxes when a wind speed maximum is present the bulk method on the other hand only slightly overestimates the turbulent heat flux in the entire region below the wind speed maximum and is thus much more appropriate for use on sloping glacier surfaces where katabatic winds dominate and wind speed maxima are just a few meters above the surface

seismogenic deformation structures in microbialites and mudstones silurian lockport dolomite northwestern ohio u s a syndepositional deformation structures are present at two different stratigraphic levels in the silurian lockport dolomite at a quarry in maumee ohio such structures are absent in this unit at twelve other quarries in northwestern ohio the structures at maumee present within stromatolites thrombolites and variably bedded mudstones include convolute layers homogenization of bedding and breccia clasts clasts of stromatolites boudinage structures normal reverse and thrust faults and discordant and concordant breccias the distribution of deformation structures within beds suggests substantial control from substrate rheology possibly resulting from differences in degrees of lithification and from variations in water content the extensive variety of syndepositional deformation structures juxtaposed evidence for nearly synchronous compression and dilation proximity 4 5 km of the structures to the largest fault in northwestern ohio the bowling green fault and the restricted geographic distribution of the deformation structures suggest seismic shaking as a probable mode of genesis similarities between features produced by seismogenic deformation of siliciclastic sediments and deformation features in the lockport dolomite provide additional evidence that the latter features are seismogenic it is postulated that two earthquakes one with a magnitude 5 caused the formation of the syndepositional deformation structures present in the youngest facies in the lockport dolomite at maumee quarry the bowling green fault 4 5 km west of maumee was a growth fault during formation of the lockport dolomite and is considered to have been the source of earthquakes that created the syndepositonal deformation structures in this unit at maumee quarry evidence from the lockport dolomite in northwestern ohio suggests that seismogenic deformation structures created by two earthquakes along the bowling green fault with magnitudes of 5 did not form in this unit over large areas i e all of northwestern ohio this evidence challenges the suggestion that syndepositional seismogenic deformation structures are always formed over a large area

jurassic and cretaceous apparent polar wander relative to south america some tectonic implications late mesozoic apparent polar wander apw with respect to stable south america has been difficult to define it appears that this observation has a simple explanation very little apw occurred and none at all during a 50 m y period 165 to 115 ma it is possible to compute a stillstand pole for this interval 88 8 s 72 4 e k 244 7 a95 4 9 from five reliable studies comprising a total of 523 sites a second stillstand of much shorter duration 70 80 ma is defined by four poles 52 sites this is located at 80 8 s 346 7 e k 457 7 a95 4 3 apw of 9 2 occurred during the interval 115 80 ma a comparable stillstand is found in the north american record e g van fossen and kent 1992 this has a similar degree of scatter k 421 and spans at least 36 m y 124 to 88 ma thus north america and south america both were rotating due westward during a large part of the cretaceous this has some important implications for global tectonics

subduction of diverging plates and the principles of slab window formation consumption of an ocean basin by subduction commonly brings a sea floor spreading ridge toward a deep sea trench if plate divergence and convergence continue after the ridge intersects the subduction zone a slab window forms between the subducted parts of the diverging oceanic plates producing anomalous thermal physical and chemical effects in the surrounding asthenospheric mantle in turn these conditions alter the tectonic and magmatic evolution of the overriding plate usually disturbing ordinary fore arc and arc regimes differential lithospheric stresses on opposite sides of the triple junction contribute to disturbances in the overriding plate anomalous magmatism from fore arc to back arc may be accompanied by fore arc metamorphism strike slip faulting uplift extension and in extreme cases rifting the shape and size of the window are controlled mainly by the pre subduction ridge transform trench configuration slab dip angles and vectors of plate convergence subducted ridge segments expand into windows whose margins approximately parallel the motion vectors between the triple junction and the subducting plates subducted transform faults continue to be active usually as oblique slip faults until the plates separate as transform faults subduct they become longer on the plate which occupies the acute angle between ridge and trench and shorter on the other plate trains of isolated windows produced by subduction of a segmented ridge transform system progressively expand during descent commonly merging together to form a composite slab window oblique subduction of a highly segmented ridge is likely to produce two or more fraternal slab windows one at each site of ridge trench intersection above a slab window arc volcanism diminishes and may be replaced by volcanism of mid ocean ridge or rift affinity the change in chemical character reflects various processes including elevated heat flow decreasing hydration of the upper mantle juxtaposition of supra and sub slab mantle reservoris asthenospheric upwelling and melting of the trailing plate edges if the slab window migrates the anomalous magmatic regime may be replaced by renewed arc volcanism identifying the effects of slab windows in ancient convergent margin assemblages requires an understanding of slab window principles and implications

mesozoic fault systems deformation and fault block rotation in the andean forearc a crustal scale strike slip duplex in the coastal cordillera of northern chile abstract in this paper we discuss the evolution and tectonic significance of the mesozoic trench parallel fault systems which affected the coastal cordillera and their relation to magmatism and crustal rotation the oldest extensional fault system separates basement from rift related late triassic and younger sedimentary units this system i subsequently developed into a wider extensional fault system which acted as the locus of magma ascent and emplacement of the coastal batholith during much of the jurassic to earliest cretaceous period this extensional fault system defined the forearc sliver during this period and was the consequence of a retreating subduction boundary during the early cretaceous c 132 125 ma the kinematics of this fault system changed to transtension ii and accommodated a major component of left lateral strike slip motion the principal fault being the atacama fault zone along which plutons continued to be emplaced the final phase of pluton emplacement within the coastal cordillera appears to be c 106 ma after which this magmatic arc and fault system was abandoned an late cretaceous arc and fault system iii developed some 20 ma later and located some 50 km to the east in what is now the central valley of northern chile this paper seeks to show that the coastal cordillera was deformed as a whole by this late cretaceous fault system iii which formed a crustal scale left lateral transpressional duplex during this deformation the thermally weakened crust was dissected into a series of large scale blocks bounded by nw trending left lateral strike slip faults which merge into a nne ssw fault zone which forms the eastern boundary to the duplex we term this eastern boundary zone the central valley fault zone cvfz and this together with the nw trending faults defines the duplex system which we refer to as a whole as the coastal cordillera fault system ccfs iii we have traced the ccfs duplex between 25 s and 29 s and suspect that it continues northward the timing of the deformation is constrained to be post 106 ma the age of coastal cordillera arc abandonment and pre tertiary based on the deformation and pluton emplacement in and along the central valley fault zone palaeomagnetic data from the fault bound blocks within the ccfs duplex indicate 35 45 of post early cretaceous clockwise rotation with no substantial latitudinal motion we suggest that the observed fault kinematics of the ccfs are consistent with this crustal scale duplex model where rotations would have occurred in response to left lateral transpression

aerodynamic roughness of glacial ice surfaces derived from high resolution topographic data this paper presents new methods of estimating the aerodynamic roughness z0 of glacier ice directly from three dimensional point clouds and digital elevation models dems examines temporal variability of z0 and presents the first fully distributed map of z0 estimates across the ablation zone of an arctic glacier the aerodynamic roughness of glacier ice surfaces is an important component of energy balance models and meltwater runoff estimates through its influence on turbulent fluxes of latent and sensible heat in a warming climate these fluxes are predicted to become more significant in contributing to overall melt volumes ice z0 is commonly estimated from measurements of ice surface microtopography typically from topographic profiles taken perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction recent advances in surveying permit rapid acquisition of high resolution topographic data allowing revision of assumptions underlying conventional z0 measurement using structure from motion sfm photogrammetry with multi view stereo mvs to survey ice surfaces with millimeter scale accuracy z0 variation over 3 orders of magnitude was observed different surface types demonstrated different temporal trajectories in z0 through 3 days of intense melt a glacier scale 2 m resolution dem was obtained through terrestrial laser scanning tls and subgrid roughness was significantly related to plot scale z0 thus we show for the first time that glacier scale tls or sfm mvs surveys can characterize z0 variability over a glacier surface potentially leading to distributed representations of z0 in surface energy balance models

a tale of two continents some tectonic contrasts between the central andes and the north american cordillera as illustrated by their paleomagnetic signatures comparison of patterns of paleomagnetic poles from orogenic belts with appropriate reference poles for the craton can help to delineate important large scale tectonic processes comparison of the paleomagnetic signatures of the western cordillera of north america and the central andes shows that the western edges of these belts have had profoundly different mesozoic and cenozoic histories specifically the north american cordilleran pattern shows strong evidence of post middle cretaceous relative northward displacement of outboard crustal blocks but there is almost no comparable evidence of margin parallel displacement in the andes we speculate that this may largely be a consequence of a simple difference in shape the convex westward western margin of north america facilitates margin parallel displacement as a response to oblique subduction whereas the concave westward margin of south america inhibits it the patterns of block rotations found along the western edge of the two orogens also are quite different nearly everywhere within the western north american cordillera crustal blocks have rotated clockwise since mid cretaceous time reflecting a pervading state of dextral shear within the western andes of peru and northern chile however mesozoic and cenozoic rocks in peru and northernmost chile are rotated strongly counterclockwise whereas rocks of the same age in the remainder of chile to about latitude 48 s are rotated clockwise a model combining oroclinal bending and block rotations driven by oblique subduction can account for the paleomagnetic observations

tectonic rotations on the leading edge of south america the bolivian orocline revisited cretaceous paleomagnetic poles for south america form three distinct groups one each for the andes north and south of arica northernmost chile and one for the craton relative to the cratonal group the northern andean group is displaced in a counterclockwise sense and the southern andean group in a clockwise sense these data have been used to support a model of orodinal bending of the andes but distributed shear caused by oblique subduction is a more likely mechanism

simulation of atmospheric circulation during the gimex 91 experiment using a meso γ primitive equations model a meso gamma scale atmospheric model has been used to simulate atmospheric circulations observed during the greenland ice margin experiment gimex the simulations shown here are two dimensional and cover the 12 13 july 1991 period a typical summer situation in this area the synoptic scale wind forcing is included the tundra topography is assumed to be either flat or averaged over a 50 km wide cross section centered on the gimex transect simulated wind temperature humidity and turbulent fluxes compare reasonably well with available observations the simulated heat used to melt snow or ice is also shown the sensitivity of the model results to the synoptic scale wind forcing is significant the impact of a tundra much warmer than the ocean on the ice sheet melting is discussed it is found that weak easterly synoptic scale winds are able to overwhelm this impact especially when the tundra is assumed to be flat

on the mechanism of crustal block rotations in the central andes abstract the results of 62 paleomagnetic studies of jurassic and younger rock units from the andes of argentina bolivia chile and peru are examined for indications of the timing and mechanism of crustal block rotations rotations and their 95 confidence intervals are recalculated in pole space using a new south american reference apw path as observed by many investigators the arica deflection the change in topographic and tectonic trends located near arica northernmost chile divides the data into a counterclockwise rotated set north of the deflection and a clockwise rotated set to the south rotations range from 75 counterclockwise to nearly 50 clockwise and show substantial differences between neighboring crustal blocks south of arica there is a weak indication of a decrease in amount of rotation with distance from the plate margin but no such correlation is observed north of arica rotation increases with age both north and south of arica for rock units of 90 ma for older rock units no correlation between age and amount of rotation exists unlike the western margin of north america no significant margin parallel displacements accompany the rotations several models for rotation are examined it is concluded that a combination of late cenozoic oroclinal bending and post mid cretaceous local block rotations in response to shear driven sub crustal ductile flow can explain most of the paleomagnetic and geologic observations

vertical axis rotation in the bolivian orocline south america 1 paleomagnetic analysis of cretaceous and cenozoic rocks the results of a paleomagnetic study are reported for 45 new sites or localities in the central andes of bolivia and northern chile 17 s 23 s south america in intrusive volcanic and sedimentary rocks ranging in age between 7 and 80 ma these outcrop across the width of the northern and southern limbs of the bolivian orocline from the sub andean zone in the east to the volcanic arc in the west for most localities a mean primary magnetization has been identified which is assumed to reflect a geocentric axial dipole field a comparison of directions of magnetizations with those predicted by the relevant paleomagnetic reference poles for stable south america reveals declination anomalies which are interpreted in terms of the rotation about a local vertical axis of rigid crustal blocks hundreds of meters to tens of kilometers across relative to stable south america these data when combined with previous paleomagnetic studies of upper cretaceous and cenozoic rocks show a pattern of vertical axis rotations which defines three regional domains extending across the width of the bolivian andes the differences between the various domains are best seen in rocks in the age range 20 to 80 ma younger rocks acquired a primary magnetization at later stages in the rotation history for rocks older than 20 ma crustal blocks in domain 1 on the northern flank of the bolivian orocline have undergone an anticlockwise rotation about a vertical axis in the range 8 to 33 with a geometric mean of 22 blocks from domain 2 immediately south of the main oroclinal bend have rotated between 19 anticlockwise and 40 clockwise with a geometric mean of 8 clockwise even farther south in domain 3b blocks have rotated between 3 and 57 clockwise with a geometric mean of 37 a localised area domain 3b in which blocks have undergone 32 clockwise rotation in the last 65 myr lies within the southeastern part of domain 1 the northern boundary of domain 1 and the southern boundary of domain 3a are as yet not well defined the amount and timing of cenozoic vertical axis rotation vary across the width of the andes and are interpreted to record both regional bending of both limbs of the bolivian orocline and small block rotation in zones of distributed sinistral or dextral shear during three stages in the cenozoic 1 45 to 25 ma 2 25 to 10 ma 3 10 ma to 0 bending of the bolivian andes during the last 25 myr was accommodated relative to stable south america by gradients of shortening along the eastern margin of the andes particularly in the sub andean zone

the permian triassic boundary at nhi tao vietnam evidence for recurrent influx of sulfidic watermasses to a shallow marine carbonate platform the permian triassic boundary at nhi tao cao bang province vietnam was sampled in a 7 5 m thick outcrop section at high resolution 5 cm intervals for chemostratigraphic and magnetic susceptibility analysis the section consists entirely of slightly argillaceous limestone representing shallow marine facies of the jinxi platform one of several large carbonate platforms within the nanpanjiang basin located on the southern margin of the south china craton upper permian strata beds 1 7 are mainly dark gray cherty fossiliferous wackestones and packstones containing a diverse open marine fauna whereas uppermost permian and lower triassic strata beds 9 and higher are medium gray calcimicrobial framestones containing rare macrofossils these facies are separated by a 12 cm thick oolitic pisolitic grainstone bed 8 that coincides with the disappearance of most late permian faunal elements as well as with the first appearance of various geochemical anomalies that continue into the lower triassic part of the section this late permian event horizon is characterized by 1 an abrupt decline in total organic carbon to near zero values 2 the onset of a sustained decline in carbonate 13c and 3 the first of eight concentration peaks in pyrite sulfur significantly each sulfide peak is associated with lower pyrite 34s values as well as with the onset of a negative carbonate 13c excursion or the acceleration of an excursion already in progress these chemostratigraphic relationships are consistent with multiple episodes of upwelling of sulfidic 34s and 13c depleted deep ocean waters onto the jinxi platform the first upwelling event was the most intense and caused a drastic reduction in primary productivity and the demise of the late permian fauna subsequent episodes were less intense but may have contributed to a delay in recovery of early triassic marine ecosystems a ten fold increase in magnetic susceptibility in bed 9 may record the influx of fine detrital particles following destruction of terrestrial ecosystems and massive soil erosion the terrestrial signal of the end permian catastrophe thus follows the marine signal with a 12 cm lag which may reflect the time of transit of soil derived particles across the nanpanjiang basin suggesting that the marine and terrestrial crises in the nhi tao region occurred more or less synchronously these observations suggest a model in which renewal of global ocean overturn followed a prolonged interval of deep ocean stagnation during the late permian with upwelling intensity modulated by short term 20 kyr climate cyclicity

paleomagnetism of mesozoic rocks from the central andes of southern peru importance of rotations in the development of the bolivian orocline a paleomagnetic study has been undertaken in jurassic volcanics and cretaceous intrusions from coastal southern peru a secondary magnetization in the jurassic volcanics was identified at 21 sites from three main localities along the southern coast of peru mean virtual geomagnetic pole 59 5 n 190 1 e k 111 95 3 0 this secondary magnetization was acquired during a tectonomagmatic event that may be related to the emplacement of the peruvian coastal batholith and or to the first andean phase of compressional deformation in late cretaceous if we assume that the remagnetization is of late cretaceous age a regional counterclockwise rotation of about 20 is recorded by the forearc of southern peru from 16 s to 18 s primary remanent magnetizations recorded by the volcanics and the batholith reveal a more complex tectonic history of block rotations counterclockwise rotations of 50 to 80 are documented near the localities of chala eight sites ocona two sites and arequipa four sites preliminary results based on three sites of late permian to early triassic sediments from northern bolivia also show a large counterclockwise rotation the observed differences between the primary and the secondary magnetization indicate that large block rotations occurred prior to the acquisition of the secondary magnetization perhaps this first episode of deformation partially structured the andean chain in the central andes and induced an incipient orocline during the cenozoic a differential shortening along the chain gave the present day shape of the bolivian deflection and resulted in a counterclockwise rotation of the forearc system by about 20 as indicated by the remagnetization

stable carbon isotope stratigraphy across the permian triassic boundary in shallow marine carbonate platforms nanpanjiang basin south china a distinct negative 13c excursion is documented in two permian triassic sections heping and taiping in shallow marine carbonate platform deposits in the nanpanjiang basin south china these sections span from the changhsingian to the dienerian and are characterized by a distinct marine boundary facies change from massive skeletal lime packstone in the changhsingian to distinctive calcimicrobial framestone in the griesbachian hindeodus parvus zone the 13corg and 13ccarb excursions occur directly after the onset of the calcimicrobial framestone herein termed the permian triassic boundary event and before the first occurrence of h parvus the isotope shifts are associated with a sharp drop in species abundance and diversity and coincide with a decrease in total organic carbon toc content the shift towards depleted values in 13corg and 13ccarb at the permian triassic boundary event together with low toc contents persists throughout the griesbachian h parvus zone these data document a corresponding negative shift of 13corg and 13ccarb values and low toc contents with the onset of growth of calcified microbial framestones a postextinction disaster facies immediately below the base of the griesbachian h parvus zone based on paleontological evidence the first occurrence of the disaster facies follows the extinction event which implies that the 13c depleted values above this facies postdate the event this suggests that two separate events had to account for the initiation of the extinction and the 13c excursion however the consequences that led to the negative isotopic shift might be linked to the intriguing recovery lag of early triassic ecosystems based on data from ptb sections worldwide of a greater 13c offset in high compared with low latitudes we propose that methane eruptions from thermal destabilization of high latitude clathrate deposits may have led to the negative 13c shift and may have caused long term adverse ecological conditions

a distributed surface energy balance model for complex topography and its application to storglaciaren sweden a grid based surface energy balance mass balance model has been developed to simulate snow and ice melt in mountainous regions with an hourly resolution the model is applied to storglaciaren a valley glacier in sweden using a 30 m resolution digital elevation model emphasis is directed towards computing the radiation components these are modelled individually considering the effects of slope angle aspect and effective horizon a new parameterization for snow albedo is suggested modifying the albedo of the preceding hour as a function of time after snowfall air temperature and cloudiness the model is used to provide the meltwater input for discharge modelling and to assess the influence of the individual components on melt results are validated by means of observed melt rates patterns of snow line retreat and proglacial discharge in general simulations are in good agreement with observations in particular the diurnal and seasonal fluctuations of discharge are simulated remarkably well

stress fields recorded on large scale strike slip fault systems effects on the tectonic evolution of crustal slivers during oblique subduction abstract in continental margins large scale strike slip fault systems resulted from oblique subduction commonly exhibit a complex pattern of faulting where major faults define the inland boundary of tectonic slivers that can be detached from the margin in turn subsidiary faults bound and define internal tectonic blocks within the sliver which are expected to rotate translate and or internally disrupt in order to accommodate the internal deformation the geometrical and spatial arrangement of faults and tectonic blocks thus determines the evolution of the sliver given a particular stress field regime the paposo segment of the atacama fault system in northern chile displays a series of brittle faults whose orientations are hierarchically arranged low order faults splay off higher order faults forming riedel type and strike slip duplexes geometries at several scales the master 1st and highest order paposo fault defines the inland boundary of a tectonic sliver whereas subsidiary faults bound and disrupt internal tectonic blocks by using newly collected brittle fault slip data we estimated the orientations and regimes of the stress fields that acted upon the entire sliver the different fault orders and the tectonic blocks results indicate that an overall transtensional with nw compressional and ne tensional principal axes strike slip regime affected the sliver and triggered the development of left lateral strike slip structures an incomplete split of the stress field imposed by the subduction process resulted in the generation of a nested pattern of r type faults as well as in a combined strike slip normal faulting disruption of the tectonic blocks within the sliver

paleogene building of the bolivian orocline tectonic restoration of the central andes in 2 d map view using available information on the magnitude and age of tectonic shortening as well as paleomagnetically determined tectonic rotations we have run a series of 2 d map view restorations of the central andes neogene shortening in the foreland belt induced only slight orogenic curvature of the central andes the constraints on the ages of the large observed fore arc rotations average of 37 counterclockwise in southern peru and 29 clockwise in northern chile indicate that the bolivian orocline formed during the eocene oligocene as a consequence of differential shortening focused in the eastern cordillera to minimize local block rotations along the fore arc the restoration that best fits the central andean rotation pattern requires about 400 km of total paleogene plus neogene shortening near the arica bend this value corresponds to the upper bound of estimates of maximum horizontal shortening for the central andes along strike variations in horizontal shortening in the back arc induced bending of the continental margin block rotations with fore arc along strike extension and or orogen parallel transport of upper crustal material toward the symmetry axis of the orocline

lower triassic large sea floor carbonate cements their origin and a mechanism for the prolonged biotic recovery from the end permian mass extinction precipitation of inorganic calcium carbonate is a common occurrence in both modern and ancient marine environments however synsedimentary growth of large 5 10 cm crystalline carbonate cements directly onto the sea floor has been thought to be limited to the proterozoic when seawaters were highly oversaturated with calcium carbonate compared to average phanerozoic values outer shelf to slope deposits of the lower triassic union wash formation in east central california deposited in oxygen restricted settings contain crystalline calcium carbonate cements that appear to have grown directly on the sea floor paleoenvironmental analyses indicate that these large calcium carbonate cements grew under conditions that were similar to those proposed for the precipitation of inorganic calcite in the black sea sulfate reduction of organic matter led to an increase in the amount of bicarbonate ion in deep waters and a concomitant increase in co 2 and alkalinity mixing with surface waters led to co 2 degassing and precipitation of cements from waters supersaturated with calcium carbonate the presence of these cements and associated facies thus provides evidence of harsh environmental conditions in the early triassic at the regional level which may have acted in concert with biotic effects of the end permian mass extinction as well as similar deleterious conditions e g shelf anoxia in other regions to produce a prolonged as well as temporally and geographically variable biotic recovery from this mass extinction