three dimensional velocity imaging of the kachchh seismic zone gujarat india abstract to understand the causative mechanism of the continued occurrence of earthquakes in kachchh gujarat for the last six years we estimated high resolution three dimensional vp vs and vp vs structures in the aftershock zones of the 2001 mw7 7 bhuj and 2006 mw5 6 gedi earthquakes we used 13 862 p and 13 736 s wave high quality arrival times collected from the seismograms of 2303 aftershocks recorded at 5 18 three component seismograph stations during 2001 06 seismic images revealed a marked spatial variation in the velocities from 20 to 14 in vp from 12 to 13 in vs and from 12 to 12 increase in vp vs in the 0 34 km depth range beneath the bhuj aftershock zone relatively more increase in vp than vs resulting in an increase in vp vs in the crust beneath the seismically active causative fault north wagad fault nwf zone of 2001 bhuj mainshock suggests a rigid mafic crust beneath the region they also delineate an increase of 8 in vp and 14 in vs and a decrease of 4 in vp vs in the almost vertical rupture zone of the 2006 gedi earthquake extending up to 12 km depth this high velocity body associated with the gedi mainshock is inferred to be a gabbroic intrusive the banni region and the wagad uplift are found to be associated with high velocity intrusive bodies inferred to be mafic extending from 5 to 35 km depth which might have intruded during the rifting in early jurassic 160 ma aftershock activity is mainly confined to the zones characterized by high vp high vs and low vp vs ratio which might be representing the strong competent and brittle parts of the fault zone intrusive bodies that could accumulate large strain energy for generating aftershocks for more than six years it is inferred that the crustal stress concentrations associated with the intrusive bodies are contributing significant perturbation to the crustal stress regime to generate the intraplate earthquakes in the kachchh rift zone a few patches of slow vp and vs and high vp vs between 10 to 30 km depth have also been detected on the causative 45 south dipping north wagad fault nwf for the 2001 mainshock which may be attributed to the fluid filled fractured rock matrix interestingly the 2001 bhuj mainshock hypocenter is found to be associated with such a low velocity patch thus it is inferred that the occurrence of 2001 bhuj mainshock might have facilitated by the presence of fluids at hypocentral depth

pliocene pleistocene evolution of the tyrrhenian arc paleomagnetic determination of uplift and rotational deformation abstract the jaramillo subchron and the brunhes matuyama transition have been identified in the pelagic pleistocene marls located on the calabrian side of the messina straits italy polarity of the characteristic magnetization has been deduced from an analysis of multicomponent magnetization this magnetostratigraphic age determination combined with the paleobathymetry of the quaternary marls implies uplift rates of fault bounded blocks of 0 7 1 0 m 1000 yr a positive fold test on three sites from the trubi formation 4 3 ma shows a clockwise rotation of 36 an antipodal test on pliocene pleistocene micritic limestones 0 9 2 0 ma also indicates a rotation of 14 with the same trend both results suggest a rotation rate of about 9 ma these results are in agreement with a tectonic mechanism involving simultaneous rotation and uplifts a discussion of the possible mechanisms indicates that a compression phase oriented ene wsw could have played a dominant role

paleomagnetic evidence for neogene rotational deformations in the aegean domain new paleomagnetic data are reported from the islands of skyros and lesbos in central aegea and the izmir foca region in western anatolia together with previous results obtained in northwestern greece and with results from northern aegea reported by others authors these data suggest that the lower miocene arc was almost rectilinear trending e w and that the curvature was acquired by opposed rotational deformations at each termination moreover the observed inclinations which are shallower than those expected on the basis of a geocentered dipole field suggest a large northward drift since middle miocene

quantitative nannofossil correlation to open ocean deep sea sections from plio pleistocene boundary at vrica italy although numerous studies have been performed on material from the vrica section southern italy1 3 with a view to establishing its suitability as a type section for the plio pleistocene boundary these studies have failed either to establish the age of the boundary or to achieve accurate correlation to other regions we report here quantitative studies of selected nannofossil species in this section which unambiguously correlate it with open ocean piston cores in which an accurate chronology has been established the age of the plio pleistocene boundary as proposed by colalongo et al 4 is estimated to be 1 6 myr

a low seismic wavespeed anomaly beneath northwestern india a seismic signature of the deccan plume abstract seismic tomography of the indian region using p wave arrival times reveals an approximately cylindrical region of lowered seismic velocities in the upper mantle to the north of the gulf of cambay and the present exposure of the deccan flood basalts this anomaly with low velocities interrupts the characteristically high seismic velocities in the lithosphere beneath peninsular india and extends from shallow depth down to a more extensive low velocity zone beneath 200 km the centre of the low velocity anomaly lies just below the earliest alkaline magmatism which has been directly associated with the deccan plume in the northern portion of the cambay graben these magmatic events precede the main deccan flood eruptions by at least 3 myr the lowered seismic wavespeeds link into the ancient narmada lineament and to some extent to the south but here unfortunately the tomographic image runs out of resolution synthetic tests indicate that such a zone of lowered wavespeeds can be recovered with some loss of amplitude towards the south the association of the current seismic anomaly with the deccan traps is intriguing since the cambay graben remains a place of raised heat flow one explanation would be that the seismic anomaly represents the signature of the initial conduit through which plume material forced its way through the lithosphere beneath the cambay rift the zone of lowered seismic velocities beneath the indian lithosphere might then represent the remains of the initial plume head which would need to have moved with india over the 65 myr since the deccan eruptions

seismic imaging of the aftershock zone of the 2001 mw 7 7 bhuj earthquake india 1 detailed seismic tomography reveals that the 2001 mw 7 7 bhuj earthquake was associated with a 10 14 increase in vp and vs and a 10 decrease in vp vs in the 10 to 35 km depth range covering a 2750 km2 area beneath the aftershock zone this anomaly could be attributed to the existence of a lithological heterogeneity or a pluton of mafic composition that might have intruded during the rifting in early jurassic 160 ma the banni basin and the wagad uplift are found to be associated with high velocity intrusive bodies extending from 5 to 35 km depth a few patches of low vp and vs and high vp vs between 10 to 30 km depth have also been detected on the causative 45 south dipping north wagad fault nwf for the 2001 mainshock which may be attributed to a fluid filled fractured rock matrix

contribution of structural analysis to understanding the geodynamic evolution of the calabrian arc southern italy abstract a marked curvature of crustal structures characterizes the calabrian arc in southern italy the overall deformation of the arc seems mostly controlled by the sangineto shear zone to the north and by the mt kumeta alcantara shear zone to the south which both separate different crustal sectors other important fault systems cut the iblean foreland scicli ragusa fault zone and many others dissect the crystalline units of central calabria neotectonic structural analyses have been carried out in order to recognize the character of the plio pleistocene tectonic phases and their bearing on the present configuration of the arc after the middle miocene extensional phase an early middle pliocene compressional phase is detectable in many parts of the arc right and left lateral displacements respectively characterize the mt kumeta alcantara and sangineto shear zones and right lateral movements are also detectable within the scicli ragusa fault system finally the pleistocene tensional regime seems to have been controlled mainly by uplift the structural and neotectonic data allow us to propose a model of the recent evolution of the arc which was bent mainly as a result of opposed wrench faulting along the sangineto and mt kumeta alcantara shear zones

two dimensional modeling of exogenic mass transfer at the calabrian active margin southern italy uplift caused by crustal growth at active plate margins triggers an exogenic mass transfer from the mountain ranges into arc associated basins this mass transfer comprises weathering and erosion of the source terranes differentiation and transport of particles and finally deposition the hydraulic populations produced by chemical dissolution and mechanical abrasion possess different recycling potentials coarse grained particles are piled up in forearc accretionary wedges and recycled by subduction with the oceanic lithosphere fine grained particles and the chemical load may leave the exogenic cycle by suspension and solution their recycling potential is low for the calabrian active margin a composite exogenic mass balance has been determined sedimentation rates were calculated by two dimensional modeling of the forearc sedimentary wedge based on meteor airgun sections erosion rates for the calabrian massif were evaluated by a morphometric volume balance the total erosion of the calabrian massif is 178 m ma about 28 m ma 16 is removed by chemical dissolution and particle dispersion the mean sedimentation rate in the forearc basin is 137 m ma the remaining mass deficiency of 13 m ma 7 is referred to sediment bypass to the abyssal plain through submarine canyons

a 550 km long moho traverse in the tyrrhenian sea from o b s recorded pn waves six obs deployed on a 550 km line in the tyrrhenian sea furnish reversed and overlapping profiles from 43 shots at 12 km intervals head waves recorded from a 8 km s refractor the moho permitted the computation of the crustal thickness which shows this basin to be underlain by an oceanic type of crust at least in two 100 km wide regions variations of pn arrival times mirror strong topographical changes of the moho differences in dips at the extremities towards corsica and calabria are documented

variations of seismic velocities in the kachchh rift zone gujarat india during 2001 2013 abstract we herein study variations of seismic velocities in the main rupture zone mrz of the mw 7 7 2001 bhuj earthquake for the time periods 2001 05 2006 08 2009 10 and 2011 13 by constructing dvp dvs and d vp vs tomograms using high quality arrival times of 28 902 p and 28 696 s waves from 4644 precise jhd joint hypocentral determination relocations of local events differential tomograms for 2001 05 reveal a marked decrease in seismic velocities low dvp low dvs and high d vp vs in the mrz at 5 35 km depths during 2001 10 which is attributed to an increase in crack fracture density higher pore fluid pressure resulted from the intense fracturing that occurred during the mainshock and post seismic periods while we observe a slight recovery or increase in seismic velocities 2011 13 this could be related to the healing process lower pore fluid pressure due to sealing of cracks of the causative fault zone of the 2001 bhuj mainshock the temporal reduction in seismic velocities is observed to be higher at deeper levels more fluid enrichment under near lithostatic pressure than that at shallower levels fluid source for low velocity zone lvz at 0 10 km depths with high d vp vs could be attributed to the presence of meteoric water or soft alluvium sediments with higher water content while fluid source for lvz at 10 35 km depths could be due to the presence of brine fluids released from the metamorphic dewatering and volatile co2 emanating from the crystallization of carbonatite melts in the asthenosphere in fractures and pores we also imaged two prominent lvzs associated with the katrol hill fault zone and island belt fault zone extending from shallow upper crust to sub crustal depth which might be facilitating the deeper circulation of metamorphic fluids volatile co2 thereby the generation of lower crustal earthquakes occurring in the kachchh rift zone

tectonics of the umbria marche romagna arc central northern apennines italy new paleomagnetic constraints we present the results of a paleomagnetic study carried out on 32 sites from mainly messinian clayey sediments distributed throughout the external umbria marche romagna arc umra these data together with published results from coeval sediments demonstrate that this arc is an orocline in its central northern sector bending not well constrained in time was due to about 15 clockwise rotations of the central part of this arc and to counterclockwise rotations farther north in this latter area post messinian counterclockwise rotations are of the same amplitude as those calculated for some classic mesozoic paleomagnetic sections in northern umbria suggesting a plio pleistocene age for the rotations reported from the older sequences

composition resolved size distributions of volcanic aerosols in the mt etna plumes 1 particle size distributions for soluble and insoluble species in mt etna s summit plumes were measured across an extended size range 10 nm d 100 m using a combination of techniques automated scanning electron microscopy qemscan was used to chemically analyze many thousands of insoluble particles collected on pumped filters allowing the relationships between particle size shape and composition to be investigated the size distribution of fine silicate particles d 10 m was found to be lognormal consistent with formation by bursting of gas bubbles at the surface of the magma the compositions of fine silicate particles were found to vary between magmatic and nearly pure silica this is consistent with depletion of metal ions by reactions in the acidic environment of the gas plume and vent measurements of the size shape and composition of fine silicate particles may potentially offer insights into preemission synemission and postemission processes the mass flux of fine silicate particles from mt etna released during noneruptive volcanic degassing in 2004 and 2005 was estimated to be 7000 kg d 1 analysis of particles in the range 0 1 d m 100 by ion chromatography shows that there are persistent differences in the size distributions of sulfate aerosols between the two main summit plumes analysis of particles in the range 0 01 m d 0 1 m by scanning transmission electron microscopy stem shows that there are significant levels of nanoparticles in the mt etna plumes although their compositions remain uncertain

imaging crust and upper mantle seismic structure in the southwestern united states using teleseismic receiver functions rio grande rift seismic transect ristra is designed to image and interpret crust and mantle structures beneath the southwestern united states including the nature of the colorado plateau and rio grande rift figure 1 key questions include the nature of crustal and mantle structures and thermal conditions beneath one of the more dramatic continental rifts on earth and clues to understanding the anomalously unextended colorado plateau which is currently surrounded by the predominantly extensional deformation of the western united states figure 1 regional tectonic map with ristra station locations stars indicate the 54 main transect stations the diamond locates global seismic network borehole station anmo stations tx01 tx06 lie in texas nm07 nm44 in new mexico az45 az50 in arizona and ut51 ut54 in utah the data collecting stage of ristra provided an exceptional 18 months 1999 2001 of broadband streckheisen sts 2 120 s seismometers teleseismic iris passcal data along a 950 km great circle transect of 54 sites with 18 3 6 km station spacing with endpoints near lake powell utah and pecos texas the northwest southeast trending transect was oriented parallel to the azimuth of the very active western pacific seismogenic zones analysis applied to this seismic data set includes surface wave dispersion inversion for crustal and mantle structure teleseismic body wave tomography and teleseismic mantle anisotropy here we discuss the use of ristra data to examine lithospheric structure using p to s mantle and crustal forward scattering observed in the s phases immediately following several tens of seconds the teleseismic p arrival figure 2 we migrate these signals to produce p to s converted mode images of the structure along the ristra array figure 2 global distribution of the 285 earthquakes red points with body wave magnitude 5 6 recorded during the ristra network deployment which have suitable offsets for calculating the 8361 receiver functions used in this study we use teleseisms from epicentral distances of

determination of aquifer transmissivity from earth tide analysis the water level in an open well tapping an artesian aquifer responds to pressure head disturbance caused by earth tide dilatation of the aquifer because a finite amount of time is needed for water to flow into and out of the well there exists a phase shift or time lag between the tidal dilatation of the aquifer and the water level response in the well we derive an analytical solution that expresses the phase shift as a function of the aquifer transmissivity storage coefficient well radius and the period of the harmonic disturbance this solution is rather insensitive to the storage coefficient thus if the phase shift is known for a harmonic disturbance the transmissivity can be calculated given a rough estimate of the storage coefficient theoretical analysis shows that a significant phase shift may be present even if the disturbance is slowly varying as in the case of earth tides this opens the possibility of estimating aquifer transmissivity from water level records that show earth tide fluctuations a case study using data from a site near parkfield california is presented to illustrate application of the theory phase shifts of the o1 25 82 hour period and m2 12 42 hour period tidal constituents are chosen for analysis because they are free of systematic contamination by fluctuations in barometric pressure a brief error analysis suggests that the computed o1 phase shift is subject to large uncertainty while the computed m2 phase shift is substantially more accurate based on an assumed storage coefficient range of 10 4 to 10 6 the estimated transmissivity range is 8 10 6 to 2 10 5 m2 s while hydraulic tests have not been performed to validate these estimates the range is consistent with the transmissivity value determined by other investigators from analysis of the water level response to an earthquake

a magnetization process of sediments laboratory experiments on post depositional remanent magnetization summary palaeomagnetic studies require a theory of magnetization mechanism of sediments and a method of estimating magnetic field intensity from their remanences this paper establishes a physical basis for the generation of the remanence in deep sea and lake sediments experimentally redeposition experiments have been carried out under centrifugal force in weak magnetic fields the centrifuging method produces post depositional remanent magnetization post drm in the compacted sediment and its remanence and susceptibility are compatible with those of natural sediments and reconstituted materials of other redepositional experiments three properties of the post drm have been deduced from the experiments 1 the efficiency of acquisition of post drm decreases with increase in density during the compaction process 2 the total post drm is equal to the sum of the partial post drm addition law and 3 time is not a substantial factor for alignment of the magnetic particles these results lead to the conclusions that the magnetic particles do not rotate steadily but in a series of steps and that the density change is the crucial factor giving rise to the post drm a mathematical formula representing the remanence record in sediments is proposed on the basis of the experimental results and the model the principal equation is expressed as an integral of the product of three parameters over time when sediments have been compacted the field intensity variation characteristic function of the sediment and the time derivative of the density change

india eurasia collision chronology has implications for crustal shortening and driving mechanism of plates the motion of the indian plate is determined in an absolute frame of reference and compared with the position of the southern margin of eurasia deduced from palaeomagnetic data in tibet the 2 600 900 km of continental crust shortening observed is shown to have occurred in three different episodes subduction of continental crust intracontinental thrusting and internal deformation and lateral extrusion the detailed chronology of the collision and plate reorganizations in the indian and pacific oceans supports the hypothesis that slab pull is a dominant driving mechanism of plate tectonics

a review of crust and upper mantle structure beneath the indian subcontinent this study has been supported by a grant from the ministry of earth sciences moes iitkgp ckh

shear wave velocity structure in the northern basin and range province from the combined analysis of receiver functions and surface waves a new method based on the joint inversion of receiver functions and surface wave phase velocities results in well determined shear velocity structures that are consistent with the compressional wave structure gravity heat flow and elevation data in the northern basin and range this new inversion method takes advantage of average velocity information present in the surface wave method and differential velocity information contained in the receiver function method thus min imizing the nonuniqueness problem that results from the velocity depth trade off an unusually thick 38 kin and relatively faster crust and upper mantle are found in central and eastern nevada compared to the thin 28 to 34 km and slower crust and upper mantle of the western basin and range we interpret the regions of thicker and faster crust and upper mantle as zones that have undergone less cenozoic ex tension relative to the surrounding regions to the west and north the thick crust and consequently greater depth to the dense mantle material is consistent with the gravity low pattern in central and eastern nevada simple gravity modeling shows both local and regional isostatic compensation occur within 40 km of the surface indicating a near classical airy type of compensation in the province we analyze in detail the shear wave s wave velocity model derived from the receiver functions at station bmn and compressional wave p wave velocity models derived from the 1986 passcal experiment in northwestern nevada the most interesting feature of these models is the presence of negative velocity gradients in the s wave model with no corresponding velocity decrease in the p wave models between depths of 10 and 24 km this combined velocity model may be explained by high pore fluid pressures at these depths this model favors a layered fluid porosity model proposed in the literature to explain extensive middle to lower crust conti nental seismic reflections and high electrical conductivity an upper mantle grada tional low velocity zone is present between 32 and 38 km in the s wave model this upper mantle shear wave low velocity zone is consistent with partial melt which may be the source material for magmatic underplating in this region

paleomagnetic study of sicily consequences for the deformation of italian and african margins over the last 100 million years abstract paleomagnetic analysis of cenozoic sediments from the iblean platform 12 sites 100 samples has provided four new poles these data are combined with those available from volcanic series to yield a new apparent polar wander path for stable sicily since the upper cretaceous this curve when compared to a revised curve for africa using a selection of available data points demonstrates a 15 rotation of sicily with respect to africa during the plio pleistocene this rotation accounts for the extensional tectonic regime that prevails in the pelagian sea and which is evidenced by en relais rifts malta pantelleria linosa associated with alkaline volcanism of pliocene and quaternary age paleomagnetic directions from various areas of the italian peninsula also indicate anticlockwise rotations with diverse amplitudes the chronology of these rotations is consistent with a deformation of the western italian margin during progressive suturation from north to south of the corsican sardinian block since the end of the oligocene

paleomagnetic and structural evidence for neogene block rotations in the central apennines italy magnetic fabric and paleomagnetic analyses on sedimentary sequences in several structural units in the central apennines ranging from upper cretaceous pelagic carbonates to upper miocene turbidites provide evidence for at least two distinct phases of rotation the first counterclockwise ccw rotation is well recorded in eocene oligocene sediments and does not affect the lower middle miocene sequences the second phase is clearly recorded in lower middle and upper miocene sediments and shows both ccw and clockwise cw rotations in concordance with trends of the different thrust structures we detected three domains characterized by different rotation patterns the westernmost is the southern sabina area an arcuate thrust belt which underwent a cw rotation after the early miocene the second domain is the latium abruzzi carbonate platform where a ccw rotation occurred after the late miocene the third is the marsica area that underwent a cw rotation after the late miocene the magnetic fabric analyses confirm the existence of these different structural provinces and show a strong correlation between the present day strike of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility magnetic lineation and the rotations recorded in miocene sediments we attribute present day variations in orientation of the compressional structures in the central apennines to differential rotations about vertical axes due to strike slip faults and out of sequence thrust activity rather than to a change in the stress field orientation we also suggest that this deformation mechanism could be common in other collisional chains around the world

evolution of subglacial bedforms along a paleo ice stream antarctic peninsula continental shelf geophysical data from the antarctic peninsula continental shelf reveal streamlined subglacial bedforms in a cross shelf trough bedforms exhibit progressive elongation with distance along the trough and record flow of a paleo ice stream from the antarctic peninsula ice sheet during the last glacial maximum downflow evolution of the bedforms indicates increasing flow velocities as the ice stream traversed the shelf this in turn is related to a transition from crystalline bedrock on the inner shelf to a soft sedimentary substrate on the outer shelf although streaming flow operated across both substrates the highest flow velocities occurred over the soft bed spatial variation in the inferred nature of fast flow from sliding to subglacial sediment deformation and or ploughing was also lithologically controlled these data highlight the control of subglacial geology on ice stream dynamics in the geological record and demonstrate a direct relationship between the formation of streamlined subglacial bedforms and paleo ice streams

crustal and lithospheric thinning beneath the seismogenic kachchh rift zone gujarat india its implications toward the generation of the 2001 bhuj earthquake sequence a high resolution passive seismic experiment in the kachchh rift zone of the western india has produced an excellent dataset of several thousands teleseismic events from this network 500 good teleseismic events recorded at 14 mobile broadband sites are used to estimate receiver functions for the 30 310 back azimuth ranges which show a positive phase at 4 5 6 1 s delay time and a strong negative phase at 8 0 11 0 s these phases have been modeled by a velocity increase at moho i e 34 43 km and a velocity decrease at 62 92 km depth the estimation of crustal and lithospheric thicknesses using the inversion of stacked radial receiver functions led to the delineation of a marked thinning of 3 7 km in crustal thickness and 6 14 km in lithospheric thickness beneath the central rift zone relative to the surrounding un rifted parts of the kachchh rift zone on an average the kachchh region is characterized by a thin lithosphere of 75 9 5 9 km the marked velocity decrease associated with the lithosphere asthenoshere boundary lab observed over an area of 120 km 80 km and the isotropic study of xenoliths from kachchh provides evidence for local asthenospheric updoming with pockets of partial melts of co2 rich lherzolite beneath the kachchh seismic zone that might have caused by rifting episode at 88 ma and the associated deccan thermal plume interaction at 65 ma episodes thus the coincidence of the area of the major aftershock activity and the moho as well as asthenospheric upwarping beneath the central kachchh rift zone suggests that these pockets of co2 rich lherzolite partial melts could perhaps provide a high input of volatiles containing co2 into the lower crust which might contribute significantly in the seismo genesis of continued aftershock activity in the region it is also inferred that large stresses in the denser and stronger lower crust at 14 34 km depths induced by ongoing banni upliftment crustal intrusive marked lateral variation in crustal thickness and related sub crustal thermal anomaly play a key role in nucleating the lower crustal earthquakes beneath the kachchh seismic zone

upwarped high velocity mafic crust subsurface tectonics and causes of intraplate latur killari m 6 2 and koyna m 6 3 earthquakes india a comparative study abstract a unique attempt is made to understand the genesis of intraplate seismicity in the latur killari and koyna seismogenic regions of india through derived crustal structure by synthesizing active and passive seismic magnetotelluric gravity and heat flow data it has indicated presence of relatively high velocity density intermediate granulite and amphibolite facies rocks underneath the deccan volcanic cover caused mainly due to a continuous geodynamic process of uplift and erosion since precambrian times these findings have been independently confirmed by detailed borehole geological geochemical and mineralogical investigations the crystalline basement rock is found to contain 2 wt of carbon di oxide fluid components the presence of geodynamic process associated with thermal anomalies at subcrustal depths is supported by a high mantle heat flow 29 36 mw m2 beneath both regions although some structural and compositional variations may exist as evidenced by p and s wave seismic velocities we suggest that the stress caused by ongoing uplift and a high mantle heat flow is continuously accumulating in this denser and rheologically stronger mafic crust within which earthquakes tend to nucleate these stresses appear to dominate over and above those generated by the india eurasia collision the role of fluids in stress generation as advocated through earlier studies appears limited

crustal structure of the indian shield new constraints from teleseismic receiver functions teleseismic earthquake waveform data from 10 broadband stations spread over the indian shield and in operation since 1997 were analyzed to infer the crustal structure using the receiver function technique the south indian shield is characterized by a 33 39 km thick and remarkably simple crust with an average poisson s ratio close to 0 25 the archaean crust is devoid of any prominent intra crustal discontinuities the velocity contrast at the well developed moho is large resulting in very clear p to s conversions as well as first order multiples in contrast the predominantly proterozoic crust in the northern part of the shield exhibits a complex character due to the presence of additional seismic discontinuities moho conversions which are considerably weaker compared to the archaean terrains indicate crustal thicknesses of more than 40 km

pattern of orogenic rotations in central eastern sicily implications for the timing of spreading in the tyrrhenian sea new palaeomagnetic data from upper triassic to pliocene sediments reveal that in eastern sicily a major 70 clockwise cw rotation took place between oligocene and late tortonian time followed by a further 30 cw rotation results from central sicily are less coherent they show 44 83 post oligocene cw rotation local 14 post late tortonian counterclockwise ccw rotation and 25 post mid pliocene cw rotation we interpret the larger cw rotation observed in eastern sicily as related to a more internal palaeogeographical position with respect to central sicily our results complement pre existing data from the northwestern sicily carbonates and indicate that all the internal carbonate nappes coherently rotated by c 100 cw during tectonic emplacement implying a west to east increase of shortening in the sicilian maghrebian belt in sicily compressive deformation started during the langhian i e just after the deposition of the upper oligocene upper burdigalian numidian flysch turbidites therefore the age of the older 70 palaeomagnetic rotation synchronous to the thrusting is constrained to occur between the langhian and late tortonian furthermore by considering a maximum possible rotation rate of 20 ma 1 we infer that cw rotation started in sicily in langhian serravallian times between 15 16 and 11 12 ma ago the 100 cw rotation observed in pre orogenic strata from the whole of sicily is mirrored by 80 orogen scale ccw rotations characterizing the internal southern apennines palaeomagnetism therefore shows that during orogenesis the southern apennines and the sicilian maghrebides rotated in a saloon door fashion synchronous to back arc spreading of the southern tyrrhenian sea consequently our palaeomagnetic data suggest that the southern tyrrhenian back arc basin started to spread during langhian serravallian times from 15 16 to 11 12 ma significantly earlier than the late tortonian age 8 ma suggested so far by oceanic drilling data

palaeomagnetism of the cordillera de la costa northern chile evidence for local forearc rotation abstract palaeomagnetic studies of lower jurassic to lower cretaceous volcanic plutonic and sedimentary rocks from the cordillera de la costa of northern chile indicate that there has been no significant latitudinal movement of northern chile since early cretaceous times a palaeomagnetic pole for the cordillera de la costa 63 s 187 e 95 7 7 was derived from combining the results of three studied units the la negra formation jurassic volcanics jurassic lower cretaceous granodioritic plutons and the e1 way formation hauterivian marine carbonates together with the coloso formation lower cretaceous red beds comparison with a cretaceous reference pole for the stable shield area of south america 87 s 235 e 95 2 4 indicates that 24 7 of clockwise rotation has taken place possible mechanisms for the rotation of the andean forearc in this area have been examined in relation to the kinetics of the subducting nazca and over riding south american plates the cordillera de la costa has been subjected to both compressional and extensional tectonics since the lower cretaceous major eastwardly directed thrusting in mid cretaceous and early tertiary times possibly associated with a period of oblique subduction of the nazca plate contributed to the accretion of the cordillera to the main forearc rotation may have occurred during this process in oligo miocene and later tertiary times extensional faulting possibly associated with roll back of the nazca plate led to the reactivation of the atacama fault zone and the formation of oblique extension faults in the cordillera de la costa structural rotation associated with this phase of extension could equally explain the observed palaeomagnetic results

peculiarities of surface wave propagation across central eurasia abstract the recent installation of six broadband digital iris ida seismic stations in the ussr has provided new opportunities for studying surface wave propagation across eurasia group velocities of fundamental rayleigh and love modes between epicenters and these stations were determined for 35 events that occurred since april 1989 to the middle of july 1990 near eurasia differential phase velocities were found for the same arrivals along paths between several pairs of stations group and phase velocities were obtained in the period range from 15 to 300 sec frequency time polarization analysis was used for studying polarization properties of surface waves in some cases significant anomalies in the particle motion for periods up to 100 sec were observed they are attributed to surface wave refraction and scattering due to lateral inhomogeneities at the boundaries and inside the eurasia continent

statistical significance of the fold test in palaeomagnetism summary the significance of the change in direction dispersion on applying the fold test in palaeomagnetism is used as the criterion for deciding whether or not the fold test has statistical significance a set of tables is compiled which can be used for quick application of the test

seven year history of vertical hydraulic diffusivity related to excavation around an underground facility abstract significant amounts of groundwater drain induced by the excavation of an underground facility will influence various site formation parameters such as permeability in this study a spectral analysis was applied to long term records of pore pressure responses to atmospheric loading in order to clarify the history of rock permeability changes at the horonobe underground research laboratory url in japan this study revealed that excavation of the url influenced nearby aquifers and reduced their vertical hydraulic diffusivity at a point approximately 130 m distant from the url it was found that hydraulic diffusivity has decreased by approximately 7 to 55 in the five years since the excavation started at a point approximately 860 m distant from the url the vertical hydraulic diffusivity was found to have decreased by approximately 26 even though pore pressure had not changed significantly this study confirmed that long term permeability changes could be monitored via pore and atmospheric pressure records more specifically during the development of a geological disposal system which can take several tens of years the vertical permeability of the site can be continuously monitored from the period before the start of the excavation through to the repository s post closure period

crustal mass budget and recycling during the india asia collision abstract the long lasting collision between india and asia has resulted in crustal and lithospheric deformation of both continents providing unequalled opportunities to evaluate their long term mechanisms of deformation we have quantified a crustal mass budget for the collision by comparing the present day and initial crustal volumes of the indian and asian continents involved in the collision initial crustal thickness was estimated from the non deformed parts of the continents whereas their initial extent was mapped from their contours at the onset of collision using seismic tomography we quantify the portion of the initial crustal thickness of both continents stored within the currently thickened crust or redistributed due to extrusion for the indian continent this portion amounts to about 19 km far lower than the mean observed present day crustal thickness of the indian craton of about 38 km we conclude that between 40 and 50 of indian crust has been recycled into the mantle by continental subduction corresponding to a decoupling level at about 15 19 km depth for the asian continent the estimated crustal thickness stored during collision is about 33 km close to the initial asian crustal thickness we estimate that only 3 of the asian crust was recycled into the mantle this corresponds to one episode of continental subduction occurring most probably soon after the initiation of collision along the bangong suture we identify the related slab using seismic tomography the strong contrast between india and asia implies an age dependent capacity of the continental crust to be recycled into the mantle this result has to be taken into account for further analysis of global crustal recycling during earth s history

lithospheric mantle deformation beneath the indian cratons abstract the nature of deformation of the deep continental roots beneath the archean early proterozoic terrains opens the question whether these ancient terrains have had stable roots since the precambrian or whether recent plate motions have deformed them in view of this we make an attempt to study the thermal structure beneath the cratonic regions of the indian shield which vary in lithospheric thickness from 65 km in the singhbhum craton to 148 km in the archean dharwars the average depth of 104 km to the top of the underlying asthenosphere is consistent with other termination methods and is in fact less than half the 200 400 km depth found in other stable areas of the earth similarly the average reduced heat flow of about 35 mw m2 and moho temperature of about 550 c range 400 730 c for the indian cratons are also much higher than their counterparts elsewhere our study indicates a large scale deformation of the cratonic mantle lithosphere beneath the indian shield since the mesoproterozoic c

geohydromechanical processes in the excavation damaged zone in crystalline rock rock salt and indurated and plastic clays in the context of radioactive waste disposal abstract the creation of an excavation disturbed zone edz or excavation damaged zone edz is expected around all man made openings in geologic formations macro and micro fracturing and in general a redistribution of in situ stresses and rearrangement of rock structures will occur in this zone resulting in drastic changes of permeability to flow mainly through the fractures and cracks induced by excavation the edz may have significant implications for the operation and long term performance of an underground nuclear waste repository various issues of concern need to be evaluated such as processes creating fractures in the edz the degree of permeability increase and the potential for sealing or healing with permeability reduction in the zone in recent years efforts along these lines have been made for a potential repository in four rock types crystalline rock salt indurated clay and plastic clay and these efforts have involved field laboratory and theoretical studies the present work involves a synthesis of the ideas and issues that emerged from presentations and discussions on edz in these four rock types at a cluster conference and workshop held in luxembourg in november 2003 first definitions of excavation disturbed and edzs that may be applicable to all four rock types are proposed then an approach is suggested for the synthesis and intercomparison of geohydromechanical processes in the edz for crystalline rock salt indurated clay and plastic clay comparison tables of relevant processes associated factors and modelling and testing techniques are developed a discussion of the general state of the art and outstanding issues is also presented a substantial bibliography of relevant papers on the subject is supplied at the end of the paper

characteristics of deformation and past seismicity associated with the 1819 kutch earthquake northwestern india the 1819 earthquake in kutch northwestern india is one of the most significant events to have occurred in a plate interior setting despite being the second largest among the stable continental region scr earthquakes this event has not been analyzed within the context of present day understanding of earthquake seismology coseismic changes related to this earthquake include massive ground deformation in a wide low lying tidal flat area although detailed historic accounts of this earthquake exist many questions regarding the mode of deformation and the seismic history of the region remain unresolved we explored the region nearly 180 years after the earthquake and the information gathered adds to our understanding of this event and provides a fresh perspective on this unique intraplate seismogenic zone a 90 km long tract of elevated land with a peak height of 4 3 m is the most visible surface expression of this earthquake we surveyed and analyzed the morphological features of this scarp and also carried out exploratory trenching in this region the scarp morphology is suggestive of a growing fold related to a buried north dipping thrust rather than a discrete fault that could have resulted from a surface rupture the extensive liquefaction field associated with the earthquake offered an ideal setting to explore the paleoearthquake history age data of liquefaction features suggest that a previous event of comparable size must have occurred 800 1000 years ago seismic activity appears to be related to the reactivation of an ancient rift in a stress regime that is dominated by nearly north south compression

tectonic evolution of arcuate mountain belts on top of a retreating subduction slab the example of the calabrian arc 1 in this paper new paleomagnetic results from the calabrian arc are presented together with a critical review of all paleomagnetic data collected in the last decades in southern italy our study is focused on the upper miocene to middle pleistocene deposits of the crati extensional basin a sector of the arc where an abrupt change in the sense of paleomagnetic rotations is observed paleomagnetic data indicate that the crati basin underwent a uniform clockwise cw rotation of about 15 20 in its central and southern part whereas the northern sector is organized in small scale fault bounded blocks which rotated independently we interpret this pattern of deformation as the evidence of the complex nature of this area which represents the boundary between two domains characterized by opposite rotations the southern apennines which rotated counterclockwise and the calabria and sicily which rotated cw integrating these new paleomagnetic data with paleomagnetic data from southern italy we reconstruct the history of paleomagnetic rotations through time paleomagnetic rotations highlight the peculiarity of the formation of the calabrian arc curvature and imply that either an oroclinal bending model or a progressive arc model cannot be simply applied to the calabrian arc formation we describe a realistic tectonic geodynamic model where the progressive curvature of the calabrian arc is framed within the space time evolution of the ionian subduction system

assessing the previous activity at the source zone of the 2001 bhuj earthquake based on the near source and distant paleoseismological indicators 1 the m w 7 7 2001 bhuj kachchh earthquake was not associated with any primary surface rupture but it produced secondary faulting folding and liquefaction this study highlights the potential of a secondary rupture and proxies like lateral spreads and sandblows in unraveling the past activity related to the 2001 source chronological constraints of an older lateral spread and far field paleoliquefaction features combined with archeological data provide evidence for occurrences of two previous earthquakes at the 2001 source zone about 4000 and 9000 years ago distinct stratigraphic evidence for at least one previous offset dated at 4424 656 years could be detected at a stepover zone associated with a dextral secondary fault reactivated during the 2001 earthquake the studies imply longer interseismic intervals for the 2001 source zone in comparison with the source zone of the 1819 earthquake located toward the northwestern part of the rann of kachchh the spatial and temporal correlation of previous events derived on the basis of the available paleoseismic data from the region suggest not only repeated activity at the 2001 source but possibility for additional potential sources in parts of kachchh and cambay basins although we infer a longer recurrence interval for the 2001 bhuj earthquake source our study points to the fact that these additional sources may have the potential to rupture in the future considering the long elapsed time

electrical conductance map for the kachchh rift basin constraint on tectonic evolution and seismotectonic implications geomagnetic field variations recorded by an array of magnetometers spread across the kachchh rift basin are reduced to a set of induction arrows as a diagnostic of lateral electrical conductivity variations a non uniform thin sheet electrical conductance model is developed to account for the salient induction patterns it indicates that the imaged conductivity anomalies can be related to the sediment filled structural lows in between the fault bounded uplifts it is suggested that sagging structural lows preserved the marine sediments deposited during the mesozoic sea transgression and later developed into first order embayment basins for the deposition of sediments in association with late eocene transgression depth integrated electrical conductance helped in mapping two depo centres along the ene wsw trending banni half graben bounded by the kachchh main fault on the south and second along the vinjan depression formed in response to the subsidence between the vigodi fault and westward extension of the katrol hill fault together with the westward bending of the median high presence of metamorphosed graphite schist clasts in shale dominated mesozoic sequence and or thin films of carbon resulting from the thermal influence of deccan activity on carbonate rich formations can account for the high electrical conductivity anomalies seen in the depo centres of thick mesozoic and tertiary sediments additionally two high conductivity zones are imaged encompassing a block defined by the 2001 bhuj earthquake and its aftershocks in agreement with gravity magnetic and seismic velocity signatures aqueous fluids released by recrystallizing magmatic bodies intruded in association with deccan trap activity account for mapped high conductivity zones high fluid pressure in such a fractured domain surrounding the intruded magmatic plugs perturb the regional stress concentrations to produce frequent and low magnitude aftershocks in the shallow section of the epicentral track of the 2001 bhuj earthquake

the role of low temperature organic matter diagenesis in carbonate precipitation within a marine deposit abstract carbonate minerals in veins can record paleo hydrogeological information that enables the reconstruction of groundwater history this paper investigates the cause of differences in the occurrence of carbonate veins in the koetoi and wakkanai formations both neogene mudstone units in northwestern hokkaido from the perspective of controls on co2 supply from the alteration of organic matter carbonate veins are rare in the koetoi formation but are widespread in the wakkanai formation this area is a region of oil and gas accumulation where deep groundwater is saturated mainly with ch4 and co2 the results show high 13c values in co existing ch4 32 6 and co2 31 0 gases an investigation of 13c d systematics among these gases indicates that isotopic fractionation was caused by microbial co2 reduction although total organic carbon content in the koetoi formation decreases with increasing depth total organic content in the wakkanai formation remains roughly constant with depth furthermore although 13c values also show depth dependence values from the wakkanai formation are higher than those from the koetoi formation this 13c enrichment could be explained by rayleigh fractionation in a closed system based on these results the processes behind the formation of the carbonate veins can be summarized as follows carbon dioxide behavior is thought to play an important role with respect to carbonate formation because co2 abundance is closely linked to ph and pressure in shallow sedimentary rocks such as the koetoi formation that have started to experience diagenetic alteration of organic matter co2 in groundwater is supplied by microbial decomposition of organic matter and is reduced to ch4 by methanogens in deep sedimentary rocks such as the wakkanai formation that have undergone diagenesis but have only experienced moderate temperatures so that thermal decomposition of organic matter has not yet begun microbial degradation of organic matter has proceeded too far for any more co2 to be produced thus carbonate precipitation is initiated when ph rises due to microbial co2 reduction the contrast between the occurrence of carbonate veins in the koetoi and wakkanai formations can be explained by our results which can also be applied to general carbonate behavior in marine sedimentary rocks

lithospheric structure of the south central united states recent seismic data in the ouachita mountains area and the gulf of mexico make it possible to construct a lithospheric scale cross section transect from the midcontinent region to the gulf the authors constructed a transect in the form of a gravity model but it incorporates all available seismic drill hole and geologic data as constraints the thrust sheets of the ouachita orogenic belt appear as a thin veneer covering the southern part of the arkoma basin and the preserved paleozoic continental margin mesozoic rifting is evident in three areas 1 southern arkansas and northern louisiana where extension was minor 2 the vicinity of the texas louisiana coastline where modification of the lithosphere and subsidence were considerable and 3 the deep gulf of mexico where rifting was successful a significant variation in the average density of the mantle which could delineate the north american craton as a lithospheric feature was detected near the paleozoic continental margin

a geological and paleomagnetic study of the hyblean volcanic rocks sicily abstract the geological and paleomagnetic study of the hyblean volcanic rocks in southeastern sicily permits the following conclusions 1 1 the upper cretaceous volcanics are considerably more extensive than earlier studies indicated they stretch from north of augusta to the vicinity of siracusa their magnetization is identical to that of the better known outcrops around capo passero of the two new age dates reported here one is younger than any so far reported 2 2 the upper tortonian flows are normally magnetized suggesting a correlation of the carlentini formation with magnetic interval 7 the flows at the top of the tellaro formation are also normally magnetized and are tentatively correlated with the carlentini formation flows shorter reversed intervals within interval 7 may be represented by two less well dated flows 3 3 the lowest pliocene flows have an adequate stratigraphie control and their magnetization is consistent with the extrusion of the pillow lavas during the mammoth event the militello flow sequence together with the francofonte flows appear by indirect argument to lie within the oldest reversed interval i e pre kaena of the matuyama epoch the individual flows in which both normal and reversed directions have been found cannot be assigned positions in magneto stratigraphie scale 4 4 the geomagnetic pole positions are consistent with that of the african plate during the cretaceous and a european plate location during both pliocene and miocene time the pole positions are upper cretaceous 212 3 e 69 3 n upper miocene 200 9 e 82 1 n pliocene 339 3 e 85 9 n

sediment thicknesses and qs vs qp relations in the kachchh rift basin gujarat india using sp converted phases delineation of the top sedimentary structure and its qs vs qp relationship using the travel time difference of direct s and converted sp phase is key to understanding the seismic hazard of any sedimentary basin area we constructed filtered displacement waveforms from local etna episensor acceleration recordings as well as local velocity recordings of aftershocks of the 2001 bhuj earthquake recorded by the kachchh seismological network of the national geophysical research institute ngri hyderabad india during 2001 2004 stations are within 15 70km of epicenters and the resulting displacement waveforms are generally simple displaying prominent p sp and s wave pulses particle motion of p and s waves suggest near vertical raypaths consistent with preliminary depth estimates the direct s wave on the horizontal component is characterized by lower frequency content than the converted sp phase on the vertical component this difference in frequency content between s and sp phases can be explained in terms of different attenuation effects for p and s waves in the unconsolidated sediments the sp phase is generated by s to p phase conversion at the base of mesozoic sediments of the kachchh basin travel time inversion velest of 2565 p and 2380 s arrivals from 658 well located aftershocks recorded at 8 14 three component local seismic stations led to 1 d velocity models indicated very slow sediments in the upper 0 2 km depth range vp 2 92 km s and vs 0 90 km s and an increasing trend of velocities with depth at 2 40 km depth the estimated sediment thicknesses beneath 12 accelerograph and 6 seismograph sites from the estimated velocity model and the travel time difference between s and converted sp phases reaches a maximum of 1 534 0 117 km beneath bandri near the location of 2001 bhuj mainshock and attains a minimum sediment thickness of 0 858 0 104 km beneath ramvav and burudia the spectral ratios between sp and s from 159 three component accelerograms have been used to study seismic wave attenuation in the kachchh rift basin the estimated qs vs qp relations for 12 accelerograph sites vary from qs 0 184 qp at chobari to qs 0 505 qp at dudhai for stations chobari chopdwa jahawarnagar vondh and tapar the spectral ratio slopes and hence the calculated qs vs qp relations are effectively the same and the correlation coefficients are quite high 0 91 0 93 stations adhoi manfara new dudhai dudhai and sikara have similar qs vs qp relationships to each other and also have high correlation coefficients 0 78 0 87 the spectral ratios for stations anjar and ramvav are small and poorly constrained resulting in less reliable qs vs qp relations this could be due to noisy data fewer available waveforms or scattering due to velocity heterogeneities and or interface irregularities

a possible origin of intraplate earthquakes in the kachchh rift zone india since the 2001 mw7 7 bhuj earthquake abstract we herein use the joint inversion of p receiver functions and fundamental mode group velocity dispersion data 9 70 s of rayleigh and love waves to estimate crustal and lithospheric thicknesses at twenty three component mobile broadband stations in kachchh gujarat modeled moho depths range from 35 to 43 km while lithospheric thicknesses vary from 64 to 106 km the main result of our modelling is the delineation of a marked crustal 2 4 km as well as lithospheric 10 20 km thinning and a 2 6 drop in vs across the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary lab within the samkhiali graben associated with gravity high underlying the central kachchh rift zone krz where 95 of the continued aftershock activity took place since 2001 such a large drop in vs could be attributed to the presence of carbonatite melts in the upper mantle our modeling reveals a 4 km crustal thinning below the central krz and a 4 km crustal thickening below the surrounding riftless regions this kind of crustal structure is inferred to induce large flexural deviatoric stresses 50 100 mpa in the upper crust thereby these stresses in the presence of regional plate tectonic stresses can bring the samkhiali graben below the central krz near to the critical stress level while stress transfer meteoric water in the upper crust and metamorphic fluid as well volatile co2 flows in the lower crust provide the required triggering effect to the critically stressed graben structure down to 35 km depth for generating continued aftershock activity in the kachchh rift zone since 2001 we also propose that the deeper circulation of volatile co2 through the inferred conduit related to the 65 ma deccan plume activity extending from lower crust down to asthenosphere plays a key role in the generation of uninterrupted occurrence of earthquakes in the kachchh rift zone gujarat india

numerical modeling of seismicity and geodynamics of the kachchh rift zone gujarat india abstract the numerical block and fault model of lithosphere dynamics and seismicity bafd is used to understand crustal motion and features of the observed seismicity in the kachchh rift zone gujarat western india the block model allows simulating seismicity and geodynamics simultaneously unlike other modeling approaches for studying seismicity or geodynamics the model structure of kachchh rift zone is composed of seven major crustal blocks separated by fault planes based on the orientation of boundary crustal block movements we develop a set of numerical experiments to analyze the spatial distribution of earthquakes frequency to magnitude relationships earthquake focal mechanisms velocity field and fault slip rates in the model the main results of our modeling suggest that an nnw sse trending compression is a principal driving force in the kachchh rift zone that explains basic features of the regional seismicity direction of block motions and the presence of an extensional stress regime associated with the cambay rift zone large synthetic events occur on the fault segments associated with the allah bund fault katrol hill fault and north wagad fault which have been causative faults for the 1819 mw7 7 allah bund 1956 mw6 0 anjar and 2001 mw7 7 bhuj earthquakes the frequency magnitude distribution for both synthetic seismicity and observed seismicity shows a similar slope the focal mechanisms of the synthetic events are found to be consistent with those of earthquakes in the region a special attention has been paid to study long term and post seismic deformations our results are in a qualitative agreement with the gps post seismic observations in the kachchh rift zone we infer that the observed seismicity and crustal block motions are a consequence of the dynamics of the entire regional fault and block system rather than that of a single causative fault only

sedimentary and crustal structure beneath kachchh and saurashtra regions gujarat india abstract strong and distinct ps conversions from moho and top sediments characterize the radial receiver functions rf estimated for stations in kachchh basin while these for stations in saurashtra are characterized by a strong ps conversion from moho and a weak or absence of ps conversion from top sediments the jumping inversion of stacked radial rfs suggest that 1 3 km thick top low velocity sediments v p 1 8 2 5 km s 0 28 0 34 and a 39 48 km thick crust 0 25 thicker than average precambrian crust characterize the kachchh basin area while the crust beneath saurashtra is characterized by a 0 1 km thick moderate velocity sediments v p 2 0 3 56 km s 0 25 0 28 and a north dipping shallow moho 35 42 km 0 248 the estimated average crustal values from the arrival times of pppms and ppsms pspms phases suggest a relatively stronger crust in kachchh 0 22 0 27 in comparison to the crust in saurashtra 0 18 0 19 in the epicentral zone of 2001 bhuj earthquake the estimated moho thickness reveals a moho upwarping 3 5 km change in the e w direction and a 6 9 km change in the n s direction beneath the epicentral zone of 2001 bhuj earthquake which might have induced large intraplate stresses to cause the m w 7 7 earthquake at 23 km depth

paleomagnetic evidence for no tectonic rotation of the central italy tyrrhenian margin since upper pliocene we present paleomagnetic results from 141 samples collected at 12 sites from plio pleistocene clayey units in the extensional central italy tyrrhenian margin all samples were subjected to stepwise alternating field and or thermal demagnetization positive fold and reversal tests indicate that the results refer to a primary component of magnetization paleomagnetic mean direction declination 358 0 inclination 55 2 95 4 1 reflects the expected geocentric axial dipole field for the locality thus indicating that this sector of the tyrrhenian margin did not undergo any tectonic rotation during the past 4 million years

significant crustal thinning beneath the baikal rift zone new constraints from receiver function analysis 1 thinning of the crust of more than 10 km is a major feature of typical continental rifts such as the east african ear and rio grande rgr rifts however numerous previous studies across the baikal rift zone brz which has similar surface expressions and tectonic history and more active seismicity relative to ear and rgr have resulted in contradicting amount of thinning ranging from almost none to more than 10 km we measure crustal thickness by stacking teleseismic receiver functions beneath 51 sites on the southern and central parts of the brz and adjacent siberian platform and sayan baikal mongolian foldbelt our measurements reveal that beneath the southern part of the platform the average crustal thickness is about 38 km which is about 7 km thinner than that beneath the foldbelt and the un rifted part of the brz the thinnest crust 35 km is found beneath the central part of the rift and represents a significant thinning of about 10 km relative to the un rifted parts of the brz index terms 7200 seismology 7203 seismology body wave propagation 7205 seismology continental crust 1242 citation gao s s k h liu and c chen 2004 significant crustal thinning beneath the baikal rift zone new constraints from receiver function analysis geophys res lett 31 l20610 doi 10 1029 2004gl020813

crustal and upper mantle structure in the amazon region brazil determined with broadband mobile stations 1 three broadband stations operated from march 1997 to september 1998 in the amazon region north of manaus brazil which including the iris station ptga pitinga covered an area of roughly 60 200 km applying the receiver function technique to determine the crustal structure there is evidence for an increase of the moho depth from about 38 km below the amazon basin to approximately 48 km north of the basin in addition we analyzed the polarization of sks waves to determine anisotropy the observed splitting parameters in a majority of the data set can be accounted for by a layer of axial symmetric anisotropy with the fast direction oriented roughly n110e this direction cannot be associated with the present day plate motion of the south american plate however the anisotropy may be related to a lithospheric fabric that was generated during the early tectonic history of the amazonian craton

response of the water level in a well to earth tides and atmospheric loading under unconfined conditions the response of the water level in a well to earth tides and atmospheric loading under unconfined conditions can be explained if the water level is controlled by the aquifer response averaged over the saturated depth of the well because vertical averaging tends to diminish the influence of the water table the response is qualitatively similar to the response of a well under partially confined conditions when the influence of well bore storage can be ignored the response to earth tides is strongly governed by a dimensionless aquifer frequency q u the response to atmospheric loading is strongly governed by two dimensionless vertical fluid flow parameters a dimensionless unsaturated zone frequency r and a dimensionless aquifer frequency qu the differences between q u and qu are generally small for aquifers which are highly sensitive to earth tides when q u and qu are large the response of the well to earth tides and atmospheric loading approaches the static response of the aquifer under confined conditions at small values of q u and qu well response to earth tides and atmospheric loading is strongly influenced by water table drainage when r is large relative to qu the response to atmospheric loading is strongly influenced by attenuation and phase shift of the pneumatic pressure signal in the unsaturated zone the presence of partial penetration retards phase advance in well response to earth tides and atmospheric loading when the theoretical response of a phreatic well to earth tides and atmospheric loading is fit to the well response inferred from cross spectral estimation it is possible to obtain estimates of the pneumatic diffusivity of the unsaturated zone and the vertical hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer

age of the plio pleistocene boundary in the vrica section southern italy new palaeomagnetic data from the proposed plio pleistocene boundary stratotype section vrica section southern italy are presented here in order to improve the correlation of these sediments to the magnetic polarity time scale if the interpretation preferred here is correct the boundary falls above the olduvai normal subchron at approximately 1 6 myr

determination of fluid flow properties from the response of water levels in wells to atmospheric loading the water level in a well that taps a partially confined aquifer is often sensitive to atmospheric loading the magnitude and character of this response is partly governed by the well radius the lateral hydraulic diffusivity of the aquifer the thickness and vertical pneumatic diffusivity of the unsaturated zone and the thickness and vertical hydraulic diffusivity of the saturated zone overlying the aquifer these key elements can be combined into five dimensionless parameters that partly govern the phase and attenuation of the response in many cases the response of a well to atmospheric loading can be broken up into a high intermediate and low frequency response the high frequency response is governed largely by the well radius and lateral diffusivity of the aquifer the intermediate frequency response is governed by the loading efficiency of the aquifer the low frequency response is governed by the vertical pneumatic diffusivity and thickness of the unsaturated zone and the vertical hydraulic diffusivity and thickness of the saturated material above the aquifer cross spectral estimation is used to fit the response to atmospheric loading of three water wells to the theoretical curves in order to yield estimates of three of the key dimensionless parameters these estimates then are used to make estimates or place bounds on the vertical pneumatic diffusivity of the unsaturated zone the lateral permeability of the aquifer and the composite vertical hydraulic diffusivity of the overlying saturated materials

influence of deccan volcanism synrift magmatism on the crust mantle structure and its implications for the seismogenesis of earthquakes occurring in the kachchh rift zone

timing of diagenetic haematite growth in red pelagic limestones from gubbio italy abstract magnetite haematite and to a minor extent maghaemite are recognised in the cretaceous and paleocene red pelagic limestones at gubbio the magnetite is detrital or biological whereas the haematite grew during diagenesis from a goethitic precursor thermal and af demagnetization of samples collected from close to reversal boundaries indicate that the various magnetization components do not record the polarity reversal at exactly the same stratigraphic level in the few tens of centimetersbelow a recorded geomagnetic reversal defined by the magnetite magnetization some of the haematite grains are magnetized in the post reversal field the blocking temperature spectra of this haematite fraction with post reversal magnetization are found to shift toward higher temperatures as the reversal boundary is approached the blocking temperature spectra reflect the grain size spectra of the haematite which we interpret as arising by the continual nucleation of grains down to a certain burial depth where the conditions are no longer conducive to further haematite growth the depth below reversal boundaries to which haematite with post reversal magnetization can occur is estimated to be about 60 cm after compaction and is equivalent to a time of about 105 years for these particular sediments a detailed study of the magnetization components at reversal boundaries indicates that the first diagenetic growth of haematite through the single domain critical volume occurs prior to the mechanical fixation of the detrital or biological magnetite subsequently the diagenetic haematite grains do not rotate in response to the ambient geomagnetic field polarity as easily as the magnetite because of their occurrence as pigmentary coatings on larger non magnetic grains

cenozoic epeirogeny of the indian peninsula peninsular india is a cratonic region with asymmetric relief manifest by eastward tilting from the 1 5 km high western ghats escarpment toward the floodplains of eastward draining rivers oceanic residual depth measurements on either side of india show that this west east asymmetry is broader scale occurring over distances of 2 000 km admittance analysis of free air gravity and topography shows that the elastic thickness is 10 3 km suggesting that regional uplift is not solely caused by flexural loading to investigate how indian physiography is generated we have jointly inverted 530 river profiles to determine rock uplift rate as a function of space and time key erosional parameters are calibrated using independent geologic constraints e g emergent marine deposits elevated paleosurfaces uplifted lignite deposits our results suggest that regional tilt grew at rates of up to 0 1 mm a 1 between 25 ma and the present day neogene uplift initiated in the south and propagated northward along the western margin this calculated history is corroborated by low temperature thermochronologic observations by sedimentary flux of clastic deposits into the krishna godavari delta and by sequence stratigraphic architecture along adjacent rifted margins onset of regional uplift predates intensification of the indian monsoon at 8 ma suggesting that rock uplift rather than climatic change is responsible for modern day relief a positive correlation between residual depth measurements and shear wave velocities beneath the lithosphere suggests that regional uplift is generated and maintained by temperature anomalies of 100 c within a 200 25 km thick asthenospheric channel this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

tomography of the source area of the 1995 kobe earthquake evidence for fluids at the hypocenter seismic tomography revealed a low seismic velocity 5 and high poisson s ratio 6 anomaly covering about 300 square kilometers at the hypocenter of the 17 january 1995 magnitude 7 2 kobe earthquake in japan this anomaly may be due to an overpressurized fluid filled fractured rock matrix that contributed to the initiation of the kobe earthquake

different styles of deformation in the calabrian arc southern italy implications for a seismotectonic zoning abstract the most recent seismic profiles in southern italy show the existence of a sudden thinning of the crust at the boundary between the chain and the tyrrhenian margin the abrupt change in thickness can be followed along a zone which has the same geometry in plan as the calabrian arc by considering these data and the gravimetric anomalies it is possible to associate this crustal anomaly with a deep seated shear zone which determines a crustal shortening of about 40 60 km which can only be a consequence of post tortonian tectonics the surface equivalents of the deep seated shear zone can be recognized from north to south in the alignment of the intra apenninic basins vallo di diano san arcangelo potenza in the crati mesima graben and in the mount kumeta alcantara fault zone the distribution of the seismicity and its connection with the surface structures shows that the largest earthquakes occur along the deep shear zone in particular shocks with the highest magnitude and the longest recurrence intervals are located in those areas where the deep shear zone is at an angle of about 90 with the direction of maximum shortening crati mesima graben the fault zones nearly parallel to the regional compression axis e g mount kumeta alcantara fault zone are characterized by earthquakes of lower magnitude taking into account the neotectonic evolution of the regional structures as well as the orientation of the stress field and its connection with the deep seated shear zone it is possible to distinguish the following seismotectonic zones upper crati mesima graben transverse throughs mount pollino mount raparo fault zone external ionian area san arcangelo basin zone of the external flysch sicani mountains mount kumeta alcantara fault zone caltanissetta basin and iblean plateau bradanic trough murge ridge the definition of the geometry of the shear zone at depth is one of the most important but still unresolved problems

constraining velocity and density contrasts across the crust mantle boundary with receiver function amplitudes summary this paper investigates the ability of p wave receiver functions to constrain both the velocity and density contrasts across the moho expressions for receiver function amplitudes corresponding to a layer over a half space are extended to media with depth dependent properties by explicitly accounting for free surface reflection coefficients forward numerical computations show that receiver function amplitudes become frequency dependent for depth dependent structures and that for a given frequency wavelengths associated to ps converted phases are larger than wavelengths associated to multiply reverberated phases when consistent measurements of the amplitudes of ps phase and multiples can be obtained the extended expressions suffice to account for the observed amplitudes receiver function amplitudes are sensitive to both velocity and density contrasts across the moho and a two step grid search procedure is proposed to recover the contrasts from their measurement the near surface velocity is recovered in the first step from the amplitude of the direct p wave and then used in the second step to work out the relative density and s wave velocity contrast from the amplitude of the secondary phases examples from central spain pab and the indian shield hyb are discussed and demonstrate that receiver function amplitudes can constrain contrasts across the moho accurately enough to be utilized in geological interpretation

mantle compensation of active metamorphic core complexes at woodlark rift in papua new guinea in many highly extended rifts on the earth tectonic removal of the upper crust exhumes mid crustal rocks producing metamorphic core complexes these structures allow the upper continental crust to accommodate tens of kilometres of extension but it is not clear how the lower crust and underlying mantle respond also despite removal of the upper crust such core complexes remain both topographically high and in isostatic equilibrium because many core complexes in the western united states are underlain by a flat moho discontinuity it has been widely assumed that their elevation is supported by flow in the lower crust or by magmatic underplating these processes should decouple upper crust extension from that in the mantle in contrast here we present seismic observations of metamorphic core complexes of the western woodlark rift that show the overall crust to be thinned beneath regions of greatest surface extension these core complexes are actively being exhumed at a rate of 5 10 km myr 1 and the thinning of the underlying crust appears to be compensated by mantle rocks of anomalously low density as indicated by low seismic velocities we conclude that at least in this case the development of metamorphic core complexes and the accommodation of high extension is not purely a crustal phenomenon but must involve mantle extension

regional tectonic framework structure and evolution of the western marginal basins of india abstract the kutch saurashtra cambay and narmada basins are pericontinental rift basins in the western margin of the indian craton these basins were formed by rifting along precambrian tectonic trends interplay of three major precambrian tectonic trends of western india dharwar nnw sse aravalli delhi ne sw and satpura ene wsw controlled the tectonic style of the basins the geological history of the basins indicates that these basins were formed by sequential reactivation of primordial faults the kutch basin opened up first in the early jurassic rifting was initiated in late triassic along the delhi trend followed by the cambay basin in the early cretaceous along the dharwar trend and the narmada basin in late cretaceous time along the satpura trend the evolution of the basins took place in four stages these stages are synchronous with the important events in the evolution of the indian sub continent its breakup from gondwanaland in the late triassic early jurassic its northward drifting during the jurassic cretaceous and collision with the asian continent in the early tertiary the most important tectonic events occurred in late cretaceous time the present style of the continental margins of india evolved during early tertiary time the saurashtra arch the extension of the aravalli range across the western continental shelf subsided along the eastern margin fault of the cambay basin during the early cretaceous it formed an extensive depositional platform continuous with the kutch shelf for the accumulation of thick deltaic sediments a part of the saurashtra arch was uplifted as a horst during the main tectonic phase in the late cretaceous the present high thermal regime of the cambay bombay high region is suggestive of a renewed rifting phase

interrelations between intermediate depth earthquakes and fluid flow within subducting oceanic plates constraints from eclogite facies pseudotachylytes field evidence preserved in ancient subducted oceanic crust documents that eclogite facies frictional failure with melting pseudotachylyte formation during intermediate depth earthquakes was accompanied and followed not preceded by infiltration of external fluids and progressive vein formation in the eclogites eclogitization began during seismic failure and fluid passage through the shear zone subsequent fluid flow produced hydraulic fracturing and continuous vein formation during ongoing burial we suggest that this kind of shear zone may allow channellized fluid flow within and out of slabs

paleomagnetic evidence for a pleistocene clockwise rotation of the calabro peloritan block southern italy abstract a paleomagnetic study of marine marls of early pliocene age and clays of late pliocene to middle pleistocene age from sites along the ionian coast spartivento basin and catanzaro depression of calabria and from sites along the tyrrhenian coast of both calabria and sicily was carried out to determine the amount and timing of tectonic rotation of the underlying calabro peloritan block the magnetisations of the lower pliocene trubi marls have maximum blocking temperatures indicating the presence of magnetite these lower pliocene sediments as well as the younger upper pliocene lower pleistocene clays of this area reveal consistent clockwise rotations of 10 20 there is evidence for a uniform 15 clockwise rotation of the entire calabro peloritan block during the middle pleistocene this is opposite in sense of rotation to the earlier established 23 counterclockwise rotations for the southern apennines but the timing is the same between 0 7 and 0 2 ma the tectonic rotations occur 1 myr after the major phases of extension in the southeastern part of the tyrrhenian basin but simultaneously with the onset of major uplift of the block

the 2001 bhuj earthquake tomographic evidence for fluids at the hypocenter and its implications for rupture nucleation 1 the january 26 2001 bhuj earthquake mw 7 6 is one of the most catastrophic indian earthquakes we have investigated the 3 d seismic velocity and poisson s ratio structures of the bhuj source area to understand the probable cause of triggering the earthquake we used 1948 p and 1865 s wave high quality arrival times from 331 aftershocks recorded at a temporary seismic network significant variations up to 5 in velocity and 10 in poisson s ratio are revealed in the aftershock area the mainshock is located in a distinctive zone characterized by high vp low vs and high poisson s ratio in the depth range of 20 to 30 km and extending 15 to 30 km laterally this feature is very similar to that of the 1995 kobe earthquake zhao et al 1996 the anomaly may be due to a fluid filled fractured rock matrix which might have contributed to the initiation of the bhuj earthquake

passive source seismic imaging of the crust and upper mantle beneath the 2001 mw 7 7 bhuj earthquake region gujarat india abstract variations in crustal and lithospheric thicknesses below the kachchh rift kr zone have been investigated employing the joint inversion of p receiver functions rf and rayleigh wave and love wave group velocity dispersion 5 70 s on the broadband waveforms of teleseismic events estimated crustal and lithospheric thicknesses at 15 broadband sites led to the delineation of an updoming of 4 7 km in the moho and 6 12 km in the asthenosphere beneath the central kr relative to the surrounding unrifted regions the moho depths vary from 35 to 42 km and lithospheric thicknesses range from 62 to 78 km the observed marked shear velocity reduction 2 6 at the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary lab over an area of 120 km 80 km suggests the presence of patches of partial melt in the asthenosphere below the kr evidencing the possible presence of imprints of the deccan reunion mantle plume the coincidence of the area of updoming of the moho and asthenosphere and the confined aftershock activity below the central kr implies that these patches could provide a high input of volatile co 2 into the lower crust which might play a key role in generating the continued aftershock activity in the region since the occurrence of the 2001 m w 7 7 bhuj mainshock

source parameters of the anjar earthquake of july 21 1956 india and its seismotectonic implications for the kutch rift basin abstract the kutch rift basin is a major seismic region in india characterized by a low earthquake occurrence rate but a very high maximum intensity the largest event in the region is the great kutch earthquake of 1819 estimated m w 7 8 however lacking instrumental data its exact source parameters are not well known the anjar or rann of kutch earthquake of july 21 1956 m w 6 0 took place very close to the 1819 kutch event and caused considerable damage and casualties our modeled waveforms of teleseismic p and sh waves and p wave first motions determine a reverse faulting mechanism strike 235 dip 46 5 and rake 85 as well as source parameters for the anjar earthquake a previous strike slip mechanism for this event has been eliminated on the basis of waveform constraints the two nodal planes of our solution both strike northeast sub parallel to the trend of the kutch rift very close to the trend of the isoseismals the seismic moment is 1 19 10 25 dyne cm the focal depth and the stress drop are 15 km and 162 bar respectively the anjar reverse fault may represent a reactivated normal fault undergoing tectonic inversion in the kutch rift zone under present day compressional stress two larger earthquakes adjacent to anjar but outside of the kutch rift are also found to be mainly reverse faulting with a minor strike slip component judging from available information the great kutch event of 1819 is most likely a reverse faulting event

the deadliest intraplate earthquake the recent earthquake in the bhuj region took a toll of at least 30 000 lives in their perspective gupta et al 1 discuss what may be the cause of the large but infrequent earthquakes in this region which is not near any tectonic plate boundary the earthquake hazard in the region was well recognized before the disaster however and adherence to the building codes for high risk areas may have prevented much human tragedy 1 http www sciencemag org cgi content full 291 5511 2101

a systematic error in estimating surface wave group velocity dispersion curves and a procedure for its correction abstract a systematic error is known to occur in estimating surface wave group velocity dispersion when the multiple filter analysis technique is applied the error comes from the fall off of the amplitude spectra at long periods we propose a method for correcting this error it consists of using a centroid frequency of the filtered spectrum instead of the central frequency of the gaussian window the method is especially useful when the group velocity curve is obtained from stacking of individual frequency time diagrams we apply this technique to two data sets the first one consists of nine seismograms of coastal subduction zone earthquakes recorded by a broadband station located in mexico city this data set has been previously used to estimate an average crustal structure of southern mexico the second data set consists of broadband seismograms recorded in india and has been used to determine an average structure of the indian peninsular region our results show that in the first case the systematic error is negligible this is due to the relatively low decay rate of the spectral amplitudes at long periods however in the case of the indian data the systematic error of the multiple filter analysis cannot be neglected since it changes significantly the measured dispersion curves and leads to errors in the estimated crustal structure our tests show that the proposed method successfully corrects a major part of the systematic error